It’s February and in Boston that means two activities are on many parent’s list: skating and skiing. Personally, I’m torn on skiing and not just because my knees are awful. First, the pros. You are enjoying the outdoors and nature, having fun, using your own energy for at least part of the effort, they have daycare & ski school, and who doesn’t love apres ski! And many skiiers are pretty green people. After all, global warming really ruins the skiing.

But then you consider how they actually operate ski slopes. Cut down trees or bulldoze runs, throw up high energy using lifts, serve pretty bad food in styrofoam, and when nature doesn’t cooperate, make a lot of snow. Not so green.

Fortunately, the Ski Area Citizen’s Coalition has a site for those of us who want to TRY to be as green as possible while skiing. My only complaint is that it doesn’t have Vermont, New Hampshire or Maine, but if you are out West or headed out West, you are in luck.

Every year, they rank ski areas on a series of environmental factors to produce a scorecard (kind of like what Practically Green is going to do for you…). The grades are based on four criteria: Habitat Protection, Protecting Watersheds, Addressing Global Climate Change, and Environmental Practices and Polices, which then form a overall grade. Their work is endorsed by major conservation organizations and they publicize a Top 10 Best and Top 10 Worst list.

The winner for greenest ski area? Squaw Valley, California. The least green? Breckenridge, Colorado. You can also search for the place you choose to ski on the site specifically.

So no, I readily admit downhill skiing isn’t the greenest way to enjoy the outdoors (this is where all you hikers and cross-country skiiers get to remind me how virtuous you are relatively speaking). But you can still support green living by voting with your lift ticket or encouraging your local mountain to lift their grade–their eco-grade that is.