Professional Skier Amie Engerbretson Is A Hypocrite

The word "hypocrite" carries more weight than ever.

In a time where every person has a valued voice and a platform to express it, a hypocrite is seen as a distrustful member of our society.

Rather than hide from self-admitted flaws when it comes to climate change activism, professional skier Amie Engerbretson is owning up to her own hypocrisy as a way to inspire others to take action in their local communities.

Her new film, aptly named 'The Hypocrite', is available to watch here, or by clicking the embedded video below. Keep scrolling for my interview with Engerbretson where we dive deeper into the film.

Check out my conversation with Amie Engerbretson about 'The Hypocrite' below:

What inspired you to create The Hypocrite?

"Well, I had this idea for this type of film rolling around in my brain for like 3 or 4 years. It took me that long to build up the confidence for it. 

I think the main motivation for it was constantly confronting this issue of hypocrisy within myself and my own life. What I was doing in my work, and calling myself a climate advocate, which I would never have thought I would do, was really the thing that held me back.

I didn't really start activating more aggressively with POW (Protect our Winters) until 2016, and I was just really intimidated. All of the POW advocates were people like Jeremy (Jones) and Caroline (Gleich) and Brody (Leven), and they are all about walking/skinning.

I was like, that's not me. I care, and I understand the problem, and I know I have this responsibility with my platform, but I just didn't feel like I fit that mold. Then I kind of got to this place where I was like, okay, the world is changing. There's these things going on. You have to at least try harder.

So, I kind of got looped in with POW, and they kind of put me in the deep end a little bit. I got offered quite a bit of knowledge, and it was one of those things where the more I learned, the more I understood about the situation of where we're at with the climate, why it's the way it is, where the roadblocks exist and why. 

I kind of just got more and more inspired and I got more and more comfortable in the imperfect versus potentially hypocritical place that I was putting myself in.

The reality was right around when I started activating pretty heavily with POW in 2016 and 2017, I bought a snowmobile. The snowmobile affected all this different stuff in my skiing: my access to mountains, my career, my availability for projects. More than anything, what kind of freaked me out is that I was loving it.

I was loving the days on the sled. I was loving the people I was meeting in the snowmobile community, and obviously that (internal) conflict was like really building.

Through working with POW, and getting to interview Naomi Oreskes, I was able to explore why we feel and think the way we do (about climate change activism). I learned that so much of our feelings have been influenced by the fossil fuel industry very directly.

I learned that so much of my guilt and my perception that I wasn't good enough to be part of the solution was the product of billions of dollars of marketing that worked."

What risks did you take in making The Hypocrite versus a traditional ski film?

"What? Candy? I mean, I think candy is really important in our world, in the world of art and the world of skiing.

Honestly when POW called me to tell me that I'd been given get the grant (to make the film), my first reaction was like, oh f***. Now I have to make this film, you know?

It was really scary. I'm opening myself up to a lot in this film, right? At the same time, I think one piece of feedback I've gotten from a lot of people was 'The Hypocrite' is the wrong title.

I heard that and acknowledged that for sure, but I think it had to be called 'The Hypocrite' because when you tell someone you're going to make a snowmobile climate change film, the first thing they're going to call you is a hypocrite.

To me, calling the film 'The Hypocrite' is quite eye catching, but it's the weaponization of the word. I wanted to take the word back in a way.

I think there's potential to alienate people, for sure. I think if you only look at the trailer and the title, it it could be very alienating. But, if you actually watch the film, I think it would be pretty hard for anybody from any side of the spectrum to not find a little piece of central movement or unity out of it, you know?"

Many skiers feel powerless to the systemic problems of climate change. What would you say to somebody who feels that they can't make an impact?

"Well, I think apathy is the huge problem that we as a society face in multiple issues, but, especially with this issue. I think a lot of that apathy comes from fear and uncertainty.

There is a lot of fear and uncertainty wrapped up in the climate crisis, you know? There's this thought with, I think outdoors people where it's like, "Hey, I come to the outdoors to escape all the bullsh*t. This is my time. So keep your politics off the trail."

I understand that. I wasn't raised in a political family. It's not who I ever thought I was, but the reality is, we don't have that luxury anymore.

It's a nice thought, but if you still want snow to slide on, if you still want these natural places to exist for you to have these experiences, getting political is the only way.

There are some cool statistics that run through the film. One of them that was really mind opening for me is when I learned that when you look at the GDP in the US, and if you were to round up all of the outdoor industry (all forms of outdoor recreation included), it's annual contribution to the GDP in the US is actually double what the extraction part of the fossil fuel industry contributes annually to the GDP.

Yes. The outdoor industry contributes more annually to the GDP than the fossil fuels, and the pharmaceutical industry. 

When I learned that, I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa. I actually represent a community that has tremendous power. And again, we're used to talking about the environmental impact of climate change, but I know everybody cares about money, right? If we can't unify over shared spaces and our love of the outdoors and that passion, we can unify around jobs and economics and money, and that can be the olive branch across the aisle.

I learned that I'm part of a community that has untapped potential. It's a hard hill to climb, but look at the people who make up our community. We're all f****** psychos.

We go skiing in blizzards. We climb up mountains, we go after hard things to push ourselves and put ourselves in really uncomfortable, difficult situations. Because we have this drive, we have this something we care about.

There's about 3 million active members in the NRA right now, and right now in the US, over 50 million people a year participate in outdoor recreation. So, imagine if we just activated a portion of that population.

If the outdoor industry crumbles because of climate change, that trickle down economic situation touches everybody."

What specific action can skiers take after watching The Hypocrite?

"That's the golden question. Like okay, I think I get it but what the f*** is systemic action?

I hope that the film goes a layer deeper to starting conversations, and I think the obvious call to action, especially in the year that we're in right now, is to vote. Just vote. I'm not going to tell you how to vote. I'm not going to tell you who to vote for. Just please vote, and vote all the way down the ballot.

Who controls your local community is just as important as who's President. One of the most important people on your ballot is your county commissioner. They have a ton of power and not very much oversight, and most people don't even know what a county commissioner is, right?

On that note, can we as a community make it cooler to educate ourselves on this and talk about it? I feel like it's my job as a professional skier to try to make being a citizen cool, and to try to make being a real citizen the benchmark for being part of the community.

We see it in avalanche work right? We as a community have set these benchmarks where if you are someone who goes in the backcountry without backcountry gear, you're kind of not cool, right?

I want that to be the standard when it comes to citizenship and understanding. We all have different power levers that we touch, and we all have different gifts to bring to this.

Right now, POW is a really good gathering place for us. If you need extra resources and help, join Team POW, it's going to put you into this newsletter system. It's going to give you access to voter guidebooks. It's going to give you access to different training materials both online and person. It's going to connect you with other people.

But beyond that, my real CTA (call to action) is, can we think differently about this? I know that's not as much action as people want, but I think it's a huge step in the right direction."

There will undoubtedly be a portion of people who express negative opinions about the film, how do you keep moving forward despite this?

"I have to have a thick skin. I knew I made this bed, right?

Of course it's gonna hurt and it's gonna cut. I, like most people, don't like opening myself up for that, and that's scary, but, again I just care so much about it. I believe so much in it that I'm willing to do that.

I went to D.C. with POW in a pantsuit to meet with a Republican congressman from Florida. So much of our lives as outdoor enthusiasts is about being really scared and uncomfortable but doing it anyway because we have that drive, right?

You know, we have that something inside of us that's really driving us, and that's the way I think about this situation. In full transparency, I am scared, I am freaked out. I've had a really tough year of lack of sleep and so much anxiety. 

I think that's going to increase for a little bit, you know, in these upcoming weeks when we release this film, but I don't want fear to hold me back from doing something meaningful, you know?"

Related: Amie Engerbretson Discovers Montana's 'Powder Highway'

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