Green and white: Winter X Games 12 comes in two colors

It shouldn't come as much of a surprise that the athletes, spectators and organizers of the ESPN Winter X Games 12 are about a socially conscious and green-minded as they get.

The Games, which started Wednesday and run through Sunday at Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen, Colo., will have a few new twists and tweaks to its X Games Environomentality program that aims to reduce waste with recycling and composting, but cut greenhouse gas with alternative, sustainable fuels.

"The X Games attracts a young demographic, and that puts us in a terrific position to lead by example in increasing environmental education and awareness for future generations," Chris Stiepock, X Games general manager, said in an ESPN release. "Our sports depend on a healthy environment, and we're proud of our efforts to preserve natural resources in any way we can."

Aspen/Snowmass has been the Winter X Games host site since 2002 and they plan to keep it there though 2010. Meaning, they want to keep the place nice, clean and green -- or white, depending on how much snow they'd like to see.

Everything from making sure the event is water efficient, to planting more trees to using alternative transportation could serve as a template for other sporting events, whether they be weekend deals or spread over many months.

For more specifics on what they're doing to keep things as natural as possible, check out the site: www.xgamesenvironmentality.com Other links:
www.expn.com and www.aspensnowmass.com/environment

ESPN and ABC are doing about 15 hours of live programming starting today. ESPN2 has late-night highlights Friday, Saturday and Sunday.