Climate change 'could kill of Alpine skiing' - OECD

[mtnbiker99x]

Started a new topic because this effects the entire snow sports industry.

 

If something is not done we will be out of business world wide.

 

 

 

 

 

Climate change 'could kill of Alpine skiing' - OECD

(published on 15-December-2006)

URL: http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=12415

 

Climate change could put an end to the skiing industry in Europe, the OECD warned this week as ski stations failed to open while France saw World Cup ski races cancelled because of a lack of snow.

 

 

Skiing holidays in France may become a thing of the past

 

Although a gust of colder air has allowed the women's World Cup races to be rescheduled for next week, the problem of snow scarcity is here to stay, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development warned.

 

Germany could be hardest hit as temperatures rise but France, Austria and Switzerland could all suffer significant economic losses if the annual 60-80 million tourists flooding in to skiing resorts are held back by lack of snow.

 

"There will also be "winners" and "losers", both in terms of regions - for example Alpes Maritimes, Steiermark/Styria, and Friuli-Venezia-Giulia are considerably more vulnerable than Grisons, Valais, and Savoie - and in terms of the ski areas themselves, with low-lying ski areas being considerably more vulnerable than areas with high altitudinal range," the OECD said.

 

The Alps are particularly sensitive to climate change and have experienced a warming equaling roughly three times the global average so far, analysis from the OECD has shown, with the years 1994, 2000, 2002 and 2003 the warmest in the last 500 years. Climate models forecast a grim picture of receding glaciers and snow cover for the coming decades.

 

Although 90%, or 599 out of 666 medium to large Alpine ski areas, are still getting enough snow the remaining 10% are already experiencing shortages. A 1 degree temperature increase would bring the number of operational ski resorts down to 500 out of 666, and a 2 degree increase down to 400.

 

This week's slightly lower temperatures have allowed more ski resorts to open - albeit with the help of artificial snow, which consumer a lot of water, energy as well as impacting negatively on the alpine environment. But making snow will become more expensive and eventually impossible as temperature rise further, the OECD warned.

 

Further information is available on the OECD website.

 

Goska Romanowicz

 

 

 

[mtnbiker99x]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/12052006/enter...ris_bunting.htm

 

 

I'M MELTING!

By CHRIS BUNTING

 

December 5, 2006 -- WITH even the Governator using biofuel in his Hummer (er, promising to, anyway) and King of all Brainiacs Stephen Hawking warning us to flee Earth and colonize space (or else!), global warming is becoming harder and harder to deny - even for those who somehow couldn't bring themselves to accept it in their hearts before.

 

And while its victims list is well documented - from happy-footed penguins to Central American frogs - global warming has also caused plenty of grief for the less beady-eyed, and more goggled:skiers.

 

Just look at the Alps - they've already lost at least half of their ice volume since the 1850s, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has reported.

 

Lost annual tourism dollars are expected to be in the billions for Swiss resorts alone.

 

"For some reason, it is Europe that may be suffering more and it may have to do with the Gulf Stream being affected out in the northern and eastern Atlantic, which could have something to do with global warming," says Jim Roemer, meteorologist and president of Bestskiweather.com.

 

"The last thing we want to see is currents changing because it will really throw our climate out of whack."

 

Ironically, changing currents have been a good thing out west: snowfall is increasing in places like Jackson Hole, Tahoe and Utah, because global warming means more evaporation and, thus, more moisture in the atmosphere.

 

Perhaps it's down to the fact that operators are among the first to feel the pinch that the ski industry is also at the forefront when it comes to combatting climate change.

 

The National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) has started integrating green power into its member resorts as part of its Sustainable Slopes and Keep Winter Cool initiative.

 

Such NSAA resorts operating on 288 million kilowatts or more of green energy (avoiding the production of 350 million pounds of CO2 - the amount generated by 138,000 roundtrip flights between New York and San Francisco) include Mount Sunapee in New Hampshire, Middlebury and Okemo in Vermont, and Maine's Shawnee Peak.

 

Burke Mountain, Vt., has likewise jumped on the green wagon.

 

"We use bio-diesel fuel in our grooming machines, wood pellets in our lodge's heating stoves, working closely with Efficiency Vermont for guidance on how to be more productive with the energy we use," marketing director David Gawkin explained.

 

Also, Jiminy Peak in Massachusetts is finishing up construction of its wind turbine that will power the resort - the first of its kind in the Northeast.

 

But the question remains: Can one ski area here and there "going green" make up for an entire region suffering from hot flashes?

