Channel Mastery - Ep. 192: What the Landmark Inflation Reduction Act means to the Business of Outdoor Recreation with Adam Cramer

Outdoor Alliance

Inflation Reduction Act and its impacts on the outdoor recreation industry

featuring

Adam Cramer is the founding Executive Director and present CEO of Outdoor Alliance, a national coalition of outdoor recreation advocacy groups that has breathed new life into the conservation movement by harnessing the outdoor community’s passion for place and combining it with a modern approach to organizing and digital engagement. During his time as CEO, Adam has brought new sensibilities to conservation work that have resulted in hundreds of thousands more acres of protected landscapes, improved management for outdoor recreation, and thousands of outdoor enthusiasts awakened to conservation and advocacy work. He is an avid whitewater kayaker and mountain biker but is always on the lookout for a good skatepark. Adam lives in Maryland with his wife and two kids

show highlights

On Friday, August 12, 2022, Congress passed the largest ever climate package in the Inflation Reduction Act, an absolute landmark piece of legislation. Channel Mastery has never done an episode on any sort of legislation before today; but know that this show was prioritized. Why? Because of the landmark impact that the IRA is destined to have on our businesses. What’s more, this is a far-reaching (both in scope and timeframe) bill that will create new awareness among our consumers – the outdoor recreation enthusiast. Channel Mastery is 100 percent about understanding our brand fans and target consumers, and this bill will ‘train’ them to expect more responsible businesses and brand practices concerning climate mitigation going forward.

The bill is sweeping and complex, and we’ve procured the perfect guide for our episode today in Adam Cramer, the CEO of the Outdoor Alliance, the only non-profit organization in the U.S. that unites the voices of outdoor enthusiasts to conserve public lands and ensure those lands are managed in a way that embraces the human-powered experience. The Outdoor Alliance connects conservation with climate, which positions Adam’s perspective as critical to you, Channel Mastery’s executive audience of outdoor rec business leaders. The Outdoor Alliance is a coalition of national advocacy organizations that includes American Whitewater, American Canoe Association, Access Fund, International Mountain Bicycling Association, Winter Wildlands Alliance, the Mountaineers, the American Alpine Club, the Mazamas, the Colorado Mountain Club, and the Surfrider Foundation.

The Inflation Reduction Act will be on President Biden’s desk by the time you listen to this show, but the interview you’re about to hear in episode 192 is evergreen in that it underscores a tipping point moment in climate and conservation.

Paul Krugman, Opinion Columnist with The New York Times, in his piece “Did Democrats just Save Civilization?” wrote: “This is a very big deal. The act isn’t, by itself, enough to avert climate disaster. But it is a huge step in the right direction and sets the stage for more action in the years ahead. It will catalyze progress in green technology; its economic benefits will make passing additional legislation easier; it gives the United States the credibility it needs to lead a global effort to limit greenhouse gas emissions.” Senator John Hickenlooper (D) Colorado, summed up the bill in his newsletter by describing it as the largest climate rescue investment by any country ever.

The Outdoor Alliance website has informative summary blog posts about the IRA, outlining how the $373 billion funding package will mitigate climate change through investments that will accelerate our transition to clean energy. The bill also includes billions of dollars for wildfire mitigation, forest management, and conservation.

While this hard-fought legislative win most certainly benefits humanity as a whole, it’s crucial to highlight what this means to the business of outdoor recreation and how we, as corporate citizens, have an opportunity and responsibility to step up and heap on awareness and visibility of what’s going to emerge from this game-changing legislation. Whether it's sharing the details and impact of the IRA on the health of the planet and the places we cherish as outdoor recreationalists with our internal teams or on how your brand and reach can further the traction on climate change mitigation, the time to elevate this to our important stakeholders in our outdoor rec businesses is now.

Also, note that consumers will vote with their dollars more than ever before as the road to doing the right thing will be highlighted in the coming months and years, thanks to the IRA.

