global warming and ski resorts

[CarvCanada]

Sweet! Did the Barbados one ever fire satellites into orbit?

[Gecko]

how a discussion on Global warming got to a discussion on Super Guns and a consiracy theory about HAARP...next thing you know HAARP will be related to the Japanese used Russian technology thats been blamed for Katrina because Nikola Tesla sounds Russian (oopppsss Croatian) but this is a conspiracy here so who really cares :lol: :lol:

[Gecko]

My thoughts are that there is nothing that we humans can do that's subtle...we are either able to do things in overkill or we can't accomplish a thing. If the HAARP was a weather control device I think we would have destroyed the world by now.

[Cindy Kleh]

Thanks, Bola. I really didn't want this to become a political argument. I just wanted to know what ski areas are actually doing about global warming, since it will impact this industry so hard so soon. By 2050, half of the ski areas of the world will be financially infeasible because they are not situated at high enough altitude and the cost of making snow with warmer temps is too high. That's only 45 years away and many of us will (hopefully) still be riding.

And just for the record. Aspen is spending money to be more green. It may pay off in the future in terms of PR or savings on fuel when biodiesel and other alternative energies become more commonplace and cheaper, but right now, they are trying to do the "right" thing at their expense. (This may be the first time I've ever had anything positive to say about Aspen.)

Intrawest and VR have to answer to shareholders, so they may be in a different boat, but Arapahoe Basin has gone out of its way to be green, and I have to applaud Dundee for seeing beyond profits.

Couldn't bring up the Gas Muzzler's article, though.

[Pat Donnelly]

try this http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4400534.stm

[Frank Morales]

Hey Tim

Are you still dumping down the storm drain after changing your oil.

Frank

[Guest Tim Tuthill]

Frank: The last time I did oil, I took it down to John Hurleys to recycle. Are you going to Aspen?? See Ya!!!

[Frank Morales]

Just messin with ya.I think I might make it this year.

Looks like a fun event.I've got a new SWOARD coming which are being made by Virus .

Frank

[Guest Tim Tuthill]

Cool!! The whole family will be there!! Hope you make it!!

[Cindy Kleh]

Bola,

I would be very interested to read these articles. Are they online? Can you scan them (I don't have a fax.)If not, I can hit a library.

[Pat Donnelly]

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/_/id/8730988?pageid=rs.Politics&pageregion=single5

"The Debate Is Over No serious scientist doubts that humans are warming up the planet"

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/_/id/8730992?pageid=rs.Politics&pageregion=single6

[carvedog]

Karma will kick everyone's ass anyway if it does not melt first.

Ok Seriously. If you continue to do an action that you know causes even small harm to others you end up conflicting yourself at the root level. Our purest true nature is to do no harm until we are taught how to rationalize it away. Weather recycling, co emissions or littering.

What we can do as individuals to contribute or eliminate from our lifestyle can make a difference.

Personally I believe that whatever we do in our lifetime is nothing more than a mosquito bite to an elephant, but to live life with less than your best effort to be efficient and kind to the earth is not ok. For me. No judgement and no flames. Unless it gets hotter and we all spontaneously combust.

Best,

Jerry

[ncermak]

for what it is worth. Jiminy peak (hancock, MA) is going to put a windmill on the top of the mountain to generate electricity for its snowmaking and other electrical needs...

[ak_rider]

Summit county in CO has the summit stage free bus service. i'm not sure if this applies to all their busses but the one i saw yesterday was running on bio diesel. i won't say anything about global warming but this bus system certainly helps make the air cleaner. the more oxygen we can get up here, the better

[Frank Morales]

I live in the Ojai valley which is 12 miles inland from Ventura and my hometown of Santa Barbara ca. which is known for some of the best point breaks in world Rincon for one and the Hollister ranch just north of S.B.

where the picture of my avatar was taken.But is also home of one of the worst oil spills to hit the California coast.If you've ever experienced a oil spill trust me its something you'll never forget.especially if your surfer or a person that enjoys the outdoors and the ocean.Do we need the oil? It powers the lifts,our cars that takes us to the lifts and produces the resin that makes our snowboards and surfboards.So what do we do ? Well check out this guys website and see that there are people that are trying to make a defernce.This guy collects vegetable oil from some of the local restaurants and recycles it to power his dodge 4x4. Maybe not enough veggie oil to power the world but maybe enough to keep my son from being deployed to Irag.

