A climate study shows a dim future for ski resorts and related businesses.
Snow sports will be all but extinct by the end of this century if the changes occurring in the planet's climate are not stopped or at least slowed.That is the conclusion reached in a report released from researchers at the University of New Hampshire and discussed Thursday by teleconference. The damage to the $12.2 billion ski and snowmobile and related businesses could be catastrophic, the report's authors and representatives from industry and environmental organizations said.
The full report is available online at NRDC.org.
Researchers Elizabeth Burakowski and Matthew Magnusson were joined in the conference by Auden Schendler, vice president of sustainability with Aspen Ski Company, and by Antonia Herzog, assistant director for the Climate and Clean Air Program of the Natural Resources Defense Council. The report was sponsored in part by the National Resources Defense Council and Protect Our Winters, both non-profit organizations.
Reporters from winter sports-related publications and news organizations from some of the 38 states where winter sports provide jobs and taxes joined in on a question-and-answer session after the presenters made their remarks.
In a nutshell, the winter sports industry is dependent on heavy, predictable snowfall, presenters said, and that condition has become sporadic in recent years. All the scientific data available indicates that the situation will get worse.
Hanging in the balance are about 212,000 jobs, and about $1.4 billion
in state and local taxes over the next decade alone, Burakowski said.Affected are jobs in resorts, lodging, restaurants, gas stations, bars and more.
"Last year's snow cover was the third lowest since 1966," she said. "This last ski season, half of the ski resorts opened late and 48 percent closed early. Some areas saw nearly a 40 percent decrease in revenues. Any way we look at it, it's a significant economic impact."
Schendler's opening words were blunt.
"The winter sports industry has always known that the changes they have been seeing over the past years were because of climate change. This report only puts numbers to what they already knew. Now, the industry needs to get up off it's a** and move," he said. "They need to be getting to Washington, they need to make public statements and write op-ed pieces."
They also need to get the millions of passionate winter sports fans educated and active to push for better stewardship of the environment, he said. "They need to get their heads out of the snow before it melts around them," said Herzog. "The good news is there are federal laws and regulations in place that can help with the biggest polluters, the coal-fired power plants. They are the big kahuna in this problem. Because of regulations already out there, President Obama has the authority to take action "
A reporter from the Washington Times wanted to know if the cost of the environmental protections would be a good bargain.
"A few percentage points of increased costs can easily be offset by increased efficiency," said Schendler. "The cost of climatic disaster, comparatively, is wildly disproportionate."
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