Kristin:
Welcome back everyone to a special episode of the Channel Mastery Podcast. Many of you saw the news over the weekend, so that's August 6th and 7th timeframe, 2022, that Senate Democrats passed the Inflation Reduction Act over the weekend. This is landmark. It is a super huge deal. And we're going to get into the details of this in the show today.
We prioritize creating this episode immediately because timing is critical on this legislation and it's very important also that we understand how it fits into our businesses, our workforce and the outdoor recreation community at large. And who better to invite on as our guide to the Inflation Act and what it means to our businesses in outdoor rec than Adam Cramer, who is the CEO of the Outdoor Alliance.
Welcome to the show, Adam. It is wonderful to have you here today.
Adam Cramer:
Thanks for having me.
Kristin:
Before we get into the IRA, can you share a little bit about yourself and the incredible organization that you lead, the Outdoor Alliance?
Adam Cramer:
Yeah, certainly. I live in Montgomery County, just across DC line with my wife and a couple of kids. Got a son in high school and a daughter in junior high. I'm originally from New York but ended up in DC for work. After law school, moved down to DC in the late '90s, was attracted to DC, being a big diverse city with good music scene, and I found out that it's probably one of the best whitewater cities in the world.
I got pretty deep into the whitewater scene here in DC and had this really interesting dual existence of working at a big corporate law firm, doing environmental law during the day and hitting the falls on the weekends and heading out to West Virginia, exploring Appalachia, and these two worlds were totally separate until they weren't.
I was on a trip, on a river trip, and one of the guys on the trip worked at American Whitewater, and he's like, "Hey Cramer, you're a lawyer, right?" And I'm like, "Yeah," just kind of bracing for what's next. But what he said, he's like, "We need some help renegotiating a hydropower permit on the upper Youghiogheny River out in Western Maryland."
I didn't know anything about hydropower permits, but I did know that I love this river. It was super important to me, super important to the community. So, although I didn't know anything about it, they didn't have a lawyer, and I said, "Yeah, I'll help out."
That was the fork in the road is from that I ended up on the board of American Whitewater, started doing some conservation work for them, for Access Fund, and eventually ended up being the CEO of Outoor Alliance.
Kristin:
Awesome. I won't call you Cramer in the episode, but I really want to. That's a great-
Adam Cramer:
You can.
Kristin:
... story, though. So let's talk about this. I mean, when was that actually? What was the timeframe when you actually stepped into, you know, from your position into more of the outdoor recreation community?
Adam Cramer:
So I started... Outdoor Alliance, it was a coalition at the time. It was like 2006, 2007, and I thought I was going to be their lawyer.
Kristin:
Okay.
Adam Cramer:
They've retained me. So I started working with them as a coalition and seeing if this experiment would even work, and found out that it did and decided to work together to build out the organization, make it an organization, and that was in 2014.
Adam Cramer:
So I left the law firm and they invited me to lead the organization, which I've been doing ever since.
Kristin:
That's awesome. So again, we have a lot to get in here today on the Inflation Act, but I would love for you to also just give us a summary of when you joined the Outdoor Alliance and what the organization is today.
Adam Cramer:
Wow. I mean, it's been a life's work. But the basic premise is that we're made up of 10 national member organizations, all oriented around a certain type of human power to outdoor pursuit. So like back country skiing, kayaking, mountain biking, climbing. So organizations everybody's heard about like American Whitewater, the Access Fund, International Mountain Bicycling Association, Surfride Foundation, and these organizations have been doing stellar work over the years. They know what they're doing, they know how to mobilize their community and they do it tremendously effectively.
The premise of Outdoor Alliance is that all these organizations, all these communities have got a lot in common, and to the extent that they could collaborate, they could work on stuff as a collective that they couldn't work on by themselves, and that collective could have tremendous beneficial impact for conservation in the United States.
Kristin:
Awesome. That sounds way more fulfilling than your job before that river trip, if I can just insert my opinion. So we're very grateful that you're there and in that position, and I think we've just had an incredible turning point in your career with the Inflation Act. So I would love to have you fill in our audience on just the landmark nature of what just happened with this legislation. And we're going to get into a lot of details and action steps, but tell us just about the overarching legislation itself, how we got to this point and what it is.
