Aspen/Snowmass announces special deals and promotions for the 2009-2010 ski/snowboard season, with savings from opening day in November through closing day in April.
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Eight companies in the BICEP coalition, including Aspen Skiing Company have joined with other major firms as signatories to a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal advocating Congressional action now on strong climate and energy legislation. Check out more!
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SAN FRANCISCO – Ceres president Mindy Lubber announced that three new companies – Aspen Skiing Company, Clif Bar, and Seventh Generation - have joined the new coalition Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy (BICEP). The coalition is calling for passage of strong U.S. climate and energy policies in 2009 to spur development of a clean energy economy in America and reduce global warming pollution.
The announcement came at Ceres’ annual conference in San Francisco, last week on April 16. Ceres, a leading coalition of investors and environmental groups working with companies to address sustainability challenges like climate change, coordinates BICEP.
Lubber greeted the newest BICEP members by pointing to the foresight embodied in their much-admired business models. “These companies have already proven that they see the future,” Lubber said “They’re pioneers in sustainable business practices that extend to every corner of their stakeholder communities – from employees and customers to operations and supply chains around the world.
“So it’s no surprise that these companies are joining BICEP in tackling our nation’s climate and energy challenges,” Lubber said. “We welcome these new BICEP members and look forward to their contributions in achieving strong Congressional action to catalyze a clean energy economy.”
Elysa Hammond, who oversees Clif Bar’s environmental impact efforts, said that addressing climate change has always been at the forefront of the company’s sustainability program.
“As a food company we understand that growing food depends on a stable climate,” she said. “We also recognize that the food industry contributes significantly to global carbon emissions and has a responsibility to take action. And as a company run by people who love the outdoors, we recognize that global warming threatens the places we care about most deeply. So we’re honored to join the BICEP coalition of businesses speaking up on behalf of strong and effective climate policy.”
BICEP was launched in November by Levi Strauss & Co., Nike, Starbucks, Sun Microsystems and The Timberland Co. Last month three other companies joined — eBay, Gap and Symantec.
This third wave of companies joining BICEP comes against the backdrop of growing momentum for strong nationwide energy and climate policies. BICEP members say an emphasis on energy efficiency and renewable energy provides the least expensive way forward for addressing climate change and transitioning to a clean energy economy. The group issued a statement last week supporting the core principles of the Waxman/Markey climate and energy bill introduced in Congress March 31.
The coalition’s core principles include stimulating production of renewable energy, promoting energy efficiency and clean energy jobs, requiring the auction of all carbon allowances and limiting new coal-fired power plants to those that capture and store carbon emissions. Details on BICEP’s principles can be found at http://www.ceres.org/bicep.
Auden Schendler, Aspen Skiing Company’s Executive Director for Sustainability, said BICEP’s work in the current climate and energy policy debate makes it “the most important and meaningful part” of companywide efforts to address climate change.
“It trumps all of our other activities,” Schendler said. “We see climate as a key strategic issue facing the ski industry — in Colorado alone winter sports are a $2 billion business and all of it is threatened by changes in climate. In turn those changes affect other parts of our economy like hunting, fishing, whitewater rafting and ranching. That’s why this is job one for us.”
Seventh Generation President Jeffrey Hollender said that joining BICEP is important to his company “because a planet at risk puts our business at risk. We believe the purpose of business is not separate from the project of humanity.”
The new BICEP companies all have long track records of making sustainability a central component of their business models:
n Aspen Skiing Company, owner of the four-season Aspen/Snowmass resort, has been a pioneer in the use of wind power, green building technology and biodiesel fuels.
n Clif Bar has erected 13 wind turbines to offset its carbon footprint and instituted a “Cool Commute” employee incentive program that has resulted in the purchase of 33 hybrid or bio-diesel vehicles thus far.
n Seventh Generation is a leader in the production of non-toxic household products and in consumer education about those products. The company has also blazed a trail by candidly discussing in its public documents and reports its failures as well as successes in reaching sustainability goals.
For more information about Ceres, visit http://www.ceres.org
Aspen/Snowmass, Colo., October 23, 2008 – Aspen Skiing Company and the Aspen Art Museum will partner for the fourth consecutive year on the artwork on all Aspen/Snowmass lift tickets for the 2008-2009 season. The tickets will feature the text-based artwork Give More Than You Take of American conceptual artist Jim Hodges.
