You?ve probably already heard about the various threats caused by global warming: melting glaciers, extreme weather disturbances and endangering the habitat of the polar bear. Tomorrow, the Natural Resources Defense Council will add another concern to the list: the endangered winter sports fan.
As the NRDC put it in a press release yesterday:
Some of the top names in winter sports are going to the U.S. Capitol Thursday to ask lawmakers to stop efforts in Congress to block the Environmental Protection Agency?s ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Unless curtailed, carbon dioxide pollution is likely to cause a steep decline in snow and result in significant economic losses to the $66 billion-per-year snow sports industry, they will tell Congress.
The participants will deliver a letter outlining their concerns to lawmakers Thursday. Hundreds of supporters, including additional athletes and major winter sports businesses, have signed on to show their support.
The press release (which doesn?t appear to be posted online) lists the ?top names in winter sports? as: Jeremy Jones, eight-time Big Mountain Snowboarder of the Year; Gretchen Bleiler, 2006 Olympic silver medalist, snowboarding, four-time X Games gold medalist; Chris Davenport, world champion freeskier; and Auden Schendler, vice president of sustainability for the Aspen Skiing Company. Curiously, there is no ?Jeff Spicoli? listed on the press release.
Now, while Capital Hill would never be critical of any group of people petitioning their government for a redress of grievances, you do have to wonder if ?Save the Aspen skier? has quite the same ring to it as ?Save the Whales.? Also, bringing along the fellow from the Aspen Skiing Company might ? just might ? underscore that fact that global warming concerns are pushed mainly by well-off elites. (Might as well announce a fight against climate change to make sure Martha's Vineyard vacationers can enjoy a hurricane-free trip).
In any event a more direct threat to the winter sports industry is the economic recession, which causing people to cut back on their recreation budgets. Getting the EPA to resume its greenhouse gas emissions reduction program isn?t going to help the winter sports industry ? or most other industries, for that matter ? grow, as President Obama himself conceded when he ordered the EPA to pull back.
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