Adam Cramer:
Yeah, you nailed it. It's definitely the most significant thing I think I've ever been involved with and especially the organization and the whole team. It's a big deal.
Adam Cramer:
Let's go into the details of the legislation, but I think starting with how we got here would provide some more context. I think a good place to start is Paris, back in 2015. There was an agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by the middle of the century. Right? And a goal, like a mile marker, was to get to 50% reduction by the year 2030 and as relative to 2005 levels. So pretty ambitious. Okay?
Adam Cramer:
... Levels. So pretty ambitious, okay?
Kristin:
Mm-hmm.
Adam Cramer:
And pretty exciting too, right? There's been a lot of hand-wringing, a lot of efforts to address climate change. It's not anything that one country could do, but everybody got together and said, we're going to do this. Former President Trump, as you might remember, pulled out of Paris, that was a downer. But President Biden, he dealt us back in on his first day of office. And then soon after that, the House of Representatives worked up and passed the Build Back Better Act late last year.
Adam Cramer:
And it was a huge move, tons of social benefit. It addressed everything from prescription drugs, childcare, pre-K if you recall, and they also went big on climate. And the exciting thing about the Build Back Better Act that came out of the House was that, it was going to nail the mile marker set out by the Paris Accord of 50% reduction by 2030.
Adam Cramer:
And they were going to throw down a ton of money, I think it was like $555 billion on the climate. So audacious and vicious, and we were pretty stoked. So then as everybody knows, something passes one chamber and goes to the next, heads over to the Senate. Senate, things are a little tighter, right? So 50-50 Senate, 50, folks at caucus of the Democrats, 50 with Republicans. And at the time, all eyes are on Joe Manchin, Senator from West Virginia and some on Senator Sinema from Arizona. More Centrist Democrats got some concerns about federal budgets, and the stakes are super high.
Adam Cramer:
And then before too long, things just blew up, right? And it was pretty depressing. And talks were off, and were not going anywhere. And all the progress that we made in the House, which just seemed like, ah, how are we going to get to any place? But within a couple of months, we started seeing little signs that things are kind of getting back on track, right? So Senator Manchin's talking Senator Schumer, they're thinking about what are we going to do, how are we going to make this work?
Adam Cramer:
The whole thing blew up before, can we pick up some of the pieces? And our hope within Outdoor Alliance and the broader outdoor community is that, we hope one of those pieces is climate, right? I hope that one of these pieces is a moving forward on climate. Things slowly are moving forward. We're engaging with the entire Senate. We're engaging with the House of Representatives. Every opportunity we have, we're working it. And it's slowly building. And is it going to work at the time? Probably not, but it could. And because it could, we were committed. We had a deal, the moral obligation to try to make this happen. And then things are moving. And in July, the whole thing blows up again in mid July, like two weeks ago.
Kristin:
Wow.
Adam Cramer:
And I'll tell you, Kristin, it was devastating. It was devastating for me and for my staff. It was like the lowest that we've been professionally I think ever. And then the next day, you hear these news reports where Senator Manchin's like, "Well, I'm going to wait for inflation numbers from July, I'm still committed to climate." And it was a super interesting time where a lot of people were like, this is terrible. It's never going to happen. Senator Manchin blew it up. And then others are like, hey, take it easy. It might happen. And we're threading the needle, but it could possibly happen. And we were in that ladder camp. We're like, until instead, we're just going to keep at it.
Adam Cramer:
And within a couple of weeks, we see this press release from Senator Manchin's office about the Inflation Reduction Act. Something from Manchin and Schumer, we're like, what are you talking about? What is this thing? We're scrolling through it, and they're talking about climate. We're like, inflation, climate, prescription drugs. It's like, wait a second, it's here.
Adam Cramer:
And what they did was they dialed the money back a little bit. So they allocated about almost $370 billion to fight climate, which is about two-thirds of the original Build Back Better number, and the target to get 50% by 2030 under the IRA, will get to 40% by 2030. So not all the way there, but pretty close.
Kristin:
Mm-hmm. So there's a lot ahead there for us, for sure.
Adam Cramer:
So much more to do. I mean, it's a giant step forward. It's not going to solve everything, but taking that step, it hadn't been taken like ever.
Kristin:
