Carbon Footprint

Slowly but surely the Taos Ski Valley 2010 Master Development Plan progresses. The Notice of Availability (NOA) for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Taos Ski Valley's 2010 Master Development Plan - Phase 1 Projects was published in the Federal Register on January 13, 2012. A 45-day comment period began the day after the publication date of the NOA (the Comment Period ends February 27, 2012).

You and your favorite ski area have a problem and that problem is trash. First, trash on ski slopes is shameful. Littering fouls the same mountains that we are privileged to ski and board. Trash is also a problem as ski areas must haul away piles of boxes, bags and wrappers to landfills. Even if your ski area is built over a trash incinerator, the trash you throw away has a carbon footprint coming and going from the snow.

Can a ski area grow and be green? Must a ski area expand to remain competitive and attract skiers and boarders? Does proposing a development plan make a ski area less environmentally friendly? These aren't rhetorical questions, they apply to ski areas worldwide. For example, Taos Ski Valley has presented a 10-year Master Development Plan to the Forest Service. As Taos Ski Valley operates on Forest Service land the public is invited to comment on the development plans. So, here are a few of mine.

Black Friday. The day after Thanksgiving in the US is infamous for early-morning sales and hordes of shoppers. If your plans for Black Friday include a tactical shopping mission - I have a suggestion. Buy Durable Stuff. Whatever it is you shop for, choose products that are made to last. For a product to be sustainable it must also be durable. Now, how do you find well made, durable stuff?

It's been quite a while since I've brought home a report card, but I remember it pretty well. A report card with all 'A's was great (although rare), but grades lower than 'B' were cause for a long conversation with my parents. The '09/10 report cards are out for ski areas in the Western United States. Unfortunately, I feel like it's time to have a long conversation with the ski areas in my state. The nearby ski areas have earned no 'A's, a few 'B's and one 'C'. Not a stellar grade point average for my area.

'There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.' That saying applies to skiing and snowboarding as well as time-share condo seminars. Peter Frick-Wright discovered as much in his attempt to reduce his carbon footprint (snowprint?) by snowboarding in the backcountry. Peter rode a train to 'see whether I can ride the rails to a near-zero-emissions vacation'. Unfortunately, Peter wasn't able to avoid car trips to the trailhead and he got a crash-course in backcountry ski safety too.

The modern Olympic Games are a showcase for athletic competition and for the city and country that host them. Vancouver, British Columbia will host the 2010 Winter Olympics and the organizing committee (VANOC) is going all out to present their city at its best.

When you go skiing how do you get to the mountains? If you can take a bus or train to the mountain, that's great! Unfortunately, for many of us there simply isn't any public transit to the closest ski resort. Speaking for myself, every time I go skiing I drive to the local ski area. Since driving is my only practical option - I carpool to the mountain.