Missed Opportunity for North Carolina Ski Slopes on Climate Change

Yesterday, Ceres.org announced that more than 100 ski slopes across America have signed a climate declaration, calling for U.S. policy action on climate change. This coalition includes many of the most recognized ski resorts across the country, including Breckenridge, Vail, Jackson Hole, Sugarbush and Snowshoe.

One glaring hole in the list? Not a single one of the North Carolina ski mountains signed the petition. No Appalachian, Beech, Sugar, Cataloochee, Sapphire Village nor Wolf Ridge. These ski resorts are some of the most susceptible to climate change in the country. Many have already been hit hard for years because of  increased snow making costs and lower customer turnout due to reduced snowfall and milder temperatures. Sky Valley, the last ski resort in Georgia had to close years ago as a result of climate change.

Perhaps the ski slopes prefer not to get involved in the controversial issue, but when 97% of climate scientists agree that climate change is due to human activities, prominent ski slopes across the country are getting on board and a warming climate directly impacts NC ski areas its imperative that NC ski slopes recognize the issue and demand action from our government in order to save themselves and keep skiing a local North Carolina pastime for years to come.


*UPDATE*

I contacted Brian Bowen asking why the NC ski slopes were not on the list. He referred me to Troy Hawks of the National Ski Areas Association. This was his reply:

NSAA sends notice to all of its members ski areas that endorse the Sustainable Slopes program on items such as this declaration, as well as other proposed legislation, etc. The response varies with each item, and I think for a variety of reasons. But I can say that even though their name and logo might not appear on this declaration, ski areas in North Carolina, like other regions of the country, are taking measures to bring about greater efficiencies to their overall operations (such as energy efficient snowmaking, lighting, etc.) thereby reducing their energy use and ultimately lowering their GHG footprints.


While I appreciate that the NSAA and ski slopes across the country are taking action against climate change, I find it disappointing that not one of the NC ski slopes signed the declaration. I'm still hoping that this was merely an oversight on behalf of the resorts and hope that with some additional notification they will be privy to signing up as well.