 

The Environmental Advocates of New York (an affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation) recently released a study warning that average temperatures in the Northeast by the end of the century could be as much as 9.8 degrees warmer in winter.

 

That's really far off. What about now? Eric Friedman, marketing director for Mad River Glen, in Vermont, put it succinctly: "Last year sucked."

 

Unlike most every other ski area in the Northeast, only 10 percent of Mad River's snow is man-made (they only have two snow guns). "So when it snows, they come in droves; when it doesn't, they don't."

 

On the other end of the spectrum is Loon Mountain, New Hampshire, where differences in snow conditions over the last decade are less noticeable. "We have snowmaking on 99 percent of our trails, so we do not rely on natural snowfall to open," says Stacy Lopes, marketing manager.

 

But man-made snow - which Roemer says is sufficiently good for families with kids who "aren't extreme skiers or powder hounds" - is expensive, as some smaller resorts like Plattekill Mountain, in upstate's Delaware County have discovered.

 

"Adding a new pump was a large chunk to chew, but had to be done - it's hard to say that global warming hasn't had an effect," Danielle Vajtay, Plattekill's GM, told The Post.

 

 

 

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[mtnbiker99x]

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2006/nov/19...global_warming/

[Dan-]

I love how we have one bad snow year and everyone all of a sudden thinks the world is coming to an end. El Nino has a big global weather effect this year, giving us wamer weather temperatures. Places where el nino benefits.. Look at them CO, PNW, they are getting torrental amounts of snowfall...

 

Also alot of the damage is already done as far as global weather temperatures go. They are not going improve over night if everyone starts using a difference source of energy that release less carbon dioxide. The stuff will not disapear from out atmosphere over night, if there is any change, it will take decades, if not centuries.

 

 

Another thing, if people have not realized yet, the Earth does have cycles. I don't remember the exact names of them, but right now, we are in a warmer earth cycle, and we are alot closer to the sun during the winter, roughly about 5 million miles closer during our winter, than in the summer, so the earth on average will have warmer temperatures in the winter compared to our past.

 

 

These guys writing these articles, are they Geologists, or climatoglists? or just some morons trying to write up a good story. Because any good Geologists or climatoglist could tell you what i just said, but with alot more details..

 

Yes there is global warming, but it's not all directly related to carbon dioxide in our atmosphere.

Edited December 17, 2006 by KnuckleDragger

[Dan-]

Another thing, the warmer our earth gets, the more of a chance a large piece of the greenland ice sheet is going to fall into the ocean, Once this happens the entire flow of the jet stream will be haulted, thus throwing euroland into a deepfreeze.

 

I would go into more details about why, but i have to go to work.

[nick malozzi]

I agree with the dragger of the knuckles to some extent. i agree that no it won't instantly fix things, and it may not even fix itself ever (although last i heard ozone does replace itself. so that hole does stand a chance to close up... in millions of years). however, things do need to be done in order to better educate everyone about what pollution does to the world. not just from the stand point of "it looks bad sitting in our streets and floating down streams".

 

it is scary to think that a good portion of the world's population has NO IDEA of the long term effects of air and or solid pollution even locally, not to mention the global effects. That can be seen right here with all these writers going ape shit over a little warm spell, even "educated" people are just getting on the "stop pollution band wagon". so just think about the knowledge uneducated people have of the adverse effects.

 

like i said, will educating them, and then eventually getting them to abide by a higher standard as far as waste management goes (both air born and solid) fix things? It may, and it may not. What it will do though is at least slow down and maybe even stop the negative effects that are already occurring. Will it stop global warming, will it stop the ice caps from melting, will it allow the hole in the ozone layer to close up, will it get Jeff to wear Rossis? Who knows, but why not at least be respectful to the thing that we love so much? We are all outdoors enthusiasts and should give back to the earth at least a little of what we take out of it through our enjoyment of it's mountains.

 

</hippie rant>

[Dan-]

Actually the only way to get colder temps right now would be. 1. A major Volcanic eruption. Would give us colder temps for a few years. 2. Pollute our atmosphere so much, it blocks the suns rays. This did actually happen in the late 70's. We polluted so much, the earth started cooling down, due to the blocking of the suns rays.

 

Yes the ozone does replace itself, and apparently it's starting to close back up again, and the whole is around the size of texas right now i believe. But once again, it takes decades for these changes to begin to occur.

 

 

But alot of people forget that this year, we have an El Nino weather pattern, which does give many places are warmer winter.. We've had them in the past, don't worry people it's not the end of the world.

