Takeaways from Auden Schendler

Author of “Terrible Beauty” spoke in metro Denver this past week. Listeners left with key messages in mind.

Auden Schendler was in metropolitan Denver on Thursday evening to share his thoughts about corporations and sustainability and related topics at a meeting of the Jefferson County chapter of the Colorado Renewable Energy Society, or CRES.

Formerly of Aspen One, still better known by its former name, the Aspen Skiing Co., Schendler in 2024 came out with his second book. “Terrible Beauty” explains the failure of most business sustainability efforts and argues for the civil rights movement of the mid-20^th century as a model to advance climate work.

See: “How to quit all the carbon naval-gazing.” Dec. 12, 2024, Big Pivots. The review included this segment:

“Schendler uses the word ‘revolution’ several times in the book, and in that he means not lobbing of literal bombs but rather an upheaval in thinking akin to that found in the civil rights movement.

Many who have heard Schendler speak have been inclined to see bomb-throwing as an apt metaphor for his work. He speaks with passion and bluntness. These abound in “Terrible Beauty.” So do facts and analysis.

That includes an understanding of the many tactics and strategies deployed in the civil rights movement. That movement had foot soldiers, including most famously the children of Selma, Alabama, who took to the streets when their elders, effectively barred from voting, stood back.

“If we’re unable to recruit people on a moral and even a spiritual journey into why it matters to engage on climate with force and energy, we won’t win this fight,” Schendler writes.

Speaking to the CRES gathering, Schendler shared the key messages from his book and took several dozen questions.

Robert Youngberg, one of the several dozen in attendance, said among his key takeaways was the need to understand what others want. It’s not a simple matter of pushing your own agenda. It reminded him of a personal experience.

When compact-fluorescent lightbulbs were coming on in a major way, Youngberg was living in a community reserved for those of advancing years. He was pushing CFLs with the argument of cost savings. They cost more up-front, but they can save 50 cents or some such to operate each month.

That message was not moving people. What connected was when somebody asked how long the CFLs lasted? Five to 10 years, he said.

And that made all the difference. “Now my husband won’t have to get the stepladder out and crawl up to change out the lightbulb every few months,” said one woman.

That is a lesson to be remembered, said Youngberg, as we consider the many transitions we must make in response to the dangers of climate change.

Martin Voelker, the event organizer at CRES, said Schendler’s message about false solutions connected. If businesses merely offer to clean up their acts, that barely counts for sustainability. It makes good business sense to avoid wasting resources.

On the other hand, Schendler mentioned true solutions for businesses. In the case of Aspen many years ago, it was leaving the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in a statement of protest. The chamber has a strong record of working against real climate solutions.

Voelker also liked Schendler’s reference to the late I.F. Stone, an investigative journalist in the 20^th century. Stone had said the only fights worth fighting are the ones you are going to lose.

“And in that context, (Schendler) admonished his listeners to go out and change public norms, because that is something everybody can do.”