易胜博官网

The rate of winter warming has tripled in the U.S. since 1970. The northern hemisphere has lost one million square miles of spring snowpack in the last 50 years. As many as half the ski resorts in the Northeast may be forced to shut down within the next 30 years.

A 易胜博官网 forum that united two core 易胜博官网 values鈥攇reen living and white snow鈥攐ffered a sobering look at the future of the ski industry through the eyes of climate scientists. But luckily, it also emphasized the way snow sports lovers can take action on climate change.

Powder magazine editor Porter Fox, author of the book , spoke with 易胜博官网 research associate professor Cameron Wake and an engaged MUB audience of students and visiting snowsports lovers. Sponsored by student groups (Student Environmental Action Coalition) and and the , the event aimed to mobilize skiers鈥� passion for trails and glades to save the snow that fuels their sport.

鈥淚t鈥檚 important, to make climate change relevant and accessible, to connect it to something that people are passionate about,鈥� says SEAC coordinator Giselle Hart 鈥�17. 鈥淲inter sports and skiing are so big in New England.鈥�

For his book and the short film that he showed Monday evening, Fox travelled 2,000 miles to mountain communities around the world. 鈥淚 wanted to talk to people who were living in the snow, who actually had empirical evidence of what was happening,鈥� he says. The skiers and mountaineers told him what climate scientists like Wake know: 鈥淚t鈥檚 just not as cold as it used to be.鈥�

Wake, who is a research professor at the , director of Climate Solutions New England, and the 易胜博官网 Josephine A. Lamprey Professor in Climate and Sustainability, is also a skier and pond hockey player. Those credentials, he joked, were more relevant to the discussion than his scientific ones.

Wake urged individual, grassroots activism, starting with 鈥渃hanging your lightbulbs鈥� then moving to talking about the impacts of climate change throughout our communities. 鈥淒o not look to your government to solve this problem,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about people.鈥�

Fox hopes to reach people whose livelihoods and passions depend on steady snowfall. With climate change, 鈥渢here鈥檚 a lot more at stake than skiing,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e start with skiing then expand the conversation from there.鈥�

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