Green Snow Yellow Snow

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Permalink Reply by Jen on March 3, 2009 at 4:51pm

This is an little overview called How to Go Green: Skiing & Snowboarding http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/01/how-to-go-green-skiing-snow...">http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/01/how-to-go-green-skiing-snow...

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Permalink Reply by Bob Kollm on March 26, 2009 at 10:33am

Overall, there are many different factors that can turn your yellow snow green. There are plenty of personal choices that we all can make that can affect the local and global environment. Things such as transportation choices will obviously be a major factor but that can be broken down. You can start with the transportation method of getting your ass to the mountain. For me, the closest boarding option I have is 2 hours away. There is a great new public transit bus line that goes from my hometown to the city right outside the mountain. I still have not used it though. I like the freedom of a personal timetable that I get driving my Jeep. Plus I've got these great ski racks on the top, not to mention the 4x4 engine that gets me anywhere. Being on the East Coast kinda sucks cause all the badass spots are out West. If I were to fly out there that is a large carbon footprint, but I can always choose a fuel effiecint or hybrid car to rent while I'm out there.
Other things to think about on the mountain are food and water consumption. Eating at the lodge makes everything easy, but where did they get their food? There are often thousands of transportation miles that were necessary to get the food from where it was grown to the slopes. Not to mention the amount of petro fertilizers, pesticides, herbacides, and more that were used to grow the food. Occasionally maybe we can buy local or organic food and take it to the slopes ourselves. Even though there is snow everywhere on the mountain water usage is a big deal. It will most likely be the biggest issue of our lifetime and we should do all we can to increase water conservation eforts. Another thing about water is all the bottled water out there. Water bottles are one of the biggest sources of waste going into landfills these days. If we do drink bottled water we need to recyle, but the best thing to do is to get a reusable container. There are many good ones, I like my Subzero, and Nalgene now makes theirs without the bad stuff on the plastic. Just make sure you know what you're buying cause some aren't good for hot liquids.
Perhaps the biggest impact we can have on turning the snow we ride on green is in our equipment choices. Buying products that have been manufactured in a manner that is not harmful to our environment is a great way to vote with your dollars. The best way to ensure the products we buy are environmentally friendly is to find companies that have a third party verification or certification stating that their products have been manufactured in a sustainable way. If we can't find products like this we need to start demanding them from our favorite brands and retailers. Companies respond to the market, so if the people want "green" products the suppliers will find a way to make them available. A crucial factor to remember about this, though, is that the entire supply chain for these products follow the socially and environmentally responsible business practices.
Please let me know about anything you do that I can do to help make our snow green. Happy riding!
Peace, Love, and Respect

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Permalink Reply by Jen on March 31, 2009 at 6:48am

Have yall heard of SkiGreen?

https://www.b-e-f.org/shop/ski

Here is the scoop:

SkiGreen, is a partnership between the non-profit organization, Bonneville Environmental Foundation, and leaders in the winter sports industry to build support for non-polluting renewable sources of wind energy. Each BEF SkiGreen Carbon Offset represents 150 pounds of CO2 not emitted into the atmosphere by supporting 100 kWh of clean, renewable energy resources and reducing our dependence on dirty fossil fuels.

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