If you’re not familiar with Caroline Gleich and her trajectory, she’s a well known face in the outdoor industry who worked her way up through the ranks of sponsored athletes to build both a remarkable outdoor resume (including summiting and skiing Cho Oyu, the world’s 6th highest mountain) as well as a sizable social media following and an increasingly impactful career as a climate activist. Ms. Gleich has testified before the Senate, visited the White House, and was celebrated in 2021 as Utah Clean Energy’s Climate Champion of the year.
Tackling her biggest challenge yet, Ms. Gleich is now running for the US Senate in Utah, vying for the seat that opened after Sen. Mitt Romney announced that he would not be running for re-election.
The first thing that captured my attention in the candidacy of Caroline Gleich is her relentless positivity. As she runs a groundbreaking campaign for a Senate seat in Utah, Gleich is well equipped to handle the most partisan and nasty parts of our current political arena, and gives credit for her fortitude in large part to her outdoor experiences.
The second thing that got my brain going was her appeal to the “outdoor voter.” As a $1 trillion segment of the United States GDP, the Outdoor sector has been often described as a political “sleeping giant” because of its broad-based support and its direct ties to direct economic benefits. Ms. Gleich is the first truly national candidate who has made Outdoor—and its specific connection to climate issues—a cornerstone component of their platform, making her campaign one to watch both for how it is received in Utah as well as in the rest of the country.
EO: There have been a handful of national political candidates in recent years who have used elements of the outdoors in their campaigns (such as Colorado’s John Hickenlooper who ran for president in 2020), but none have made it the centerpiece of their effort as you have. Were any of those previous campaigns a significant influence on you as you decided to run?
CG: Growing up, and especially during my teenage years, I struggled with depression and anxiety and other mental health challenges. When I was 13, I went to rehab for abusing drugs and alcohol. I didn’t think I would live until I was 30. Getting into the outdoors through skiing, hiking, mountaineering and climbing helped me find a turnaround. Today, I can say with confidence that the outdoors helped to save my life. I have been able to create the career of my dreams by inspiring others to get outside. My small-business is part of the $1.1 trillion outdoor recreation economy.
For everything nature has given me, I feel a strong duty to give back, to be a voice for wild places to ensure we can protect and preserve the experience for future generations. But this isn’t just about the future – right now, we are seeing the consequences of the climate crisis. Wildfires, hurricanes and other extreme weather patterns are worsening. The average Utahn dies two years earlier because of air pollution. We need champions in Congress who will take action on the climate crisis, accelerate our transition to clean, renewable energy (while supporting our legacy energy producing communities with good-paying, union jobs), and advocate for policies like 30×30, to protect 30% of American public lands and waters by 2030.
Q: To be totally honest, I was genuinely struck by your positivity in the interview with Luis at the Outside Festival last month. When it comes to dealing with the partisan and nasty parts of our current political world, how much of your optimistic outlook is because of your personal background, and how much of it has been honed by your outdoor experiences?
CG: Climbing big mountains has helped me prepare for the inevitable setbacks and challenges in the political world. Because it’s not a matter of if, but when, setbacks happen, and it’s not how you get knocked down, but it’s how you rise and get back up. We are at a critical inflection point as a country, both for the future of democracy and for the future health of our planet. I am not inherently optimistic, and I have had many struggles with depression and anxiety that have been debilitating, at times. But when I feel overwhelmed by doom and despair, I find action is a powerful antidote to despair. Taking action engages you; it helps you find connection and community. It allows you to regain a sense of personal power.
EO: At the State level, Utah hasn’t exactly been a pro-environment place over the years as it has openly prioritized extractive industries and pushed back on public lands. To cite a few of those incidents, there was the 2012 Transfer of Public Lands Act which sought to have all federal public lands given to state ownership for the expansion of drilling and mining leases, and there has been ongoing pushback around the creation of Bears Ears National Monument. Though I’m sure there are plenty more examples. Is Utah really ready to support a pro-environment candidate?
CG: As I’ve traveled around the state and asked Utahns what they love most about our state, overwhelmingly, I hear it’s the access to the outdoors and protected public lands. Utah is already much more purple than it appears. Young voters are increasingly voting democratic. We have a powerful opportunity this cycle to give people someone to vote for rather than to vote against. Utahns have also refuted the extremism of Donald Trump. Partisan gerrymandering has led to an extremist Republican supermajority in Utah. The vast majority of Utahns don’t agree with how our elected officials vote.