Explain when you say we don't give up until it's over. Tell us specifically about the work that your team is doing on behalf of climate, and coupling climate change with conservation specifically around this bill. Because I feel like that's a really important thing for our audience to understand, because you're working with these organizations that have these really, really passionate communities that are out there recreating, and seeing the change that's happening in our absolute prized places that we go, and truly feed ourselves, you know?
Adam Cramer:
Yeah, that's a good question, Kristin. And I think narratives drive policy, policy just doesn't fall out of the sky. And when you make decisions, when legislations pass, it's got to be for a reason. Elected officials, they're accountable to their constituents, it's got to make sense. Back in the congressional district, back in the state. And also, it's helpful in trying to save the world to kind of have a long game, right?
To be patient. Of course, we did a lot of the conventional advocacy and education work, but I think the thing that's underpinned for us as a community and for Outdoor Alliance, is investing in this narrative, and coupling climate with conservation work, which wasn't always the case. And in the very early days of Outdoor Alliance, we realized that, if the climate, if it doesn't get back on track, there isn't going to be an outdoors.
Adam Cramer:
There's just aren't going to be any places to protect. And just having to traditional focus on protective designations without spending as much time and attention to think about the climate that enables all these places that we want to protect to be resilient, would be an enormous mistake. So we started thinking about climate in very personal terms. We realized that we could vouch for a climate change as a community directly.
Adam Cramer:
In one of our very early meetings on the Hill, we had this guy, Forrest McCarthy was the policy director over at Winter Wildlands, and we're sitting in a House natural resources meeting. And Forrest has been to Antarctica, he's been all around the world. He's like, "You know, you're talking about indicator species, we're indicator activities."
Kristin:
Yeah, I love it.
Adam Cramer:
"We could actually talk about this stuff. We know that the glaciers are melting. We know the impacts of forest fire and reduction of water flow." And that seem to resonate with the folks on the Hill. And by coupling this idea with our interests and our objectives as a community, we just have been telling this story for a really, really long time. And looking for any opportunity that we have to advance these objectives. Whether it's the Biden administration's effort through 30 by 30, conserve and restore America the Beautiful, Build Back Better initiative at the House. We were engaged 10 years ago with the cap-and-trade initiative which passed the House, but it didn't go anywhere in the Senate. So it's making it relevant to people at scale.
Kristin:
And I have to ask, what was the mood on the team when you actually got that release and saw it in there, and then when the Senate actually passed it? Because I got this announcement on Sunday. We obviously have worked together very recently, our teams, which was a great experience. But getting that on Sunday, I was like, okay, this must be a big deal. I immediately pinged you to try and get this interview set up, so we got together a couple of days later. But tell me about what that was like for you and also your peers, that a lot of the businesses who tune into this podcast support?
Adam Cramer:
Yeah, at first, when we got the press release from Manchin's office, disbelief and like confusion, what's he even talking about? And once we filled it back, we're like, this is actually going to happen. Like, they came to an agreement, and the agreement, there're pluses and minuses, but on balance, it's pretty good. And we looked at the numbers and started getting access to the summaries and the bill tax, we realized this is going to happen.
Adam Cramer:
Then we started thinking, what does Senator Sinema think about this? And it was a little bit of a nail bitter, but she came around, endorsed it. She had a couple of changes to make, but nothing in terms of the substance of the climate provisions. So we're pretty confident that, oh, it's going to get through the Senate, it's a priority of the caucus. And we were delighted.
Kristin:
That's great. And morale immediately was boosted. I know we have a big road ahead. So just having this be where it is, you feel... as we were talking before we hit record, you feel confident that this is going to make it to President Biden's desk in a few days it sounds like. And what I would love to have you spend some time with the audience on today, is where do we go from here? And what does it look like to be good corporate-
Kristin:
Is where do we go from here? And what does it look like to be good corporate citizens, supporting something this important and honestly, operating during a time when something like this is passed, there's a responsibility that goes with that. And I think all of us are excited to support it and step up.
Adam Cramer:
Yeah. I think there's a lot to do, but let's... I want to talk a little bit about what's in it, right? [crosstalk 00:20:28] Why is it such a big deal? So-
