Nicolas Müller Interview
nickhamilton
- November 01 2008
- 8,674 views
- 34 comments
Nicolas Müller is an amazing snowboarder—someone we can all admire for his seemingly natural ability to crush-it on all terrain. But what is possibly even more admirable, is his choice to SPEAK OUT about things that matter. Things like global warming, sustainability, and environmental awareness. When so many pros never bother use their position as opinion leaders to any responsible end, its nice to hear from someone who actually has some thoughts and opinions and ideas. Read up.
How did you become aware and concerned about your “impact “ on the planet?
It started with becoming a Vegetarian and choosing to eat organically grown produce only. In the beginning I did it mainly for my own health and soon I realized that we influence the whole planet with our actions.
What do you think is the most significant action you take to reduce that impact?
Not eating meat. The amount of water, nutrition, farmland and fossil fuels consumed to make one piece of meat gets me going for weeks. With today’s population on this planet, it is straight up ridiculous to think you need meat with every meal. If we keep consuming at this pace we will need several planet earths to provide the resources.
How do you reconcile the use of helicopters and snowmobiles in your work?
There’s no doubt that I use a lot of fossil oil for my travels around the world as a professional snowboarder. Again, meat production is before global traffic when it comes to climate impact. In South America alone, in the past 25years, 20 Million hectares of forest have been burnt and cut down to make space for cattle. Those trees would put a lot of C02 in the ground. I am also at the forefront of the SuddenRushAtlanticRainforest Institution, where I offset my C02 footprint by purchasing forest that becomes national forest after I bought it. Forever and certified by the Governement of Brasil.
Do you see awareness growing?
No doubt, there’s a great energy on this planet today. People start to think, they are bored of their consumer lives and they are beginning to question things instead of believing everything. There’s a lot of manipulation out there, but everybody can still choose for themselves who they want to support with their dollars, which equals their energy.
Talk about your new board?
The EcoNico is the most environmentally friendly board in the line. We could say it’s like a prototype with the most up-to-date green technology in making boards at Burton. It has a FSC farmed woodcore, recycled metal and plastik, no laquer topsheet, and water-based inks printed on recycled paper, to name a few things here. Every year there will be a progress within my board that will trickle into the whole board line the following season.
What is the next step you can take to further your cause of environmental awareness?
I see it like this, you can’t totally change overnight and nobody is perfect either … But the thing I am trying to do is to consider the sustainability in every action. And that can go as far as thoughts. I don’t want anything that I do to have a negative impact on myself or on the big wide world.
How do you keep yourself informed about these issues?
By sharing and meeting with people that believe in similar ways. From books and websites, documentary films. A lot of it also just came together in my head from observing nature, our civilization and society and thinking about it a lot. I am an introvert … I think a lot … sometimes too much.
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November 1st, 2008 at 2:43 am
First?!? Sick all natural jacket.
November 1st, 2008 at 2:43 am
oh man. sick sick sick.
November 1st, 2008 at 2:57 am
to much bro!!! saw you in nz! your the man
November 1st, 2008 at 11:12 am
i hate vegetarians. the gmp products look sweet and its good what he’s doing but sorry it will do nothing to save our planet. one little small thing like this has no impact
November 1st, 2008 at 11:13 am
p.s. i’m an idiot
November 1st, 2008 at 11:45 am
wicked. your right it wont stop us destroyin the enviro but its is a great first step. as riders we are gona feel the effects of global warming alot sooner than some other ppl of the world. if we love our sport we gota get behind the green movement. although consuming new stuff like this dosnt change anything unless you really need it. green=white props muller
November 1st, 2008 at 2:26 pm
is it just me or did NONE of what he said make ANY sense.
November 1st, 2008 at 2:44 pm
p.s. i speak the truth. what muller is doing won’t help anything because 1. most people won’t spend extra money to buy “environmentally friendly products”. most are ridiculously expensive. 2. most people won’t become vegetarians. thus his plan to save the environment won’t work. i’m being realisitc. but i do give him props for trying
November 1st, 2008 at 2:49 pm
snowboarders being green is a total oxymoron. sorry but to be truly “green” and snowboard you have to never ride at a resort, buy all environmentally friendly gear…head to toe, and you have to walk everywhere in the backcountry…no snowmobiles or helicopters. currently there are zero snowboarders doing this. green products in snowboarding is nothing more than a marketing scam
November 1st, 2008 at 5:01 pm
I think it’s just you dude
November 1st, 2008 at 5:02 pm
true snowboarding can never be totally green. neather can pretty much everything you do in your life can be eather. but you can reduce your foot print on the environment. alot of resorts are taking a proactive role to reduce their footprint, like grouse in van is setting up a wind energy scheme which will provide 40% of their electricity for this year. no its not going to save the world but its a step in the right direction. also as muller said about himself he pays to offset his carbon emissions caused by heli trips. even if you walked everywhere you still need energy from the food you eat, its impossible to not use energy doing everything.we cant stop we can only slow down for now. and i agree it is a bit of a marketing scam but someday all companies will be doing this and then it will make a diff, and when my old jacket eventually dies il get gmp coat. gota crawl before we walk
November 1st, 2008 at 5:11 pm
He is sooo good in “Ready”!
