Kudos to Friends of the Mad River (FMR), The Mad River Valley Backcountry Coalition (MRVBC), and Sugarbush for hosting what turned out to be a very important event and discussion about climate change, the future of the planet, and the future of the ski industry that built and defines our Valley, and helps sustain it.
On December 13, Sugarbush partnered with FMR, and MRVBC to offer a moonlit skin up the mountain, followed by food and films designed to make people think. Think about their sport, think about their mountains, think about their planet, the climate and their own passion for winter sports.
The films that followed the fellowship of skinning and dinner asked people to look at how their own lives (and recreation) impact the planet and their carbon footprints. Participants were challenged by two Stowe skiers to look at how much fun they can have in their own backyards when it comes to winter sports – as opposed to traveling far and wide for their turns.
The Valley Reporter’s alpine ski writer Ed Brennan attended, and he provided an excellent report of the event.
“There was discussion about the unsustainable aspects of skiing. In one of the films, a Blackcomb helicopter pilot was questioned about the heavy hand of heli-skiing on the environment. The pilot questioned the extravagance of space exploration to Mars, a desert environment, when we could be addressing the challenges presented in conserving this precious planet. The climate change discussion is too easily focused on the “other.” Have you seen an overlay of air traffic over the land? The plane icons blot out the map on any given day,” Brennan writes this week. (See page 22.)
“Hypocrisy is unavoidable in carbon footprint tallies,” he adds noting that many people drive or fly hours to get to mechanized chairlifts where they enjoy trails often only open because of snowmaking.
“Some finish the day with a soak in outdoor hot tubs and pools where BTU’s float unimpeded into the sky. Are you comfortable yet, with your carbon footprint? If you live on the earth, you change it, for better or worse.”
This is some real food for thought for all of us.