Kristin:
My apologies.
Adam Cramer:
No, it's fine. It's so easy to get distracted, because you're like, "Oh my God, this is going to happen." But you know, the big driver for the [IRA 00:20:43] is this collection of, mosaic really, of clean energy tax credits. Okay. So for [carbon captured sequestration 00:20:52], renewable energy electric vehicles and the list those on. So it leverages, the market economy that we have, it creates tax incentives, and change behavior that reduce emissions and it's a strategy that the United States has been pursuing for quite a long time.
Adam Cramer:
And there are a lot of good things in this legislation, which is about $60 billion to drive investments, to disadvantage communities. And it's split up in a lot of different categories. It's $3 billion for environmental justice block grants, about $3 billion to reduce pollution around ports. And there's even a national green bank in there as well.
Adam Cramer:
There's some positive developments on leasing reform for oil and gas, right? The source of these emissions to begin with and oil and gas leasing on public lands. The IRA's going to make it more expensive, more difficult. Royalties are going to go up for doing oil and gas projects. They are no longer going to be noncompetitive leasing, and there's going to be a fee, a stout fee on methane flaring, which is going to be a fantastic development.
Adam Cramer:
There's also pretty decent investment in public land strategies to deal with climate. About $2 billion to the forest service, to deal with hazardous fuel reduction, $50 million to develop an old growth inventory and figure out how to manage it. About $700 million for private forestry for the forest legacy program, which is going to help privately held forest. And forest services got a lot of land, but like there's a ton of private land out there.
Adam Cramer:
So we're making sure that there's a good strategy to leverage. Private forest is going to be critical. Oh, one and a half billion dollars on planting trees in urban areas, which is going to be good. And close to $3 billion to Noah for coastal conservation. Just, like numbers add up. It's a big deal. And I think as good as all those things are, there's some unfortunate things that are part of the puzzle as well. 2 million acres of oil and gas leasing is going to be required as a condition precedent to do renewable energy.
Adam Cramer:
And it seems like a lot of acres and it is, but just to put it into a little bit of context, there were more than 2 million acres leased every year to the Obama administration for a number of years, more like 5 million acres a year. And the other thing to keep in mind is the impact of oil and gas leasing. It's not fair. It's not equitable. It's not like there's oil and gas leasing in every zip code in the United States. It's concentrated in some communities more than others and there's a disproportionate impact on disadvantaged communities and communities of color.
Adam Cramer:
But you got to keep in mind, the lease is not a project and there's a lot of steps that got to happen between from leasing someplace to putting in an oil well. And there's going to be a lot of opportunities moving forward to tighten these things up at the regulatory level. So when these projects do go forward, they're more... A bit more precise than they have been in the past and a little safer for the communities. And talking about equity, it's good to point out that like tax credits, they work really, really well, but they're not really fair either. Right? You got to have taxable income. And a lot of Americans don't have a lot of taxable income and can't take direct advantage of a lot of these benefits.
Adam Cramer:
And from my perspective, my organization's perspective, more direct investment would've been better. But you know, when you take a step back, you keep the goal in mind, which is a 50% reduction by 2030. That's the goal. That's what the house was aspiring towards. That's what keeps us on track for Paris. We're 40%, at least. Probably a little more. So it's a giant step in the right direction. And could we have gotten there in a different way? A more equitable way? Sure. But getting this close to the goal, I'll take it.
Kristin:
Right. That's awesome. Any more that you want to share on that? I don't want to interrupt you, but I thought you did a really good job explaining very important broad strokes with dollars attached to them. And I also really love... There's so many pieces to this. I think you told me in our rehearsal 755 pages or something. Obviously we don't want to go into that. We'll have all the links that you would ever want to look at, including to summaries and different articles and whatnot, and also the Outdoor Alliance in their website and all you can do to help support this going forward.
Kristin:
But I think overall it's a giant step ahead. And I think it almost sounds like you're a little caught off guard by it, but it seems to me like it changes the trajectory of the conversation during such a divisive time. And maybe that's where the surprise came from. Right? It was such a roller coaster coming into this.
Adam Cramer:
Oh yeah. Yeah. But you know, I think in our community, we go on missions, we try to get something done. It's not a foreign conclusion that you're going to stick your line, but you try it anyway. And there was a possibility. And although I didn't... I don't think anybody really thought it was going to work out, but enough people thought it was worth trying, that if the stars did line up it was going to happen. So yeah. I mean, if you'd asked me six months ago, do I think it's going to happen? And I'm like, "Probably not, but that doesn't mean you don't try." And I think that looking ahead, I'm reminded of this TED Talk from the skateboarder Rodney Mullen. And skateboarding is super important to me. I mean that was the fork of the road that took me to the outdoors, and something I still do.
Adam Cramer:
And he was talking about when Mike McGill first figured out how to land the McTwist. And this is when [vert 00:27:05] skating was way more important than street skating, but you'd leave the ramp and you'd spin 540 degrees. And then land a trick. And before McGill figured that out, nobody was doing it. And then after he did it, after he figured out how to do the trick, all the other skaters started doing it. And what Mullen was able to explain is, there's a big difference between doing something, and showing that something can be done. And what this bill does, this is like Mike McGill landing the McTwist. It's going to lay the groundwork for other actors, other legislators, other action by the administration to continue down this road.
Adam Cramer:
Like we could do it. We demonstrated we could take major action on climate. And since we can do it, it means we could do it again. And that's what's so hopeful for me. And it also creates opportunities for the entire outdoor community, the user community, the business community, because we're just gotten started. There's some nascent momentum there and it's our job to lean into it, to build on that momentum, to add to the narrative that this is essential. It's essential for the planet, of course, but it's also essential for business interests as well, if you're in the outdoor business world.
Kristin:
And are you able to describe some of the path ahead for our business community who's tuning in today and obviously we'll have resources in the show notes, but I would love to just,... You have now explained, I think, the direction and I'd love to hear more about how business leaders can understand how to support it and maybe lead their teams to support it. I know this isn't... I think it's important to say, this isn't something that we're talking about to add to your [inaudible 00:28:57] marketing in your business. This is like about doing the right thing. And as you've said several times, it's for the planet. It's obviously going to better us as business leaders to stand up for it and do something about it.
Kristin:
But believe it or not, I know it's funny that I said that, but a lot of leaders are, it's a pretty terrifying time to be in business, selling petroleum-based products, wanting to do the right thing, but then they're worried that they might not do it the right way and get called out for it. So I want to just take all of that and put it aside. This is really about internal leadership. It's about company culture and the spirit of what you do within your brand. I'm not bringing this up as a marketing executive. So knowing that lens, let's talk about what business leaders can do.
Adam Cramer:
So, you know when you stick a [lion 00:29:52] and your friends see you stick that [lion 00:29:54] and it feels so good to stick it. And it feels that much better when your friends are like, "That was awesome."
Kristin:
Right, right.
Adam Cramer:
When your friends are like, that was awesome.
Kristin:
Right.
Adam Cramer:
Right. So, senators are the same way. Lawmakers are the same way. The Senate passed this. It didn't have to happen. And everybody's got two senators. Okay. Some of them voted for it just enough. Some of them voted against it, but checking in with your senators to say, "Good job, thank you." They voted for it. And to say, "You know what? I'm disappointed that you didn't vote for it, but there's more things to be done. I'm glad we're moving forward on this." So, giving some acknowledgement to the Senate and everybody's uniquely positioned to do that because everybody lives in a state. Everybody is a constituent of a senator or two senators actually. And you've got standing tell them what you think and compliment them for the work that they've done and encourage them to keep it up.
Adam Cramer:
So, that's one thing to do no matter what happens. And then this thing looks like it's going to be passed in the House, which is going to be wonderful, but it hasn't passed yet. You'll get in touch with your Congress person and saying, "Hey, this is a big deal. I expect you to vote yes on this. It's important to me as a human being, it's important for the planet. It's a lot of good stuff in here. It's going to be important for my business. Please represent our interest and vote yes on this." That's something that everybody is part of our community is empowered to do.
Kristin:
