TJ has been a vegetarian for 6 years now. This means he eats no meat. The main reason for this is every time I would eat meat it would make me sick, it just wasn't agreeing with my system. He spends a lot of time traveling, especially in Europe and Japan where no meat is not as common and usually gets a " what's wrong with you" kind of reaction and usually resorts to eating fruit and candy on a regular basis. TJ once did a Go Vegetarian campaign for PETA 2 because I thought it would be cool and a good way to show other snowboarders that it's easy to not eat meat. If asked to work with a more extreme group like the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) he would have to say no, I'm not that extreme.

If you didn't guess, that was TJ Schneider filling in some blanks. As you can tell, he's been doing the vegetarian thing for a while now, which can be tough when you're traveling the world on snowboard budgets. Being a man of conviction, he's made it work, along side supporting environmental intiatives in the companies he rides for.

Do your eating habits have any effect on the equipment that you wear/ride?
I try to use as little animal products as possible.

Does being a vegetarian and living carbon neutral tie in together as a lifestyle for you?
I think it's just being more conscious of what's going on around me than I used to.

Offering "green" products or being an entirely carbon neutral brand seems to be the trendy thing to do these days. In your mind, are some brands just riding the trend without regard for the actual cause while others are actually more concerned with promoting environmental change than sales numbers?
I'm sure there are both. You could look at it a few different ways though: I'm stoked on brands like Bond that are really just trying to do something in a way that is better for the environment, and for the companies just jumping on a band wagon, at least it is something that is better than jumping on the "pour oil into the ocean trend" or something like that.

You have taken steps over the last few winters in regards to being more of a carbon neutral pro snowboarder. What do you think the average snowboarder at home can do to contribute?
Just be aware of what you're doing; snowboarders waste a lot. Take small steps like recycle all your beer cans and boxes, don't go sledding just to high mark everything. Use your sled only when you need, and put the truck away for a while and get a bike or small car. The bottom line is just look at what you're wasting and try to reduce it.

Break us down with a quick, cheap, veggie recipe that you're into these days.
Easy style veggie dish that's big in my life right now is Veggie Chilidogs:

- 1 can of Amy's veggie chili
- 1 pack of Yves veggie dogs
- 1 pack Whole Foods whole wheat hot dog buns,
Add some cheese, and you're done.
You can feed 3 people easy with this amount of food and its costs about $8.

Any closing words?
Just think about what you're doing, things are different than they used to be, its important to be aware of your impact on the world.

TJ takes you through some of the "green product" he'll be riding next year:

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Related:
TJ Schneider: A Realm Of His Own
Dagmar Snowboard Realms Session with TJ Schneider
Fanning Out: How To Connect with Leanne Pelosi and TJ Schneider