[Ski]

How ironic it is that when I was a little kid, Time Magazine ran a cover story on the impending ice age. Temps had been on a steady decrease and scientists were all publishing doom and gloom that we would eventually freeze to death.

 

Global warming is 100% real, but so will the next cycle of global cooling. How warm and for how long, is anyone's guess.

 

It's a shame that science has been so effected by politics. Anything intelligent that Al Gore contributes is lost in the 60% bullshit that he spews. He was the candidate so in tune with the environment that he had a New Hampshire river release flood gates at the wrong time of year for spawning fish just so he could have a photo op in a canoe. What a sh*thead.

 

We need to switch to hydgrogen powered cars, utilize wind farms, and stopped timbering the goddamn rain forrests...but most scientists that aren't politically motivated seem to believe that global temperatures are beyond our control, much the same as volcanic erruptions.

 

For anyone interested in non-political science, I highly recommend Seed Magazine.

[Ski]

Also: it's time to seriously consider the positive aspects of eco terrorism. Sometimes it's okay to be a "common criminal", as they like to call them. Some people feel it's their right to drive environment destroying SUV's because they can afford it. They make up for having deficiencies in other parts of their lives, so they drive something that makes them feel bigger. They are often the same people that have no problem blowing second hand smoke down the lungs of their infant children---and other people's children...

 

It's okay to stop being so PC.

 

The next time you walk past a Hummer, why not make a statement? Maybe they'll get it through their fat heads at some point.

[mtnbiker99x]

I would say people should switch to alternative energy sources and put less pollution into the air/water and ground when possible. We need to conserve what we can for future generations and if there are alternate power sources that can power chair lifts to snow making equipment, heat lodges and surrounding houses, the government should cut some special deals on windmills, solar, biofuels, etc. I don't believe there is any way we can cut oil/coal/gas for everything but conserving on some other things leaves more of that stuff to go around for the future. If anything it will help cut some dependence on the foreign oil that seems to cause a lot of problems in our world.

 

I remember reading last year that some company wanted to put a wind mill farm off New England and it would be powerful enough to power a city. Tree huggers complained that about 50-100 or so migratory birds may be killed slamming into the windmills each year. So last I heard the plan was scrapped. More birds are probably hit on the highways then by the wind mills.

 

The problem is that we should have been doing this stuff all along since the 70s fuel crisis. Just because gas and fuel oil gets cheap it does not mean stop conserving.

 

I guess time will tell if its our emissions causing global warming or some other source. All I know in the late 70s when I started skiing there seemed to be a lot more snow around, compared to when I snowboarded yesterday.

[CaptDave]

Another thing, the warmer our earth gets, the more of a chance a large piece of the greenland ice sheet is going to fall into the ocean, Once this happens the entire flow of the jet stream will be haulted, thus throwing euroland into a deepfreeze.

 

I would go into more details about why, but i have to go to work.

 

I remember reading an article in the Philly Inquirer last year or so and it talked about the melting Arctic. The amount of fresh water in the North Atlantic has been increasing. The jist of the article was if this rate of melt continues, the pool of fresh water could interact with the gulf stream and force it offshore at a lower latitude, making the Northeast climate actually colder.

[Dan-]

How ironic it is that when I was a little kid, Time Magazine ran a cover story on the impending ice age. Temps had been on a steady decrease and scientists were all publishing doom and gloom that we would eventually freeze to death.

 

Global warming is 100% real, but so will the next cycle of global cooling. How warm and for how long, is anyone's guess.

 

It's a shame that science has been so effected by politics. Anything intelligent that Al Gore contributes is lost in the 60% bullshit that he spews. He was the candidate so in tune with the environment that he had a New Hampshire river release flood gates at the wrong time of year for spawning fish just so he could have a photo op in a canoe. What a sh*thead.

 

We need to switch to hydgrogen powered cars, utilize wind farms, and stopped timbering the goddamn rain forrests...but most scientists that aren't politically motivated seem to believe that global temperatures are beyond our control, much the same as volcanic erruptions.

 

For anyone interested in non-political science, I highly recommend Seed Magazine.

 

 

Rain forests dont do as much as you'd think. The organisms that take the most carbon dioxide out from the atmosphere is the Fido Plankton. You can also give them credit for making some much oil under the ocean.

 

I remember reading an article in the Philly Inquirer last year or so and it talked about the melting Arctic. The amount of fresh water in the North Atlantic has been increasing. The jist of the article was if this rate of melt continues, the pool of fresh water could interact with the gulf stream and force it offshore at a lower latitude, making the Northeast climate actually colder.

