Snow Bowl Ski Area Goes Green

Those folks at NativeEnergy have gotten to be really popular lately. They pop up in my Google Alerts daily with yet another outfit that has bought their carbon offsets. The roster includes such diverse organizations as Salesforce.com and the Global Green pre-Oscar party. Now the Snow Bowl, a ski area run by Middlebury College, has gone green, according to our very own Boston Globe:

Middlebury College, which owns and operates the Snow Bowl, is paying to offset every molecule of carbon dioxide -- the primary "greenhouse gas" that contributes to global warming -- emitted from groomers, lift operations, base lodge heating, off-site electric generation used to power lights and appliances, and even the carbon dioxide emitted by the cars skiers and snowboarders use to drive there. The college's alpine and cross-country ski teams are also on board, paying to offset their air and car travel to and from training and races, as well as the electricity used in the coaches' offices.

The idea was the brainchild of Thomas Hand, a Middlebury graduate, who now works for NativeEnergy, a Native American-owned company headquartered in Charlotte, Vermont. NativeEnergy funds Native American, farmer-owned and community-based renewable energy projects. Organizations buy carbon offsets from NativeEnergy, which in turn invests in wind farms, methane projects and the like.

NativeEnergy was just named to Fast Company's Fast 50, which highlights "50 profit-driven solutions for what ails the planet." You can read their write-up here.