Anyone who loves the winter season or the sports associated with it is aware of the potential impact of global warming. So it only makes sense that sporting equipment that is dependent on the natural surroundings for its success would go green. Two companies appear to be leading the way in creating eco-friendly snowboards by changing the materials used to make them. Venture Snowboards uses FSC certified wood from Pennsylvania (The FSC certification means that the material is from a responsibly managed forest as outlined by international standards) with a hemp and organic cotton top sheet. While Arbor builds their boards from bamboo and other sustainable harvested woods.

What do the users of the snowboards think?

A user’s view: Ryan Jeffries, inventory manager at Fairfax's East Coast Board Company, states that the Arbor boards "are pretty stiff, but they're good boards. . . . Out west, where the snow is deeper, they might be better."

Arbor's marketing manager, Jessica Ng, says bamboo is "lighter, more responsive and more durable" than wood, plus it offers "more pop . . . [or] liveliness to the board" when making jumps.

Expert opinion: Ken Segal, a composite materials engineer at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center,  speaks positively about the use of bamboo since it’s a natural and fast growing alternative however doubts that it is more responsive or gives more ‘pop’ than other boards. He also points out that he is suspicious of bamboo “unless it has a coating... but coatings get dings, so then moisture seeps in," making the board warp, become heavier and more difficult to maneuver.

Average Price: Average price for a Venture Snowboard is $495

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