Love Winter, Hate The Oil Sands.

Like anyone who loves to ski, I love winter. So imagine a world where there's no cold weather. Where it's become too warm to snow. Where we're not able -- perish the thought -- to ski!

So imagine if there was something we could do about it.

There is.

The Sierra Club recently launched a campaign called Love Winter, Hate The Oil Sands, to halt the drilling for oil sands in Canada. Oil sand production emits three times the pollution of conventional oil and requires clear cutting ancient forests, wasting and polluting water, and leaving behind massive toxic lakes. By accelerating climate change, the oil sands threaten to bring more drought, receding glaciers, and early snowmelt to the planet, creating a bleak future for sports like skiing and snowboarding.

The industry has proposed expanding into the US via a sprawling network of pipelines and refineries that would crisscross Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Minnesota and Illinois, in many cases using substandard pipe and threatening drinking water and farmland.

The oil sands project is being opposed by many top winter athletes, such as Alison Gannett, world champion freeskier and founder of the Save Our Snow Foundation.  I'm not in her league, but I'm against it, too.  If you want to join me in taking action against the oil sands, you can go here to sign a petition to President Obama.

For more information about oil sands, go here. Or for more about Love Winter, Hate The Oil Sands, go here. 

Let's all do what we can to save a sport, and a season, we love.

Be sure to visit TheSkiDiva.com, an internet forum especially for women skiers, where women skiers can connect with one another to talk about everything and anything ski-related.