At 38 years old, I am the average age of an American. Utah is the youngest state in the country and one of the fastest-growing states in the country, with an average age of 30. Meanwhile, the average age of the US Senate is 65. I’m all about respecting and listening to the leadership of the older generations, but frankly, they are overrepresented in Congress, as are multi-millionaires and independently wealthy people. Millenials are radically underrepresented. I am running to become the youngest woman in the US Senate. Utah and America deserve representation for younger generations, as we face different challenges than folks from older generations.
EO: It has been said numerous times within the outdoor industry that outdoor recreation is the ultimate non-partisan issue, mainly because the primary user base includes more than half of the US population, the secondary benefits extend to virtually every American, and recent federal funding bills for outdoor recreation have passed with broad support from all parties. That said, you are running as a Democrat with outdoor recreation as a cornerstone of your campaign. Do you feel that Outdoor is actually a democratic issue?
CG: Access to nature is vital to our well-being as humans. Countless studies have shown that when we lose that, the disconnection causes us to become depressed, anxious, and suffer from other challenges. I don’t think it’s right to politicize advocating for protected public lands and clean air.
I’ve always been a person of principle, not of party. We are all much more intersectional than we realize. We are humans – multi-faceted, multi-dimensional. At any given time, there are Republicans, Democrats, and Independents who are recreating on our public lands. There are ranchers who are anglers, hikers who hunt, skiers who love utilizing motorized transit to access their lines, and splitboarders who prefer the quiet of a human-powered approach. Trying to put people into conceptual little boxes and label them red or blue is insulting to our ingenuity. And labeling states or issues red or blue is a form of voter suppression because it makes us feel like our vote doesn’t matter when it does.
There are significant flaws with the two-party system and the way politics currently operates in our country. People care about issues, not politics. They want to see solutions, not weaponization. With the current challenges facing America, I was inspired to run so I can go to sleep at night knowing I did everything I could to save our planet and democracy.
EO: As the first national candidate who has made Outdoor – and its specific connection to climate issues – a cornerstone component of their platform, how has support been from the corporate side of the outdoor world? Are outdoor companies in Utah or other parts of the country supporting your effort?
CG: As a federal candidate, campaign finance rules don’t allow corporations to get involved directly in supporting or opposing candidates, but there is still an important role for outdoor companies to play in electing climate champions through political action committees, or PACs.
Unfortunately, our campaign finance system currently allows a huge amount of dark money to impact our elections, and much of that comes from special interest groups like big oil who use their influence to elect climate deniers and delayers. We have to combat this dark money, which is why I believe it’s so important that all stakeholders, including outdoor companies, organize to support pro-climate candidates at every level.
The outdoor recreation industry generates almost $1 trillion in consumer spending, and it continues to grow. As the industry continues to grow, it becomes increasingly important for its leaders to use their voices to advocate for positive change, because we need real action on climate issues if we want to protect and preserve our outdoors.
EO: Because of its wide support in all demographics, the appeal of outdoors and outdoor recreation can be described as a sort of populism — ie, it’s more about personality than ideology – which makes it an incredible way to introduce yourself to voters. At the same time, political campaigns traditionally get more specific and honed in as they get closer to election day. Is your campaign integrating toward more “traditional issues” as time goes on, or is the outdoor-climate part of your campaign going to be the centerpiece through the end?
CG: One of the things I’ve enjoyed the most about campaigning is the ability to broaden my platform to incorporate many issues. Our campaign is focused on advocating for Utah families, our freedom and our future – listening to what the people need and committing to address the most pressing issues facing society today. When it comes to Utah families, we need to address the rising cost of housing and healthcare, and ensure that no Utahn has to worry about losing their home because of a healthcare crisis. We also need to ensure Utah families feel safe sending their kids to school by enacting common sense gun reform, which 70% of Utahns support.
When it comes to our freedom, we will fiercely defend our reproductive freedom and get our government back to work on addressing housing and climate, to stop creeping around our doctor’s offices. The latest attacks on IVF are especially sickening as 1 in 8 Utah families depends on assisted reproductive technology to start their family.
