Photo: Mount Abram
by Bob Berwyn, via Summit County Citizens Voice
The Mountain Rider’s Alliance vision for a sustainable ski industry is about to grow some flesh and bones, as the grassroots group partners with a well-known engineering firm to develop specific plans for carbon-neutral, net-zero-energy ski areas.
The partnership between MRA and the Brendle Group with forge toward a new model for sustainability in the ski industry, focused on alternative business models for small and medium-sized resorts.
For starters, the Brendle Group will develop and test a model for sustainability at Mt. Abram that can be replicated elsewhere, starting with comprehensive assessments of energy use, land use, procurement, and community sustainability to identify options for net zero carbon, energy, and water operations as well as integrating sustainability and local economic development.
“We are extremely excited to be partnering with such an outstanding organization that has been a longstanding leader in ski industry sustainability,” said MRA chief Jamie Schectman.
“By partnering with MRA, we have the exciting opportunity to help advance MRA’s Mountain Playground vision while bringing our newest services in net zero water, ecosystems services, and sustainable economic development to the ski industry,” said Brendle Group president Judy Dorsey.
The Fort Collins-based company has a long and successful track record of working with a variety of companies, municipalities and other entities, including the ski industry.
Dorsey said her firm helped the National Ski Areas Association develop its Sustainable Slopes program and, more recently, the Ski Areas Climate Challenge.
Around Colorado, the company helped Steamboat Springs develop a sustainability management plan and has also worked with water districts, the National Park Service and Xcel Energy on sustainability issues.
At Mt, Abrams, winner of last year’s Golden Eagle ski industry sustainability award, the initial legwork will focus on utilities analyses and then move on with assessments and forecasts of energy and water use.
“Based on those studies, we can show them, here’s what it would take to get to net-zero,” Dorsey said, adding that Mt. Abrams already has a leg up.
The Maine ski area has already taken some significant steps toward a sustainable future, including the planned installation of a large solar energy array.
Of course, the concept of sustainability isn’t completely new ground for the ski industry. Resorts large and small have taken numerous steps toward a more sustainable future during the past decade or so. Vail Resorts, for example, has made significant progress in cutting its overall energy use, but there’s plenty of room for improvement.
Dorsey said her company specializes in taking a holistic approach to sustainability planning, showing companies how they can save money and help the environment at the same time. Incorporating sustainability into planning efforts from stage one makes it easier to achieve those goals, she said.
“MRA has provided a great vision and template. They’ve shown that riders are very interesting in this model. We bring the engineering and business rigor to prove these pathways are possible … we’re really optimistic we can prove that based on our previous net-zero work,” she said.
“We look forward to implementing Brendle Group’s roadmap to sustainability at our first partner ski area, Mt. Abram. Our partnership will help MRA achieve its goal of creating sustainable Mountain Playgrounds around the world,” Schectman said.
Brendle Group will complete several other projects in support of MRA’s mission, including analyzing how sustainable practices can make small and medium-sized ski areas more economically viable.
Keeping those smaller and mid-sized resorts economically viable is critical to the future of the industry, which has become top-heavy with oversized mega-resort companies, an economic model that has had sometimes disastrous consequences for other industries.
“we feel the market is top-heavy at the top. Those mom-and-pop ski areas are a niche that’s not being filled,” Schectman said, explaining his organization’s focus on that market segment.
Some of those smaller resorts have struggled in the face of economic challenges and some have thrived, but they are all important to the future of the sport and industry as the feeders that introduce new people to the sport, creating life-long enthusiasts.
The Brendle Group will also develop a screening tool for MRA’s future mountain conversion projects that includes environmental, financial, and community/social sustainability factors of the ski area and its local economy.
Bob Berwyn is Editor of the Summit County Citizens Voice. This piece was originally published at the Summit County Voice and was reprinted with permission.
Editor’s note: with voter turnout a major issue in the 2012 election — and climate change a major issue for the ski industry — Protect Our Winters and the Surfrider Foundation have asked professional skiers, snowboarders and surfers to remind their respective communities to get out and vote. Twelve pro athletes, including Travis Rice, Jeremy Jones, Shea Lopez and Gretchen Bleiler, have all submitted personal video clips asking people to remember to get out and vote on November 6.
Drop In. And Vote: Gretchen Bleiler from protect our winters on Vimeo.
Previous in TP Climate Progress
Language Intelligence: Lessons on persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga
It’s not clear from this posting whether the underlying story is much more than a dressed-up PR release from a small ski area development group wearing green jackets.
Is there evidence somewhere that Mountain Riders Alliance is a “grassroots group”? I could not back up that claim after quite a bit of working through their web site.
In our yearning for positive stories, it’s vitally important to real climate progress that we weed out mere charm offensives, however cleverly created.
I can’t say for sure from readily available public information what MRA at Mt. Abram, and elsewhere, is really all about. Which is enough, these days, to raise concerns.
Sustainable ski industry? How about reduce it by 75% for starters?
Why is the term “sustainable” tossed around with such ill regard for its actual definition?
There is nothing “sustainable” at all about the ski industry — or ANY industry that does not replace what it has taken (and none actually do, not even regenerative forestry).
Any inorganic matter taken from the Earth is not “sustainable” because it cannot be replaced or regenerated. This also applies to a much of the organic matter, which must regenerate (if allowed). Yet even this doesn’t replace the minerals and soil (the life of the Earth) that was lost.
A prime example of this would be tropical forest deforestation. Once removed, the land is near-useless after just a few harvests. All the minerals and living matter are now gone. Even reforestation doesn’t replace what was taken.
We may be able to “sustain” an industry, but that does not mean we are sustaining the Earth or the resources found within it.
Ultimately, no industry is actually sustainable, nor is most of what humans desire to do. It can only last as long as the resources (taken) do, and most of these, are not being replaced, cannot be replaced and instead, alternative materials and methods are being devised and then utilized, giving rise to the notion of “sustainable”. But the (self) deception remains, as none of this is really and actually sustainable.
Raw resources ripped out of the ground can never be considered sustainable — and this aptly describes 99% of all industry and the businesses they spawn that rely upon these resources.
The entire human model of existence now globally embraced is simply not sustainable — and never will be. Industry loves to use these terms as justifications for their existence and industrialized methods, but they are only fooling those who fail to understand that what is taken is forever gone.
As long as we continue to misdefine, misuse and misunderstand what “sustainable” actually means, we’re going to continue heading down the path of resource collapse.
When crosscountry skiing began as a form of winter transportation that was sustainable. There is now precious little skiable snow in low altitude population centers. The number of people who transport themselves by skis is trivial. Not nearly enough to support an industry.
Downhill skiing is and always has been destructive. It is the hobby of an inherently destructive elite. With climate change it will come to an end. Efforts to green downhill skiing are comical.
The World Goes Solar. Japan’s FiT in July is among the highest in the world. Japan’s FiT is shaking the solar market. Now, Asia has the same options. New solutions will be showed in Japan. This is it!
As you know, earthquake in Japan is happening frequently. Floating solar panels installation is one of the best solutions for power crisis in Japan. So you have to reduce vibration to install Floating solar panels. Because, it makes many kinds of problems! Vibrations caused by wind, waves and external forces. New Floating Body Stabilizer for Floating solar panels installation has been created in South Korea. The Floating Body Stabilizers generate drag force immediately when Floating solar panels are being rolled and pitched on the water. Recently, these Floating Body Stabilizers have been used to reduce vibration of Floating Solar Panels in South Korea. You can watch New Floating Body Stabilizer videos on YouTube. http://youtu.be/O2oys_YHhCc, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA_xFp5ktbU&feature=youtu.be.
there is an extreme need of green washing and “sustainability” around, overall in order to bring more unconscious customers, that see the sustainability as a way to act as always they’ve been doing.