As I finished my last ski – actually part ski and part walk from P10 up Fortune Hill -- of the season on Tuesday evening, I thought about what an unsettlingly warm, even hot, March we were having. When I got home, I looked at the photos Paul Jaenicke took that day of the practically bare trails above P12. Only two days earlier, we had our last family ski of the season there in soft, heavy snow. I showed the photos to my younger daughter, who patted me on the shoulder. ‘Sorry Dad,’ she commiserated.
Temperature records have been falling all week, and not by fractions of degrees, but by 10 degrees! Is this what climate change looks like?
Yes, according to Bill McKibben, American environmental writer, in this article.
In Summer in March, meteorologist Jeff Masters describes how astonishing the week of record-breaking weather has been across North America. Some overnight lows have broken previous records for daytime highs!
Can skiers help fight climate change? Some, such as Olympic athlete Sara Renner, have gotten involved in recent years through Play it Cool (although the website doesn’t show much recent activity).
In the United States, Protect Our Winters says ‘our mission is to engage and mobilize the winter sports community to lead the fight against climate change.’
Mountain skiers are featured in the film All.I.Can. According to the producers, it ‘strives to unite global mountain culture and bind us together as the leaders of a revolution. We must be inspired to do all we can for the environment, and we must learn how to take that first tiny step in the right direction.’ Here’s a video teaser.
Some Canadian organizations with climate change campaigns:
- Greenpeace climate and energy campaign
- Sierra Club Canada
- David Suzuki Foundation. The Foundations suggests 'Four places to cut your carbon.'
"Sustaining People in Motion"