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Global warming: The death of skiing?
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If you haven’t jumped on the eco-friendly train yet, here’s some serious motivation to go green:
Experts predict that skiing will be extinct as soon as 2050 due to global warming.
Some may still argue that skiing couldn’t possibly be enduring this slow, hot and depressing death because we’ve seen some of the greatest snow days ever in the last few years. Don’t let the erratic weather patterns fool you. We may see two feet of snow on closing weekend at our favorite resorts, but the reality is that we’re seeing less of it overall. Global warming doesn’t simply mean increasing temperatures; it means more extreme weather with a higher average temperature. That’s why we see blizzards in August and April and 80° January days, rather than a steady stream of snowfall throughout the winter.
If increasingly wild winters don’t convince you that global warming is indeed slowly killing our favorite sport, understand the details of the theory. Experts devised a climate change model that projects future trends from 2070-2099 in the Rocky Mountain region and the results show severe snowpack loss. Colorado shows anywhere from a 43% loss (Pitkin County, home of Aspen) to an 82% loss (San Miguel County, home of Telluride) by 2085. Grand County and Summit County show 54% and 50% losses respectively. If these predictions uphold, snow sports will be unviable in most of Colorado by 2050.
If you think that sounds extreme, consider what has happened already. Between 1950 and 1997, spring snow coverage dropped an average of 16% in the Rocky Mountains. Although that is considerably less than what is predicted for the next 50 years, global warming has been rapidly and visibly worsening despite our best efforts to slow it down.
The daunting presence of global warming has prompted the ski industry to boost efficiencies and cut emissions during the last few years. Most resorts have implemented the use of wind powered chairlifts and renewable power wherever possible. Their efforts have certainly helped, but the fact is that ski resorts contribute less to global warming than most other industries and communities.
So it’s up to us. Resorts are doing their part, so let’s do ours. If all us snow-lovers reuse, recycle, and otherwise reduce our carbon bootprints, we may be able to keep skiing around for awhile longer.
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