 

 

Well. if the icesheet falls into the water all together, which is will in the future, the gulf stream will be haulted all together, which would give the northeast US, aswell as europe much much colder temps. But yes, the gradual melting is starting to disrupt that current.

[Ski]

Rain forests dont do as much as you'd think. The organisms that take the most carbon dioxide out from the atmosphere is the Fido Plankton. You can also give them credit for making some much oil under the ocean.

 

The rain forests are one piece of the puzzle, yes.

 

The planned wind farm off the East Coast was scrapped for a bigger reason...it was an "eyesore" to the Kennedy Compound. The Kennedy family spent more than seven million dollars funding every group that would come up with a reason not to build it. Good old Teddy once drove off a bridge and let a girl drown in his car, then stumbled home in a drunken stupor and didn't report the accident until morning. You and I would still be in jail, but he's making laws and telling us not to build unsightly wind farms that get in the way of his sailboats...

 

This all really happened. Really. Any kids out their just Google "Chapaquitic", then ask your social studies teacher if they think Ted Kennedy is a great American of the Democratic Party.

[skipatrol]

A brief primer on Climate Change from someone who studies it in grad school.

 

First of all, I would like to state that while skiing is my favorite thing to do, the effects of climate change on the ski resort industry is nothing compared to the effects on human civilization in general.

 

I want to refute some of the points that skierdaddy had. Skierdaddy states that there is no evidence that fossil fuels have caused global warming. While we may never be able to experimentally prove a direct relationship between greenhouse gasses and global warming in the lab, all theoretical calculations and science in general make this connection. Global temperatures do fluctuate but a graph of annual temperature vs. time looks sort of like the Stevenson at Camelback. (Rolls and small bumps early on, then a steep increase of a much greater slope as you get to the upper mountain) This steep increase starts at our industrial revolution. While we can

[Ski]

I want to refute some of the points that skierdaddy had. Skierdaddy states that there is no evidence that fossil fuels have caused global warming. While we may never be able to experimentally prove a direct relationship between greenhouse gasses and global warming in the lab, all theoretical calculations and science in general make this connection. Global temperatures do fluctuate...

 

Sorry, I thought that was funny.

[sexkitten]

I love how we have one bad snow year and everyone all of a sudden thinks the world is coming to an end. El Nino has a big global weather effect this year, giving us wamer weather temperatures. Places where el nino benefits.. Look at them CO, PNW, they are getting torrental amounts of snowfall...

 

 

...Yes there is global warming, but it's not all directly related to carbon dioxide in our atmosphere.

 

 

These are my feeling exactly.

[VTmark]

arug. Not this shit again.

[sexkitten]

arug. Not this shit again.

 

These are my feelings exactly.

 

Hahaha.

[Justin]

All we need is for yellowstone to erupt....sure, it'll destroy practically the entire western half of the US and Canada with either a massive fireball, magma flow/rain, or volcanic ash effects, and kill tons and tons of people, but since we're on the east coast we'll barely get any ash and benefit from the much much colder temps....shit we could be overdue for the eruption (yes I watched super volcano)

[sexkitten]

All we need is for yellowstone to erupt....sure, it'll destroy practically the entire western half of the US and Canada with either a massive fireball, magma flow/rain, or volcanic ash effects, and kill tons and tons of people, but since we're on the east coast we'll barely get any ash and benefit from the much much colder temps....shit we could be overdue for the eruption (yes I watched super volcano)

 

That's a great idea. Ugh.

[Dan-]

All we need is for yellowstone to erupt....sure, it'll destroy practically the entire western half of the US and Canada with either a massive fireball, magma flow/rain, or volcanic ash effects, and kill tons and tons of people, but since we're on the east coast we'll barely get any ash and benefit from the much much colder temps....shit we could be overdue for the eruption (yes I watched super volcano)

 

 

If that happens we and live... Well then ill have to move to alaska, or europe then..

 

And there would be a good chance of the East coasters dying aswell.. Obviously you didn't watch to well, becuase there doesn't have to be alot of ash to kill you, just by breathing in any at all, it can greatly affect, if not kill you. The particles are so small and sharp, that by breathing them in, it's cutting your lungs.. And it will cause death.

 

It's a very real possiblity, and it's due to errupt. It's been on a 600k Year pattern, and the 600k is about up, but thats not saying much. Saying thats up, means it could erupt in a 1000 years or so, and it'd still be in the time period, it was planned...