And when it comes to our future, we will accelerate our transition to clean, renewable energy while supporting our legacy energy producing communities with good-paying, union jobs. We will end Citizens United, enact campaign finance reform and advocate for term limits for Supreme Court justices, and ensure that every American, regardless of political party, religion or wealth, can vote and utilize government as a problem solving tool.
Throughout my life, I’ve always loved to solve problems, whether that’s figuring out the logistics of climbing a mountain or finding ways to clean our air. I will continue to listen to and learn from Utahns on how I can better serve the needs of our state and community.
EO: Your Republican opponent this fall (Rep. John Curtis) is an unusual Utah R because of his stance on climate. He was the founder of the House Conservative Climate Caucus and has stated that he has backed numerous climate-friendly bills. As outdoor and climate is obviously a significant part of your candidacy as well, what are the key differences that people need to understand between your positions and his?
CG: In my decade and a half of environmental advocacy, I have helped protect millions of acres of public land, have fought for better rates from our utility providers, advocated for clean air and water, and helped pass the largest climate bill in US history. I have led and organized marches, rallies and a “run to redistrict,” to highlight the extreme partisan gerrymandering in Utah and to raise money for a lawsuit against our state legislature to make sure every vote is heard. The policies I’ve helped to pass have created jobs, spurred our economy and saved lives by reducing air pollution that takes two years off the lives of the average Utahns.
I have had the opportunity to work with Representative Curtis through his seven years in Congress. When he was elected, I was hopeful, but he has been incredibly disappointing. Despite presenting himself as a moderate, he has voted in line with Donald Trump and Republican extremists 94% of the time. He is one of the top recipients from the fossil fuel industry in Congress, receiving over a quarter million dollars of support. His staff has been a revolving door of oil and gas lobbyists. His “Conservative Climate Caucus” is a fossil fuel backed delay tactic, and delay is the new denial. When it comes to his voting record in Congress, he has a worse lifetime environmental voting record (3% according to the League of Conservation Voters) than Mike Lee (13%). He puts the needs of corporations and special interests groups over Utahns, and has consistently voted to repeal protections to our air, water and public lands.
The difference is that I’ve been advocating to pass legislation that reduces pollution and cleans our air, long before it was popular or profitable to do so. I’ve organized activists, business, and government to work together to reduce emissions and protect public land. My campaign is funded by a grassroot groundswell of small dollar donors, while my competitor is funded by the fossil fuel industry, out of state billionaires, dark-money superPACs and utility providers.
What it comes down to is that John Curtis is good at talking the talk, but he doesn’t follow through with action. He is a pawn of big industry who continues to dilute, distort and deflect the responsibility of the fossil industry to action on the climate crisis. He’s had seven years and many opportunities to support transformative legislation that would reduce pollution at scale. Every time, he has an excuse for why he didn’t vote in a way that would create the change we need. He’s also have the opportunity to introduce legislation through the Conservative Climate Caucus. If we want to avoid the worst case scenarios of the climate crisis, we need to send a true climate champion to the US Senate, someone who is not bought and paid for by the fossil fuel and extractive industries. We can’t keep sending the same guy to do the job and expect a different result. If we despise the dysfunction in Congress, why would we send someone for six more years who has enabled the lack of progress in Congress for almost a decade?
I’m a woman of action and when I say I’m going to do something, I follow through. Follow the money that is funding our campaigns (it’s public record) and the differences will speak for themselves.
Q: My gut feeling is that there are other potential candidates in the outdoor universe around the country who are watching your candidacy, specifically to see how Outdoor works as the centerpiece of a Senate campaign. What would your advice be to one of those aspiring candidates?
CG: Run. There is too much on the line to wait. No one is coming to save us. No one is going to advocate on our behalf. Our planet, the outdoors, and democracy itself are on the line. Democracy dies slowly. We must do everything we can to save our country and the land we love so much.
A Colorado native, Drew Simmons is a writer and communications consultant living in Vermont. He is a contributor at large for Elevation Outdoors, and writes regularly on his own website WickedOutdoorsy.com about the overlap between the outdoor economy and the political arena.
Photos courtesy Caroline Gleich for Senate.
