With winter right around the corner, members of the snow sports community are pulling out their winter coats, waxing their skis and boards, and getting stoked to spend time outside immersed in the wonders of winter. However, with temperatures steadily rising over the past century, winters just aren’t the same as they used to be.
Take the classic film, White Christmas, for example. The movie starts with four new friends singing about their love for snow as they take a train to Vermont for the holidays only to find zero snow as they pull into the station. Luckily, the movie has a happy ending when they finally get a beautiful white Christmas. However, the reality we face today doesn’t always have a happy ending like the one in the movie. With climate change warming our winters, white Christmases are becoming something we only see in the movies.
How does this relate to solar energy? Well, according to the EPA, 30% of the total U.S. carbon dioxide emissions come from the electricity sector. Carbon dioxide is the most abundant and leading contributor to climate change and it is produced almost entirely from the burning of fossil fuels. Approximately 67% of the electricity consumed in the U.S. comes from fossil fuels. As a result, switching to renewable energy sources like solar energy is the first step we can take to address our contribution to climate change.
According to NASA, global temperatures have risen 1.7 degrees Fahrenheit since 1880 and continue to rise as we continue to emit more greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. While 1.7 might seem like a small number, it has catastrophic effects on our planet. One being warmer winters and less snow accumulation. With less snow accumulating on the ground, ski resorts are relying more on snowmaking to stay open, which is a costly and energy-intensive endeavor. This results in the release of even more greenhouse gases, which further pollutes and damages our atmosphere. Because of our consumption of fossil fuels, the snow sports industry is having to pay for something that used to be free. Climate change is a vicious cycle where every aspect of it is interconnected. This is just one example of how the changing climate can adversely impact human society, our lifestyle and our planet.
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