His bag is packed and will be leaving before Christmas.Well I guess we won't be carving together for the holidays.

Love and peace Frank

[Pat Donnelly]

Independent audits scrutinize 'green' programs

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By Scott Condon

December 28, 2005

Aspen Skiing Co. officials realized last year that they could toot their horn all they wanted about their environmental programs but still have limited credibility in the eyes of the public.

So they took a chance last October and let an independent, third-party auditor assess what they were doing. The gamble paid off.

The Skico's environmental management program earned certification last October from the International Organization for Standardization. The Skico learned earlier this month that it will retain that certification, formally known as ISO 14001, after going through its annual audit.

The Skico is the only resort in the U.S. and one of only two in North America that have earned that ISO certification.

"It's anti-greenwash," said Auden Schendler, Skico's director of environmental affairs. "It's meaningless for a company to say, 'We're environmentally friendly.' This means something."

It might mean additional pressure on major ski companies, such as Vail Resorts, to follow suit. Many ski areas in the country participate voluntarily in the Sustainable Slopes Program, which the National Ski Areas Association, a Lakewood-based industry trade association, created in 2000.

Industry officials tout the program as a good incentive for ski areas to get involved in environmentally friendly programs. When it is voluntary, risk is lower and participation is higher. Participants know a government entity won't penalize them, for example, for failing to meet a goal.

But critics contend Sustainable Slopes is just a way for the ski industry to dupe customers into thinking it's environmentally friendly without taking meaningful action.

In a study last year, two professors concluded that the Sustainable Slopes Program appeared to be a marketing ploy. The study authors, professors Jorge Rivera of George Washington University and Peter de Leon of the University of Colorado at Denver, labeled the program a "symbolic self-regulatory scheme that does not appear to effectively improve industry-wide environmental protection."

De Leon and Rivera said the industry needed third-party audits - like the Skico undertakes - to be credible.

For the Skico audit, Mark Gage, of a Vancouver, British Columbia, firm called KPMG Performance Registrar, spent three days grilling company executives, examining maintenance shops that service snowcats and snowmobiles, and touring ski area facilities to assess the effectiveness of the environmental management program.

Gage quizzed Aspen Mountain Manager Steve Sewell about springtime practices to ease erosion and prevent streams of snowmelt from pouring into Aspen's streets. Later, on the mountain, Gage questioned maintenance shop workers about practices like the handling of used motor oil.

Gage said one of his interests is assessing how formalized environmental polices are and if a company, like the Skico, has established clear lines of accountability.

Gage was less concerned about high-profile, PR-savvy programs like extensive recycling at the Sundeck restaurant and more concerned with environmental risks, like handling of materials after vehicle maintenance, summer wildfire hazards and ability to respond to fires, and water use.

The Skico had only "minor nonconformances" with the ISO standards this year, according to Gage. His firm, KPMG, is an accredited auditor with the ISO and capable of granting the certification of the Skico's environmental program.

Sun Peaks, a Canadian resort, is the only other ski area with ISO 14001 certification. Gage believes that will change. In other industries, when one leader seeks the environmental certification, others soon follow suit. Gage expects that will occur in the ski industry as well. Other resorts have already approached his company about audits.

To some degree that interest is from "the goodness of their hearts," Gage said, but competition is also a motivator. Other major resorts are well aware the Aspen Skiing Co. has its ISO 14001 certification, Gage said.

Schendler welcomes the exposure.

"I think, hopefully, it's going to create a new standard for the ski industry to live up to," he said.

Scott Condon's e-mail address is scondon@aspentimes.com