I love that. And they can go to the Outdoor Alliance website and learn exactly how to do that.
Adam Cramer:
That's right. We did our best, the team to kind of sifted through the 750 pages. Feels huge, but we pulled out the stuff that was the most relevant to our community to help people understand what it's all about and there's a way to send a message to your elected official. It's pretty straightforward and customized messages, things that are personalized, they tend to work really well. So, put a little bit of yourself in there and about your business, and you should feel good about it.
Kristin:
So, we're humanizing the support in doing this. And I just also want to say what you're doing and the work that you're leading, I mean, we have people who are from a lot of different sectors of outdoor recreation who listen to this podcast. Whether you are tied to Whitewater, whether you're climbing, whether you're mountain biking, snow sports, you are represented by the Outdoor Alliance. So number one, I just want to make sure people are clear, go to the website and learn more about what the Outdoor Alliance does, and then there are great resources there for you. And you've had to really, I think there's a lot of work that's been done. I mean, before we hit record we talked a little bit about how do we highlight that.
Kristin:
It's very nuanced work, a lot of its thankless, lots of relationships, but you're there and you're on, and you're on the front lines fighting. And so, I love that you exist to kind of bring all of those voices together of our consumer, our users, that's who's in your community. It's a very broad and powerful community. And it's full of people who see the climate change and how it's affecting how they play on a day to day basis. So, I just want to put that out there too because it's a very unique organization that you lead.
Adam Cramer:
Thanks for saying that. We try to acknowledge and embrace the love and affection that the community has for place. And given that people love the outdoors and love the communities of which they're a part, we try to leverage that love and affection for political action. And to make things a little better for your own self interest, but also for the larger world, right? And a lot of the work that we do, it's like we sift through, we pay attention to what's going on, figure out what's the most important, what are things we actually make a difference on, we educate the community. So, this is what's happening and this is how you can make a difference. And it's not unlike, I know you said we're on the front lines and before we were talking, saying you're like in the mosh pit, which totally warmed my heart, but we're like a guide. We're like a local who knows the lines, knows the conditions, and give people tips, so they can have their best day outside and maximize their effort.
Adam Cramer:
So, we understand policy, we understand politics, we understand timing. We also understand the community and our job is to bring those two worlds together because the sentiments there, the desires there, the values of the community is to protect these places are there. And we've just got some specialized knowledge here and there to couple these two universes for good.
Kristin:
That's great. It's so great to... That's a perfect way to put it. And I want to just put a shout out its outdooralliance.org/news. If you scroll down, there's a blog post right there that says, "What does the Inflation Reduction Act mean for climate, public lands, and outdoor recreation?" And there's another post that talks about how to get involved. And I believe it guides you to reach out to the representatives in your region.
Adam Cramer:
Thanks for sharing that. And it's also, it's a place to go to figure out what's next because we're so not done.
Kristin:
Thank you for saying that.
Adam Cramer:
We need to reiterate that it's a good first step, but there are other steps that are going to be taking [inaudible 00:35:55] inform a lot of our work moving forward and I'm really excited to pursue it.
Kristin:
So, there's a way to follow the news on the site here as well. And we'll put resources in the show notes, so that you could easily subscribe to that and stay on top of it. But thank you so much. It was wonderful to have you on here today. Is there anything that we forgot to touch on that's really important for the audience? Or do you think we did a pretty comprehensive job? This is obviously a super detailed piece of legislation.
Adam Cramer:
Savor where we are and please come along on the journey ahead. There's still so much to do and it's going to be interested and exciting work, and we'll get there.
Kristin:
I think that's a perfect way to wrap up today and we'll have you on to give us updates in the future as well. Thank you again so much, Adam. It was wonderful to have you here today.
Adam Cramer:
Thank you very much, Kristen.

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The Channel Mastery podcast is presented by Verde Brand Communications and Life Time, Inc., owner of the Sea Otter Classic and producer of the Sea Otter Classic Summit outdoor recreation executive gathering, taking place April 18-20, 2023, in Monterey, Calif.