“I wanted to give the ticket something powerful, beautiful, rich, and as varied as the people who enjoy the sublime context of the mountains,” says Hodges. “The simplicity of the phrase Give More Than You Take can be applied to many of life’s issues ranging in subject from economic principles to simple manners of behavior.”
Hodges has exhibited widely throughout the U.S. and abroad. He is perhaps best known for his use of diverse, often commonplace materials including silk flowers, photographs, paper napkins, broken glass and mirrors, which he often weaves into sculpture-based visual narratives reflecting on the passage of time.
“Aspen Skiing Company’s roots trace back to Walter Paepcke, who is well renowned for bringing together the seemingly unrelated pursuits of art and business. In the fourth year of our partnership with the Aspen Art Museum we believe the Give More Than You Take artwork produced by Jim Hodges takes the lift ticket program to a new level,” said Mike Kaplan President of Aspen Skiing Company. “The artwork is certain to stimulate dialogue among our guests and locals which is exactly what this partnership is intended to do.”
Aspen Art Museum Director and Chief Curator Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson adds: “Like most great wisdom, ‘Give More Than You Take’ is a simultaneously simple and complex idea. The text references philanthropy, environmental awareness, corporate responsibility, Buddhist practice, and the overall concept of just being a good person and doing the right thing. The words he chose for the lift ticket can be seen as a subtle suggestion as well as a relevant question we can pose to ourselves as we enjoy the bountiful plenty that the four magical mountains of Aspen provide. ‘Do I give more than I take?’”
In addition to the 2008-2009 lift ticket Hodges will create a new site-inspired exhibition that will open with a free public reception at 6:00 p.m., on Thursday, February 12, 2009, and remain on view through Sunday, April 12, 2009.
With snow falling several times within the past week, the start of another season is just around the corner. Snowmass and Aspen Mountain will open on November 27 with the Aspen Winternational Audi FIS Women’s World Cup races on Aspen Mountain following on November 29-30. Aspen Highlands and Buttermilk will open soon after on December 13.
For more information on the 2008-2009 lift ticket or anything regarding Aspen Skiing Company, please visit www.aspensnowmass.com or call 800/525-6200.
Aspen Skiing Company operates the four mountains in the Aspen/Snowmass area - Snowmass, Aspen Mountain, Aspen Highlands and Buttermilk - as well as the award-winning Ski & Snowboard Schools of Aspen/Snowmass. The area offers unparalleled nightlife and off-slope activities as well. Aspen/Snowmass is accessible by two of the most convenient airports in the mountains – Aspen/Pitkin County Airport (ASE) (3 miles from Aspen) and Eagle County Airport (EGE) (70 miles from Aspen). For more information on Aspen Skiing Company, please call 800-525-6200 or 970-925-1220, or visit the company’s website at www.aspensnowmass.com.
Concerned with the effects of global warming and rising energy costs, snow sliding areas across the country are putting their money where their mouths are and building on-site renewable energy projects.
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Aspen Skiing Co. announced its new season pass prices late last week, which include rises of 25-75 dollars across the board.
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The mountain will be open to the 11,212-foot summit with uploading and downloading on the Silver Queen Gondola. Skiing and riding will be open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the Ajax Express chairlift. The Sundeck restaurant will be open serving barbecue lunch and beverages on the outdoor deck.
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OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE - May 5, 2008 (Aspen/Snowmass, Colo.) – The Environment Foundation donated $90,000 to 13 projects protecting the environmental quality of the Roaring Fork Valley (and beyond) as part of its spring grant-making cycle. Since its inception, the foundation has donated more than $1.2 million to almost 250 projects. The foundation is funded by Aspen Skiing Company employee contributions with substantial support from the Aspen Community Foundation and the Aspen Skiing Company Family Fund.
This spring, the foundation partnered with X Games Environmentality to fund a 5.4 kW solar array atop the roof of Solara Preschool in nearby El Jebel, Colorado. The high profile location showcases the beauty and simplicity of renewable energy systems to thousands of drivers commuting along Highway 82 each day. In addition, the system will provide 60 percent of the school’s electricity and reduce carbon emissions that would have resulted from using non-renewable energy sources, primarily coal, by more than 500,000 pounds. To install this system, X Games Environmentality donated $15,000 and the Environment Foundation donated $13,000.
