Social Media Upends Ski Resort Marketing

From AdAge.com:

Social media is playing a major role in accelerating the decision cycle of consumers who patronize ski resorts. As a result, one of the country’s largest such companies — Vail Resorts — has abandoned its long-time advertising strategies and practices. In their place, the billion-dollar-a-year corporation, which operates five major resorts and twenty hotels, has built a new in-house marketing operation that uses social media and other digital venues to constantly engage skiing enthusiasts in real time. In this nine-minute video CEO Rob Katz explains the dramatic changes.

 

We Love Technology

Here at Under Solen, we love technology. Sure many times we yearn for a simpler life of digging in the dirt and being completely out of pocket, but sometimes technology is pretty amazing…

1. It might just save the world.

As we near the Copenhagen Climate Conference, many are wondering if the world’s leaders will take the necessary, bold steps we need to save our planet. As a U.S. citizen, I am even more frustrated by our weak stance on climate action. Whatever happened to the courage and innovation that formed the United States of America? Our country was founded on those ideals and now we can’t even stand up to climate change critics who (really) believe the world is still flat. What does that say for us as a country, and a planet, if we can’t take actions that just might save the world and our lives? Especially when we have the existing technology to do it.

20 Proven Ways to Save the Earth From the Times-Online:

Tackling climate change may be daunting but it is entirely feasible using existing technology

1 Solar power

Spain is leading the way with solar power. The PS10 solar tower is already in operation near Seville, producing electricity with the aid of more than 600 large movable mirrors called heliostats. The country’s largest solar-power station, which will store heat for up to 15 hours in molten salt, is under construction in Cadiz. It will be operational in 2011. Heat-generated steam will drive a turbine that will power 25,000 homes.

2 Carbon capture and storage

Coal and waste materials are burnt in permanently-running power stations that provide electricity, heat and sometimes hydrogen. The carbon dioxide this creates is captured and sent, safely, to be disposed of in disused oil wells and aquifers. Carbon capture and storage has been practised in the North Sea by the Norwegian company Statoil since 1996. EU leaders have promised around 12 pilot projects attached to coal-fired power stations by 2020.

3 Smart meters

Home electricity is likely to be managed increa-singly by smart meters to cut wastage. The Italians are leading the way. Some 85% of households have one; there are more in Italy than in the US.

 

… Read the rest at Times Online.

2. It helps us stay connected with our friends… even when they’re in the Amazon.

Our friends at the Epicocity Project are bushwacking their way through the dense Brazilian jungle right now. Last night they saw the biggest rat in the world and caught a 3-foot-long catfish. Just how do we know that? Because they’re live-tweeting from their satellite phone. You would think that being deep in the heart of the Amazon would mean that we pretty much wouldn’t hear from them until they make it out… Nope. Every night the team’s SPOT satellite tracker sends us an email that says they’re A-OK and gives us their coordinates.

Last night, the team sent us a text from his sat phone. And we texted them back! Even you can track EP’s Brazil Expedition Live. It’s a bit ridiculous and at the same time totally awesome that we have the capability to be connected in such a way. Like we said, while sometimes our uber-tech world drives us crazy — today we freaking love technology.

Friday Faves: Salmon, Elephants and Turkeys

Happy Belated Thanksgiving! Hopefully you all got to enjoy the day with family and friends and plentiful amounts of good food and wine. Here at Under Solen we’re taking full advantage of eating pumpkin pie, enjoying the last of the fall colors and taking a break after a long and very busy week.

Here were some of this week’s favorites:

We kicked off the week by attending court with Save Our Wild Salmon; we’re not sure where the plan is going to go from here, but we’re hoping it incorporates a bit more science that actually benefits the fish. Speaking of saving animal species, we learned this week that our friend Trip Jennings with the Epicocity Project won a $10,000 grant to fund the Elephant Ivory Project, an expedition that will take place next fall and involve tracking elephants to identify ivory poaching hotspots.

Think that’s cool? Well, then you’ll probably be excited about the Epicocity crew’s current expedition as well. They just kicked off their River of Doubt expedition in Brazil. Amazonian jungle + remote river + huge fish = awesome expedition that you can follow in real-time!

So that covers salmon and elephants… which brings us to turkeys. We discovered yesterday that there’s a National Turkey Federation, which sort of made our day. But despite taking part in one of the most treasured American holidays, we did not get up this morning in anticipation of Black Friday. On the contrary we believe in celebrating Buy Nothing Day. That being said, we do think your holiday dollars should go to a good cause, which is why you should definitely take part in the Kamchatka Project fundraiser raffle — there’s $400 worth of gear to win, and you have until tonight to buy tickets!

Need more good causes to support? Help fund this awesome research expedition to the Atlantic Gyre. And while you’re at it, go and vote for Under Solen co-founder Anna Brones to get sent to Copenhagen as Huffington Post’s Hopenhagen Ambassador (we recommend giving her a 10!).

Now we’re off to do some post-Thanksgiving yoga… have a great weekend!

Show Us Your Nutty Photos!

We want to see the best and brightest of your nutty photos — anything that captures your Nutcase lifestyle, be it on wheels, on a board, on the river or anywhere else! Upload them to the Nutcase Flickr page!

Send Anna to Copenhagen!

Under Solen co-founder and social media diva Anna Brones is competing to be Huffington Post’s Hopenhagen Ambassador.

