How you Can Help Our Environment

Environmentally conscious skiers and snowboarders can sign the Project: Green Sierra pledge and take tangible steps toward reducing their personal impact on the environment. Once 1,000 Sierra Resort passholders have signed the following pledge, Sierra Resort will donate $1,000 to the Sacramento Tree Foundation to help get those 5 million trees planted!

Search and post rides to your favorite resort, hook up carpools, save money and gas, and make new friends with the new rideshare program. Ride Share links into a database shared by several Lake Tahoe resorts, providing guests access to a huge pool of other skiers and riders looking to hook-up a carpool.

Support the ski area's efforts to reduce greenhouse gases by purchasing a Mini-Green Tag.   Green Tags help reduce the harmful environmental effects of burning coal and natural gas. 100% of your contribution will be forwarded to the non-profit Bonneville Environmental Foundation to offset vehicle emissions associated with your ski trips to Sierra Resort.  Choose  from denominations of $4, $8 or $16.  $4 offsets one round trip from the Bay Area to Sierra-at-Tahoe®  Resort.

Wondering what yours looks like? Calculate your ecological footprint in just a few minutes with the TerraPass online Carbon Footprint Calculator. 

Help support conservation projects on the National Forests of Lake Tahoe Basin. These projects include trail and forest recreation improvements, wildlife habitat and watershed restoration, and community-based forestry programs.  For every dollar, your gift will be matched with 60 cents. 100% of your contribution will be forwarded to the National Forest Foundation. Choose from denominations of $1, $5 or $10.

Simple steps to major impact. Whether at work, at home or having a ball on vacation, there are simple steps you and your family can take towards making a difference in the world by reducing your energy consumption and waste. Check out Sierra-at-Tahoe's Monthly Green Tips and stay on top of the latest, and easy, trends in helping the environment.

Leading efforts to build the best urban forest for the Sacramento region, the Sacramento Tree Foundation  is working towards bringing 5 million new trees to the region's streets, schools, parks, and neighborhoods by the year 2025.

Any guest who arrives at Sierra Resort in a hybrid vehicle is welcome to drive right up to Preferred Parking and park for free.  That’s like having instant good karma for doing something tangible to reduce your carbon footprint.  Better yet, fill the car with all your friends before you head up the mountain.

As good as driving a hybrid full of people, Sierra Resort offers FREE shuttle  service to and from multiple locations in South Lake Tahoe. Not only is it better for the environment to use public transportation, but you can enjoy a few beers in the Pub after the lifts close without worrying about getting home responsibly.

From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever. View the video.

Cigarette butts, plastic water and soda bottles, energy bar wrappers, AA batteries and receipts are the most common items that find their way out of our guests hands and onto the slopes, into the parking lots and generally not where litter is supposed to go.  Please be conscious of your material waste and put it in the proper receptacle.  It only takes a minute.  We will even recycle batteries for you– just drop them off at the reception office next to Wild Mountain Children’s Center.

Litter can find its way into storm drains and pollute waterways and the environment.  Untreated storm drain water can soak into groundwater, flow into canals and streams, and into recreational areas such as lakes, rivers and the ocean.  The number one litter item found along highways is cigarette butts. 

• Don't Trash California statistics (PDF, 45KB)
• Don't Trash California top tips  (PDF, 52KB)

Not only will you make a difference by not using so many paper cups, but you get a deal on coffee and hot chocolate all season long. 

What do you see?  Fluorescent light bulbs?  Water heaters turned all the way up while you are away on vacation or, if your Tahoe home is your second home, while you are at your primary residence?  Computers, lights, stereos, televisions left on when no one is using them?  Phone charges constantly plugged in?  There are a hundred small things we can all do to minimize our own energy usage no matter where we are staying.  Replace your bulbs with CFLs, turn down your water heater, turn off and unplug whatever you can, especially your computer monitor which is a huge energy drain.