Skiing green

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Winter blues for environmentalists often include the guilt that goes along with enjoying winter sports. Though skiing and snowboarding are fun, it is hard to ignore the toll ski resorts take on their surroundings. Keeping the fun of winter sports and their environmental impact in mind, the SKI AREA CITIZENS COALITION has taken it upon themselves to grade western ski resorts.

Recent Must Reads

11/29 – Cheney’s ties to Iraq

11/28 – Safe sex for plants

11/25 – The triumph of ‘wealth porn’

11/23 – Depleted uranium suit possible

Grading ski areas’ current policies on habitat protection and expansion, the coalition is able to steer environmentally conscious snow bunnies to spend their snow dollars at worthy slopes.

Topping the list were Sundance Resort in Utah and Timberline Ski Area in Oregon. Taking the prize of least environmentally friendly with a score of 19 percent (out of 100 percent) was Copper Mountain Ski Resort in Colorado for it’s plans to dump fill into a wetland area, expand it’s skiable area, and construct housing at the base of the mountain.

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate