How we can make skiing more sustainable

H

Hartle

New member
hey all, not really sure where i'm going here but it's a start. it is my hope that most of us are becoming more familiar with the buzz word sustainability. as skiers we can make a few demands at our local mountains/resorts, not to mention the companies we purchase from.
each mountain should look into wind turbines to power facilities, in addition to solar energy. jiminy peak in massachusetts has one turbine that meets half of their energy needs. ask your local ski area if plans are in the works to incorporate alternative energy into operations.
in terms of cafeterias, ask if the food is local and organic. inquire about using real plates and utensils to avoid the use of fossil-fuel generated plastics and such.
in choosing companies to purchase from, you can purchase skis whose wood is from certified forests that are sustainable. also, bamboo is an alternative wood source that grows back quickly.
for outerwear, purchase from companies that use certified organic, fair-trade cotton.

press companies to explore these options if they aren't already

i'm clearly no expert, just trying to get some ideas out there.
newschoolers is a huge community that spends a butt-load of money on the sport each year - we can redirect our expenditures towards companies that are promoting a sustainable future. our purchasing power can definitely change a lot of things. i'm planning on writing the state of new york, which operates a few mountains. not sure if other states fund any mountains, but write a letter. frequent ski areas that are making concerted efforts to promote a more vibrant future.

look for other kids at your mountains that drive and jam-pack your cars. carpool!

or don't care at all and start when it's too late...

peace all
 
Lulz, going to a manager of a resort and telling them to change everything they do is much easier said that done and even if you do there is a very slim chance they will listen, let alone give a shit. The only way things are going to change is if the people running everything choose to change, which would be very difficult because green power and green productions is expensive.
 
it is easier said than done. but if we can cite a few resorts who are making efforts, and begin to perform selective patronage, than we can apply a lot of pressure.
 
it's not.------china opens a new coal fired power plant every 2 weeks. ask them if they give a sh*t about global warming. they dont
 
i don't see why we (americans) shift the blame towards countries like china and india when we have been acting in a malevolent manner for the past 100 years. true, there are many areas where rising asian powers can change, but have you read about their efforts to create entire eco-friendly cities? the U.S. holds 5% of the world's population and uses 25% of energy/resources. understand these figures before we call out asia's development. overall, the international community sees the U.S. rightfully as a pig.
 
Im not trying to rain on your parade but unless a large majority of people do this (more than this site) there isnt much hope for a few people to complain and bring change. Seriously change is expensive to companies. The biggest impact you can have is small ethical changes you can do yourself. Instead of buying food at the cafeteria, bring your own. Instead of taking a lift everyday, go tour or hike once in awhile. You dont even need to own touring skis, hitch a way up a pass then ski down to your car.
 
change might be expensive to companies, but so is a boycott. the only way anything ever happens is a few people agitating and organizing masses. i'm also confident that if we had ALL of newschoolers shit could happen
 
http://green.jiminypeak.com/page.php?PageID=295

why do you have to be a hater?

There are plenty of smaller mountains that are run as a ski club where season members can participate on a board and actually make change. You don't always have to start with the "biggest" players to cause change, smaller mountains can create chane easier, and more effectivly.

If you're mountain is small or is a club where members can have a say, get involved, don't wait for someone else to start something don't think you can't make anything happen, people do it all the time.

and heath, why do you have to say that the little guy doesnt stand a chance so he shouldn't even bother? lay off the cynicall shit
 
I'm not saying they shouldn't or that they won't, but the typical business owner like a resort owner looks to earn money and spending it on green power is pretty low on some people list. As for small resorts that are non-profit, im not sure how they could pull it off from a moneystand point, but im sure most of them would like to have green power. Im not trying to be cynical, im just being realistic.
 
It's not like what he is saying is not reasonable. Most state governments consider 10 letters on one topic enough to make change. Vail resorts, and copper/winter park among others are all completely wind powered.

green energy is not as expensive as people think. For companies like vail to run on wind power they don't need to build wind turbines but instead can buy wind credit which puts economic pressure for more wind turbines to be built, until there are ones near your resort.

Also, in a normal home it takes 15 years for solar pannels on the roof to pay themselves off. For as long as i can remember the same restaurants and buildings (with the exception of two elk which burned down and was rebuilt) have been standing. This means that implementing solar energy to run these buildings would be eco-friendly and cost effective in the long run, especially wiht the rising price of fossil fuels and the lowering price of alternative energy sources

the creator of this thread knows whats going on and i agree that just making suggestions and writing letters can make a big difference
 
heres how: bike to school/work, have short showers, use solar in YOUR HOME, etc. Instead of whinging that the skifields arent doing enough, do it yourself!
 
Exactly. In order for this to happen, its going to have to come from the consumer because the resorts aren't going to do it on their own. Heath's viewpoint may be cynical, but it is how the business world works. Luckily, in a capitalistic economy, a large amount of the power lies in the hands (or pockets) of the consumer. So think about where your dollars are going.

On a slightly different note, I'm going to have to call bullshit on areas like Vail and Aspen being considered "green" or sustainable. They seem to get A's on that bullshit ski environmental report card every year, when smaller areas like Bridger Bowl get Fs. Just because they're operating on solar power NOW doesn't really excuse them for past development and expansion or the energy consumption of the large resorts at their bases.
 
then that's pretty weak, as shown by jiminy smaller mountains can afford it, and if you're saying realisticly it wont happen then you're letting it not happen. atleast have it as an expectation of ski resorts to start to work positivly towards sustainabiility. The market shouldn't shape the people, the people should shape the market.
 
you know how we could make society better? gather all of the fat people into little colonies at ski resorts and make them walk up the mountain and ride the lift down. this way we would help curb obesity and use simple physics to power our chairlifts.
 


If an indie ski company owned a decent amount of land, they could grow their own core wood, and use it, and every time they pull one out they can plant 2 more.

But it would be pretty costly to fell and process the wood and everything.

 
i think volkl owns a hardwood forest in germany. also it would take many years for the trees to mature and be ready to use
 
You know I hate to say it, but people should really stop sledding and driving around the massive trucks they need to carry them?

I mean seriously... how much gas does all of that shit use?

 
probably not as much as a heli or cat skiing operation. and also not as much as it costs to build parks and and groom mountains. i am not advocating not doing any of the above but there should be ways to make it more efficient. it seems like you could make a hybrid snow cat with all that downhill timethey could charge alot of batteries
 
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