inthepines3000 t1_j328wbg wrote on January 5, 2023 at 3:47 PM

Reply to comment by anom_k in anyone else miss the snow? it's currently 35°F and raining. by mossybishhh

Skiing is a catastrophe for the environment. If climate change is going to destroy everything and cause societal chaos like so many predict, then one of the first things we should do is outlaw ski mountains.

Calculate the amount of carbon released just from people driving multiple hours up to the ski areas from the cities and everything else required to run a ski mountain. Or does elitist recreation not count toward the "impending environmental apocalypse."

anom_k t1_j32bjka wrote on January 5, 2023 at 4:04 PM

Driving is more of the problem here. If you ban ski hills, people will just drive somewhere else to recreate. The solution to that problem is public transit infrastructure like trains and busses, which should've been developed decades ago to move away from inefficient and dangerous car infrastructure.

Also, if the power grid that the ski hill is connected to is powered by renewable energy sources like hydro or solar, it won't be outputting any more carbon than anything else.

There are far FAR bigger fish to fry than ski hills when looking at global emissions. The meat we north Americans eat at an absurd rate is thousands of times more destructive than ski resorts.

The main harm caused by ski resorts, co2 from car travel and lift operations, is negated if the power grid isn't fueled by fossil fuels and by proper public transit.

Also, skiing has been a massive aspect of Vermont and is not necessarily elitist. Are you gonna go up to some local dude who goes to Mad Ruver Glen or Cochran's a few times a week and call him an elitist for enjoying winter? Not to mention the enormous back country ski community

inthepines3000 t1_j33fpsa wrote on January 5, 2023 at 8:03 PM

I have nothing against ski hills. I love them.

But.

You live in a fantasy world. And love to cherry pick data.

Sure. Everyone skiing in Vermont are locals at Cochrans. Remind me of that after the next snow dump on the way up to Killington or Stowe while you sit between gargantuan idling SUV's for hours.

Sure, we have this amazing clean power grid.

The majority of the NE power grid comes from burning gas.

Sure, Vermont can afford publicly funded trains running people all over the state.

See The Champlain Flyer, VT population and already unsustainable tax burden.

You live in a fantasy world where you pick and choose what is bad based on what you like and want.

Facts are facts. The truth is real.

anom_k t1_j33gz89 wrote on January 5, 2023 at 8:11 PM

Literally addressed 0 of my arguments. My main point was that the things that cause ski resorts to be bad for the environment stem from larger problems such as fossil fuel and lack of public transport, and as such, ski resorts aren't inherently bad for the environment.

The problems with climate change cannot be solved by a few pieces of legislation on state levels as it would require a mass global effort to completely rework all infrastructure and global economic systems. And we all know that's not gonna happen.

Because of that I don't see the point of you bringing up ski resorts