Big Sky’s
new Sustainability Committee
By Jessianne Castle EBS ENVIRONMENTAL & OUTDOORS EDITOR
BIG SKY – By
the mid-century, temperatures in Montana are expected to be 4.5 to 6 degrees F
warmer in Montana and the Gallatin Valley is projected to be around the size of
Minneapolis, with a whopping 420,000 residents.
These stats,
gathered by the Montana Climate Assessment and Bozeman’s Headwaters Economics,
beg for action today and communities with an outdoor predicated economy just
might need to look to the winds of change in order to survive.
Definitions
In Big Sky,
with its robust economy driven by skiing and outdoor recreation, where the Big
Sky Chamber of Commerce reports tourism and hospitality make up 70 percent of
the community’s employment base, a cohort of organization and business leaders
are looking to the future in order to develop a resilient Big Sky today.
On Oct. 17,
a 15-person panel comprising the Big Sky Sustainability Committee met for the
very first time as a first step toward creating a community-wide plan of
action.
“It’s so
important in Big Sky not only because of how beautiful the landscape is, but
also because we’re unincorporated it can be harder to push initiatives
through,” said Josh Treasure, the chairman of the committee and manager of
Roxy’s Market. “We’re excited for community involvement and to make Big Sky a
more beautiful place.”
The
committee will convene once a month with the next meeting slated for Nov. 21 at
3 p.m. at the Visit Big Sky office.
The group
was organized by VBS and the inaugural meeting followed a sustainability
training at Bridger Bowl Ski Area on Oct. 9-10. The training was taught by Kim
Langmaid, founder and vice president of sustainability programs at the Walking
Mountains Science Center in Vail, Colorado. Langmaid also spoke in Big Sky
during a Sustainability Lunch and Learn event on Oct. 11 that focused on the
ways other mountain resort communities are launching sustainability
initiatives.
“I think as
we talk about sustainability for Big Sky, it’s how do we maintain our
ecosystem,” said Big Sky Chamber of Commerce and VBS CEO Candace Carr Strauss,
who attended the sustainability training.
She added
that a holistic approach is necessary, one that incorporates environmental,
social, cultural and economic sectors of a community. We need to be
economically sustainable, environmental stewards, support behavioral health and
provide housing, she said. “If our people can’t afford to live here and it’s
just second homeowners and visitors, then we’ve eroded the fabric of our
community.”
In 2017, VBS
asked Big Sky residents to name the vital elements of the community and overall
needs as a part of the Big Sky DNA Study. “And we heard loud and clear the need
to balance outdoor recreation and the consumption of this place, by visitors
and residents alike, with respect, stewardship and preservation of place,”
Carr Strauss said.
Getting
on the same page
First steps
for the Sustainability Committee will be to assess current sustainability
efforts as a means of getting the entire community on the same page.
“I think
there are pockets of people doing things throughout the community,” Carr
Strauss said, giving examples like Outlaw Partners, Moonlight Community
Foundation and Rotary Club of Big Sky’s effort to eradicate single-use plastic
at community events, or a large composting initiative going on at the
Yellowstone Club.
Once the
committee has a better understanding of the smaller-scale actions, it will be
able to consider steps on a community-wide scale. According to Treasure, some
of the committee’s first actions might be to reduce single-use plastics across
all Big Sky businesses, install central recycling bins and to place compost
bins at every local business.
In addition
to preparing for the future, a Big Sky sustainability plan could also help the
community achieve the Mountain IDEAL destination standard, which is recognized
by the Actively Green Global Sustainable Tourism Council as a certification
program for mountain resort communities that are elevating their sustainability performance,
stakeholder engagement and collaboration. It’s recognition a community is a
global leader in sustainability, an accolade Vail achieved in 2018, making the
resort the first “Certified Sustainable Destination” in the world.
To become
certified, a destination must meet over 40 criteria that include making use of
low-impact transportation; protection of sensitive environments like wildlife
habitats, rivers and streams; regulations that prevent feeding and exploiting
wildlife; and a climate change adaptation plan that identifies challenges and
opportunities associated with a warming change, among others.
Moving
forward
“Something
like the Mountain IDEAL covers a lot of areas,” said Big Sky resident Twila
Moon, a research scientist with the National Snow and Ice Data Center. “It
covers reducing climate change, but also relates to the community, things like
affordable housing.”
A woman
who’s made a career studying glaciers and melting ice, Moon’s passion for
sustainable actions is visible in her very choice to take coffee without a
plastic lid.
Certainly
supportive of the sustainability effort, Moon said it’s important to remember
that environmental sustainability doesn’t necessarily equate to steps that
reduce climate change. Things like renewable energy or reducing overall energy
use would make for a more sustainable community while also helping to reduce
climate change, but other efforts like reducing single-use plastics might not
do anything for a warming climate.
While Carr
Strauss said it is premature for the Sustainability Committee to make
recommendations for the community, there are certainly actionable steps
individuals might consider that could lessen the effects of climate change and
also improve sustainability.
Moon calls
the warming trend a “climate crisis,” one that demands action today. “Perhaps
that [phrase] helps to embody the real sense of urgency that the situation
calls for,” she said, adding that it’s time to get beyond the cause and get to
the solutions.
“There are
solutions that fit every individual, organization or group,” Moon said, citing
carbon footprint mapping and suggestions made by the global research
organization Project Drawdown. As one example, she said residents can opt to
have renewable energy supplied to their home through NorthWestern Energy’s E+
Green program or Arcadia Power.
“I think
we’re challenged in a sense that we’re a tourist-dependent economy and tourism
is generally a high-carbon-use space. It requires a lot of travel, people
eating out, things that are not conducive to a small footprint.” That said, Moon
suggested renewable energy as a great way to combat the problem.
Ultimately,
while individual steps are important, Moon said larger initiatives are
required. “Institutional and government change has to happen if we hope to
achieve a reasonable preservation of the planet. That requires people to speak
up and tell government and businesses and incorporations that this has to
happen.”
