One of the key principles I lifted up in my most recent book, Saving the Corporate Soul, addresses how a company treats the environment. It goes as follows: ?The environment will be treated as a silent stakeholder, a party to which the company is wholly accountable.?

One of the best examples of environmental stewardship I have run across lately is the Aspen Skiing Company.

Aspen ? the very name evokes elegant skiing. Set high in the Colorado Rockies, the Aspen Skiing Company operates four mountains, three hotels and 15 restaurants.

Unfortunately, strong brand and a storied tradition offer no defense to climate change. ?Environmental research tells us that Colorado will be like Santa Fe in 100 years if climate change trends continue. If that happens, skiing here only will be a memory,? warns Auden Schendler, director of environmental affairs at Aspen Skiing Co.

In response, the company aims to work in a sustainable way with its surroundings, led by an innovative, employee-run foundation. Established in 1998, The Aspen Skiing Company Environment Foundation is made up solely of company employees who commit to payroll deductions of as little as $2 to fund conservation projects, with special focus on the River Fork Valley that surrounds Aspen. The Skiing Co. matches employee donations to the foundation and a third party, a local community fund, matches them again, effectively tripling each employee gift.

Kudos are due to chief executive Pat O?Donnell, who was steeped in environmentally conscious business both as the CEO of Patagonia and the head of the Yosemite Institute. Immediately upon his arrival at the Skiing Co., O?Donnell set up the first environmental affairs department for the U.S. ski industry and hired a Sierra Club veteran to direct it.

O?Donnell insists on the foundation?s independence. The board of directors ? a range of ski patrollers, lift operators and snow-cat drivers and the like ? are elected directly by employees. To date, the foundation has given away nearly $750,000 to causes that range from purchasing land to preserve the regional environment to recycling programs for computer hardware.

Aspen ? the very name evokes elegant skiing. Set high in the Colorado Rockies, the Aspen Skiing Company operates four mountains, three hotels and 15 restaurants.

Unfortunately, strong brand and a storied tradition offer no defense to climate change. ?Environmental research tells us that Colorado will be like Santa Fe in 100 years if climate change trends continue. If that happens, skiing here only will be a memory,? warns Auden Schendler, director of environmental affairs at Aspen Skiing Co.

In response, the company aims to work in a sustainable way with its surroundings, led by an innovative, employee-run foundation. Established in 1998, The Aspen Skiing Company Environment Foundation is made up solely of company employees who commit to payroll deductions of as little as $2 to fund conservation projects, with special focus on the River Fork Valley that surrounds Aspen. The Skiing Co. matches employee donations to the foundation and a third party, a local community fund, matches them again, effectively tripling each employee gift.

Kudos are due to chief executive Pat O?Donnell, who was steeped in environmentally conscious business both as the CEO of Patagonia and the head of the Yosemite Institute. Immediately upon his arrival at the Skiing Co., O?Donnell set up the first environmental affairs department for the U.S. ski industry and hired a Sierra Club veteran to direct it.

O?Donnell insists on the foundation?s independence. The board of directors ? a range of ski patrollers, lift operators and snow-cat drivers and the like ? are elected directly by employees. To date, the foundation has given away nearly $750,000 to causes that range from purchasing land to preserve the regional environment to recycling programs for computer hardware.