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What other industry short of glacier tours is more viscerally affected by global warming than the skiing business?  I was gratified to see Telluride partnering in SkiGreen, a carbon offset program that powers renewable energy.  As you ride up lift four you learn the positive impact of their program. It’s certainly a step in the right direction, but it appears it is only applicable to lift four. What about the rest of the resort?

SkiGreen.org also encourages skiers to purchase mini-carbon offsets with their lift ticket purchase.  Each mini-carbon offset represents 150 pounds of Co2 not emitted into the atmosphere through supporting 100 kWh of energy created from clean, renewable sources. So I asked to purchase my mini-carbon offset credit. The ticket office didn’t know anything about the program. Not one skier had requested it all year. They made a call to the head office. The head office said they don’t offer the credits anymore.

What the… So I went to Telluride’s website to see if they were doing anything with SkiGreen.org other than a few posters on lift four? The ski resort’s environmental efforts, which appear to be numerous, are buried on the site. Is my favorite ski resort inadvertently greenwashing? What a missed opportunity to educate its evangelists about sustainability and deploy them to help combat global warming through their actions.  After all, what consumer is more viscerally affected by global warming than skiers?

Here’s what I’d do:

1. SkiGreen Homepage Widget: Invite skiers to “green” their lift ticket by clicking on the button to automatically activate their mini-carbon offset. Ask related websites for tourism, ski rentals, accommodations, etc. to also feature the widget, which connects you with the ticket office.
2. SkiGreen Ticket Teller Badge: Pique skiers’ curiosity with a button or badge worn by all Telluride employees that says, “Cold is Cool. Take a run at global warming.”
3. SkiGreen Season Pass: Offer a special “Cold is Cool” season pass that tells the world that the purchaser is doing their part for sustainability.  The pass offers additional savings on local attractions, gear, rentals, guest passes, etc., that reward SkiGreen enthusiasts.
4. Ski Lift Posters: These should be fun, educational ads on what skiers can do to reduce their carbon footprint, support renewable energy, and combat global warming. Now they just tout Telluride’s carbon-offset program, which, after doing a little digging, is suspect at best.
5. Telluride Online Video Contest: SkiGreen.org has a new community blog that allows anyone to post. Telluride could have a SkiGreen video contest that invites their skiers to enter a one-minute video about their trip to Telluride. It would obviously promote the resort while continuing the conversation about what we all can do to combat global warming. They could also host the contest on YouTube and other video sites.
6. Twitter Telluride: In addition to daily snow reports, Telluride can use Twitter to offer their followers simple tips on how to become more sustainable and reduce their carbon-footprint, all in the name of curbing global warming and maintaining the ski season.
7. Do the Willy Wonka Thing with Clifbar: Clifbar is also a big sponsor of SkiGreen. They have a terrific website about their work with the environment. I’d recommend a “Golden Ticket,” or in this case, “Green Ticket,” contest where Telluride gives away a season ticket every month in addition to other prizes inside ClifBars. Each Clifbar comes with a green ticket, and winner or not, the ticket offers a green lifestyle tip.
8. SkiGreen Festival: Host a weekend festival in March that celebrates everything we can do as skiers to make a difference with global warming.
9. Camelbak Partnership: Keep plastic bottled water off the slopes while promoting sustainability with partners like Camelbak hydropacks.
10. Telluride Green Travel: Promote green ways to travel to the resort, like offering those that arrive in hybrids a 10 percent discount on tickets.

If you’re a winter enthusiast, what is your favorite ski resort doing to help curb global warming?  Their efforts may be operational, as in purchasing carbon-offsets, or educational, as in conversing with their customers.

FYI: SkiGreen.org is a partnership between the Bonneville Environmental Foundation and winter sports companies to build support for non-polluting renewable sources of energy (such as wind and solar energy).