We’ve just returned from the 2008 American Birkebeiner—and what a great event it was. Over 7,000 racers descended on the tiny Wisconsin towns of Cable and Hayward, to compete in the 50km Birkie.

Last year, the event was cut short due to lack of snow. No problems this year, however, with a two-foot base and fast, cold snow over the whole course. The winning time, posted by Ivan Babikov of Canada, was 2 hours and seven minutes… that’s 24 km/hr over rolling hills and flat fields!

Kate Whitcomb, a Brighter Planet ambassador, battled a head cold to finish fifth in the women’s Birkie. Through our event offsetting program and direct offset sales, over 48 tons of carbon dioxide were offset— supporting farmer-owned distributed wind projects in Minnesota and South Dakota.

A small recycling program was started, diverting countless bags of cardboard from the landfill. These represent Brighter Planet’s first steps in our Keep Winter White campaign. We hope to return next year, to make the event even greener.

Thanks to Ned Zuelsdorff, Executive Director of the American Birkebeiner and his entire team for pulling together such a fantastic event.

The Brighter Planet team is driving to Wisconsin today for the largest cross country skiing event of the year—The American Birkebeiner! Last year there were 8,000 racers and nearly 20,000 spectators to watch the great skiing marathon.

We will be taking Bessie, our veggie oil-powered van, as part of this year’s program to green the Birkie. Once we arrive, we’ll be meeting last year’s Birkie winner, Kate Whitcomb (big sister to Brighter Planet’s own Jake Whitcomb). Kate is one of our first Brighter Planet ambassadors—here’s what she’s got to say about doing her part to fight climate change:

I use cloth bags at the grocery store and take my bike 90% of the time in the snow-less seasons—at least 20% of the time during the winter. My car gets 45 mpg. I buy locally when possible, I recycle .I use energy-conserving light bulbs, heat with locally/sustainably cut firewood when possible and always launder my clothes in cold water…

I’m including a photo of my “town pony”—my old mountain bike, transformed! Bike fender is an old Fischer ski, basket on the front for groceries and things, studded tires for winter travel, bell for greetings… this pony gets ridden year-round!

—Kate

We’ll be traveling all the way out to Wisconsin to educate people about the Brighter Planet Visa® card and we are also the official event offsetter for this year’s race. The Birkie organizers have chosen to support the farmer distributed wind projects from our renewable energy portfolio. By conserving first, and then measuring and offsetting the impact of the event (emissions from staff travel, fuel usage, electricity consumption and waste disposal), the Birkie organizers are taking responsibility for the impact the ski race has on our environment.

Skiing and winter sports have been greatly affected by climate change over the last ten years and will continued to be threatened by climbing temperatures. Thanks to the Birkie for taking the initiative and helping Keep Winter White!