Vancouverscape, a Vancouver based blog covering travel, tech, and lifestyle

On a beautiful spring early evening, how do you lure a bunch of Vancouverites into a room to talk about climate change? You throw a swanky party and offer vodka! 

At the posh Aura Club, Finlandia Vodka asserted its continued commitment to earth-friendly initiatives by announcing a partnership with Protect Our Winters (POW), a non-profit eco-advocacy group involving members of the winter sports community. 

Utilizing high profile supporters including gold medalists Seth Wescott, Jamie Anderson and Kaitlyn Farrington, POW highlights issues surrounding climate change through education and activism.

 
Finlandia is no stranger to supporting causes for the planet. The company’s distinctive “melting ice” bottle houses its time-honoured recipe using Finnish-grown barley and pure glacial water. 

Sponsoring water conservation since 2014, Finlandia forms part of a business alliance known as 1% For The Planet.

1% FTP is a collaboration of influential brands, including Finlandia, Patagonia and MEC, who offer monetary support to drive healthy environmental change. 

[Chris Steinkamp from Protect Our Winters]

Company representatives Sara Shaughnessy, Chris Steinkamp and Brad Fletcher were on hand to explain that supporting POW was a natural extension for Finlandia, pledging 1% of March and April sales towards POW’s global endeavours — a cause to raise a glass to!

[Olympian Rosalind Groenewoud]
 
To celebrate the partnership, Finlandia invited freestyle gold-medalist and POW advocate Rosalind Groenewoud as the celeb-on-hand to explain her passion for preventing the threat of climate change. 2015 was the warmest year on record; Groenewoud urged everyone to get involved.

Railtown Catering provided yummy hors d’oeuvres to whet our appetites for a quenching vodka drink. A wall of Finlandia bottles adorned the bar shelves as cheerful bartenders artfully prepared beverages. And just in case you wanted to practice Roz’s moves, a skiing video game beckoned would-be athletes.

Patagonia was on site with a pop-up store featuring the latest styles, while Bighouse Productions hosted a virtual-reality station for a personally-created animated GIF of your ride on a ski lift. 

Check out my GIF at the end of my last drink!

 
Vancouver, site of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, proved a natural choice for Finlandia to announce news of joining forces with POW and 1% for the Planet. A good vodka for a good evening, all for a good cause.

Photos by Cora Li.

About Our Contributor Cora Li

Cora dabbles in arts, technology, food, and travel. She loves that Vancouver offers a vast playground for exploring all of her passions. Cora’s most memorable job to date was working with VANOC during the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.