In the four months since the foundation last made grants, Aspen Skiing Company employees donated $37,000. The Aspen Community Foundation and the Aspen Skiing Company Family Fund subsequently matched these funds. The 15-member board of directors, made up of Aspen Skiing Company employees, determines which qualified applicants receive a grant. Funded projects represent a broad range of environmental issues facing the Roaring Fork Valley:
Roaring Fork Outdoor Volunteers coordinates volunteer projects throughout the valley, as well as from Glenwood Springs to Rifle. They received $9,000 to support their slate of summer 2008 projects including work on the Maroon Lake, Arbaney-Kittle and Wulfsohn Mountain Park trails.
Western Resource Advocates received a $10,000 grant to conduct an analysis of the impacts of commercial scale oil shale leasing on all western slope water resources.
Roaring Fork School District launched an energy committee to implement energy saving projects throughout its facilities to address rising energy costs and a desire to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. The Environment Foundation provided $1,100 to provide a stipend to a staff person to coordinate this effort.
Solara Preschool serves many valley youth and their families providing critical day care and after school care while seeking to expose every child to environmentally conscious living outside their home. To support this mission the Environment Foundation, in conjunction with X Games Environmentality, provided $28,000 to support installation of a 5.4 kW solar system.
The Aspen Center for Environmental Studies <http://www.aspennature.org/> provides environmental education programming for more than 86,000 Roaring Fork Valley residents and visitors annually. They received $8,000 to support staff salaries and other general operating costs.
Western Colorado Congress (WCC) <http://wccongress.org/> seeks to empower residents throughout the western slope to protect the environment and their homes in the face of outside development pressures. They received $10,000 to support development of their Quarter Century Fund, a reserve fund available when other funding has been committed but not received and to fund urgent non-budgeted policy actions.
Colorado Fourteeners Initiative <http://www.14ers.org/> works to reduce the impacts of climbing Colorado’s fourteeners through the development of improved trail networks and maintenance of existing trails. They received $4,000 to develop a Roaring Fork Valley based peak ranger program that will adopt the newly completed Pyramid Peak trail.
Rocky Mountain Climate Organization (RMCO) developed the Colorado Climate Action Plan, the only privately funded statewide plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions developed in the nation. A $10,000 grant was awarded to RMCO to support development of a statewide coalition of nonprofit, for-profit and government entities to advocate on behalf of adoption of elements of the Colorado Climate Action Plan.
Waldorf School of the Roaring Fork seeks to graduate lifelong learners who give purpose and direction to their lives and communities. They are creating an organic vegetable garden on campus with the help of a $3,000 grant.
Wilderness Workshop and the Colorado Mountain Club are collaborating on the Hidden Gems Wilderness campaign to add more than 600,000 acres to the already designated wilderness of the White River National Forest. They received a $10,000 grant to support this campaign.
Roaring Fork Mountain Bike Association is a newly formed organization that seeks to create a valley-wide mountain bike trails plan and serve as the voice for the mountain biking community as public land use decisions are debated. To support their formation the Environment Foundation provided a grant of $4,000.
The Town of New Castle recently adopted a more stringent building code. In order to explore the impact of the revised code on the energy consumption of a home the town received a $3,000 grant to conduct energy audits of two houses built before the new code was enacted and an audit on the same model homes built under the new, more stringent code.
Habitat for Humanity of the Roaring Fork Valley is developing a store to sell lightly used items being removed during home renovations or demolitions. The revenue collected is used to support Habitat’s mission to build affordable housing for valley residents. To support continued development of this store a $5,000 grant was provided.
The employee-funded, -founded and -directed Environment Foundation has awarded more than $1.2 million to almost 250 diverse local environmental projects since its inception in December 1997. More than 1800 employees per year contribute to the foundation directly from their paychecks. The Aspen Skiing Company Family Fund and the Aspen Community Foundation matches all donations. For additional information about the Environment Foundation visit www.aspensnowmass.com.
The town of Carbondale is collaborating with Colorado Rocky Mountain School and Aspen Skiing Company to build the largest solar electric installation in western Colorado.
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