Today is Earth Day (April 22), and while that mostly acts as an opportunity to encourage nature-related volunteer efforts around the world, it can also be a good reminder for us to take a good hard look at our personal carbon footprint. Despite most skiers and snowboarders having quite a lot of love for nature and the environment, participation in these sports can increase our carbon footprints by quite a noticeable amount.
Now I’m not saying we should quit our favorite sport. I’m just saying we should be aware of how it impacts the world around us, and to create that awareness, you should have a good idea as to what your carbon footprint is. That’s what the Ski Season Carbon Calculator, created by Ryan Nisbet and launched today to celebrate Earth Day, is good for.
To calculate your season’s footprint, you simply enter how you got to the mountain and what you did when you got there. You can select the type of transportation you used to get to the mountain (car, bus, plane, train), how many miles the trip was, how many passengers were in the vehicle (for cars), and a fair bit more. Once you’ve entered how you got to and from the mountains, you can select the types of ski/snowboard days you had. Were you on resort? Were you in a snowcat? Were you taking a snowmobile?
From there, the calculator uses your answers and a whole bunch of averages and other information to determine your ski season’s CO2 emissions, comparing you to the average user. Again, this doesn’t mean you should stop skiing or snowboarding, but it could help you evaluate how you could be doing a better job.
In a single day of skiing at Winter Park, for example, in which I drove from the Denver area alone, I emitted around .06 tons of CO2. If I carpool with just one other person, that would bring the personal emission down to .03.
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