The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen is only weeks away. And that means that a decision on the future of our climate is imminent. HuffPost in conjunction with Hopenhagen.org is sending one person to Copenhagen for the UN Climate Change Conference to both represent concerns of people around the world and to report back daily as a HuffPost citizen journalist.

Anna sums it up best in her video: “We are the last generation that gets to decide if we act on climate change. So let’s act together and ensure that all of our voices are heard.”

So, vote for Anna. I’d recommend you give her a 10, too! But I’ll let you decide that for yourself.

Support Research on Plastic Pollution in Our Oceans

Our addiction to single-use plastics is leaving us with a severe problem of plastic pollution. The more plastic we consume, the more makes its way down the waste stream and ends up in our oceans. This is creating a severe problem not only for the health of marine life, but also our very own. The Algalita Marine Research Foundation has been doing a lot of good work in this realm, having traveled to and done extensive research in the North Pacific Gyre (otherwise known as the trash vortex), and in early 2010 they’ll be sailing to the Atlantic Gyre to continue their research. Chair of the Portland Surfrider Chapter, Stiv Wilson, has been invited to come along on the research mission.

Wilson will be giving the mission a strong media voice, writing for his own publication Wend Magazine, as well as Surfrider, Huffington Post and beyond.

But he needs your support! Head on over to the incredible funding platform Kickstarter to learn more about Wilson’s journey and make a contribution. He needs to raise $3,500 before December 25th. Make a contribution (even as little as $20 helps out) and feel good knowing that you’re supporting research that will affect our future. Click here to help out.

Salmon in the Courtroom

Yesterday, the Under Solen team went to a Portland Courtroom with our friends at Save Our Wild Salmon.

From the Save Our Wild Salmon blog:

After 15 years of fighting tooth and nail in federal court, fishing and conservation groups left U.S. District Court Judge Redden’s Courtroom yesterday ready to wait at least an additional 2 weeks for an answer. Will the federal agencies step up and do what is needed to save Columbia-Snake River salmon?

We sure hope so because protecting this iconic species is about more than just saving a fish. It’s about family-wage jobs in communities throughout the Northwest. It’s about saving a healthy food source, a cultural icon, and a way of life. It’s about policy guided by science and the law, not politics. What we really need is for our elected leaders to demand and execute a solid salmon recovery plan for all our rivers. Right now. Today. Not next year. And unfortunately, this plan is nowhere near that.

Read more about the hearing here.

Nutcase on the River

The Wild Image Project’s Daniel Fox spent a day doing a photo and video shoot for Nutcase Helmets. Daniel and a group of friends headed for the Clackamas River in Oregon.

Check out Daniel’s cool video recap of their day on the river… And check out Nutcase Helmets on Twitter and Facebook for more photos and video!

Support Adventurous Conservation: Win Gear in Kamchatka Project Raffle

Want to support a good cause and have the chance to win some cool stuff? Then head over to Kamchatka Project’s website, where you can learn about their crazy, cool adventure to the Kamchatka Peninsula to raise awareness about salmon conservation, help fund the project AND be entered to win a Survival Kit, complete with a Nau bag, END shoes, a Primus stove and a Kamchatka t-shirt.

Here’s more info from the Kamchatka team:

Every $5 online donation to The Kamchatka Project by the end of Friday, November 27th will buy you one chance to win the Kamchatka Survival Kit. For every $35 donated, we’ll even send you a complimentary Kamchatka Project t-shirt and a bonus raffle ticket… that’s 8 chances to win and one sweet shirt for only $35!!

The best part? The Kamchatka Project is a registered non-profit organization, so every penny of your donation is tax-deductible! Entering is quick, easy and secure on our VeriSign Secured Site, and all entrants will be informed of the raffle outcome on November 30.

Friday Faves: Another Week at Under Solen

Happy Friday and welcome to our weekly wrap-up, otherwise known as Friday Faves!

We’ve had a busy week here at Under Solen, with a lot of early morning business calls. So early that the coffee shop wasn’t even open… bad planning on our part. Speaking of coffee shops, we wanted to give you a little insight to our local digs. Not only does it serve the Falafel Waffle (we haven’t tried it yet, but Emily already gives it the thumbs up), you can also order yourself some good jello shots. We’re definitely feeling a falafel + jello shot dinner date coming on, any takers?

But onto the important business… here were some of our favorite things this week:

Giant Redwoods Photo Essay – These photos make us want to jump in the car and road trip down south immediately. Speaking of wanderlust, The Wild Image Project 2010 Expedition: Endangered Argentina combines travel, conservation and art, our three favorite things! In the world of new media, we’re digging Simple Earth Media, as the team calls it, “New Media Making a Difference” … we couldn’t have said it better ourselves. Along those lines, if you’re a non-profit and haven’t jumped on the new media bandwagon, here’s some help on launching an iPhone app. And while we’re still on the subject of new media, no matter how much we like being connected (we do make a business of it), just keep in mind that what happens on Facebook stays on Facebook.

Here in Oregon it’s been dumping snow up at the mountain, and that gets us thinking about cold weather activities, which you always need a good recipe to go with. We dig the Quinoa Spice Cake, Anna’s very own creation. Perfect with a hot toddy. And when you need to gear up for a salmon court battle. And last but not least, simply for some educational amusement: Did You Know Snake River Salmon Do it at Altitude?

Under Solen wishes you a fabulous weekend!