Makes me squirt my load.
November 1st, 2008 at 5:19 pm
put down the bong & pick up a book, barney.
November 1st, 2008 at 5:41 pm
I <3 transworld haters
I hate optimists…
November 1st, 2008 at 5:42 pm
I hate people who try and save our world
lets all just give up and kill oourselves
November 1st, 2008 at 7:56 pm
I got my GMP Strapped down jacket and it’s super sick. A lot of people can be negative and say it makes no difference and the reason it makes no difference is because people have poor attitudes. If we stick together as riders and work towards a common goal we can make a HUGE impact. Small steps first create HUGE results. I’m also getting the EcoNico 159 to go along with my JJ 151
Without this company we wouldn’t be enjoying our winters as much as we do, show some respect
November 2nd, 2008 at 1:40 am
Still made in china. Seems like a marketing gimmick. Needs more work. The fact that Nike makes snowboard boots now makes me think it’s a Gimmick. How could that be possible? Snowboarding equipment is designed to last less than a season. That is a problem. We are getting ripped off because, fake corporations like transworld are marketing snowboarding to young kids who have more disposable income than most. That is good because I’ll watch you clowns in the park mimicking the jib pros while I’ll ripping the powder. Buy Rome. Burton is for corporate tools. Nico Smico.
November 2nd, 2008 at 8:16 am
yea dude he is the man i met him in NYC and he was mad chill
November 2nd, 2008 at 9:46 am
Nico is the best rider out there.
Rome is a marketing gimmick if there ever was one. What have they done for the sport?
November 2nd, 2008 at 1:33 pm
ha ha wow. are you in 6th grade buddy?
November 3rd, 2008 at 10:20 am
seems like just another marketing front try’n to jump on the ‘green’ bandwagon.. not that its a bad thing. for the whole ‘green’ effect to actually work, all the money from its products should be used to help our planet.. which it isnt. or the products should be free.. which they arent. burtons using a change in lifestyle for its own benifts by making bank on a 2-sided argument. somebody give them the nobel peace prize.
November 3rd, 2008 at 5:12 pm
why are you here supporting the site if its such a bad company???
sounds like a hipocrit
November 3rd, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Muller seems to have been “mulling” up a little to much..
“I dont eat meat because cows take up so much room and they knock down trees.”
Hey Nicholas did you think that the ski resorts you ride have knocked down millions of hectares of forest ? Which have been burnt and cut down to make space to create ski runs?
And don’t worry about the heli rides you take in every season in AK.
But good for you Nicholas you do “your share” thanks for your 5 cents.
Get off the bongs son.
November 4th, 2008 at 12:35 am
Nicholas does kill it in “ready” and he is mad good… but burton products suck there all massed produced and always break…if your gunna buy envirment friendly products buy the good ones like travis rice’s lib. tech that shits made out of beans…travis is also the first one to put out the recycled outerwear with quicksilver so he should be getting the credit not nicholas…
November 4th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
dude, cows don’t knock down trees…I think you should get off the bong and educate yourself about where your hamburger comes from by going to http://www.spoonrevolution.com read & think son!
November 4th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
he is doing more then we all are and he did say that he has to still use planes and stuff. he is trying and it is not a one person can do all kind of thing! nicholas and gigi are perfect male or very close-giggles
November 4th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
Nimu you stupid fool.
I didnt say cows knock down tree’s.
Nicholas is saying he dosnt eat meat cause cows take up to much space thus they have to knock down hectares of forrest.
The average person wouldnt even eat 1 whole cow a year.
Educate yourself maybe http://www.learntoreadanarticle.com before making a stupid comment…
Nimu= Epic fail!
November 5th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
the price of chicken has gone down =]
November 5th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
BURTON!!
November 10th, 2008 at 11:33 am
People, do not use your energy to criticise others. Nico does a very good job. I bet, YOU,that criticise,do nothing for the enviroment.Don´t buy shit! Money is energy. We are buying our future.Check out the film like Zeitgeist to see what is going on here.See you Nico in NZ or wherever!
June 9th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Josh I hear your…enough kids copyin’ the pros…but this is somethin’ worthy of being trendy b/c although it won’t make a massive impact it gets the ball rolling…we need to start somewhere. I agree…fuck burton…i am a hypocrite though b/c I ride for them, but as soon as I can get on lib no more burton for me…But please please please please don’t bad mouth Nico…he is one of the few pro shreds out there with his head on his shoulders. Also, I can’t name a better rider…except Terj in the pipe…but that is about it.
June 9th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
cynicism is not the answer dude.
June 9th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Nico is amazing…and rome is a marketing gimmick…but it’s not a sport…it’s an art/ way of life.
June 9th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Thank you Nimu…
Pic-al…come on man you and i and hopefully all of planet earth knows that we consume too much meat…especially in America…be part of the solution and not the problem…”Enlighten UP!”