{"id":2458579,"date":"2020-05-18T23:20:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-19T05:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/help-the-ski-industry-weather-this-storm\/"},"modified":"2020-05-19T08:57:45","modified_gmt":"2020-05-19T14:57:45","slug":"help-the-ski-industry-weather-this-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/help-the-ski-industry-weather-this-storm\/","title":{"rendered":"Help the ski industry weather this storm"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cSkiing is a piece of serenity that I incorporate into my life to escape from the modern day rat race,\u201d said Sawyer McLernon, Aspen local. Skiing is an important part of our life in Aspen and it is a main component to our economy. However, climate change is getting closer to ending our skiing lifestyle everyday. Without skiing our main source of income will be gone. This will happen all over the world and it must be stopped.<\/p>\n

Over the past 90 years there has been a tremendous amount of research following snowfall. Since 1930, 57% of research stations across North America have reported a 0.19% decrease of snowfall. 0.19% may sound small or insignificant; however, it isn\u2019t. If a town in 1930 had an average snowfall of 300 inches, the next year it would have a .57 inch decrease. The next year it would experience a year with 298.86 inches. That would happen for the next 90 years and over time it would create mass amounts of lost snow.<\/p>\n

The ski industry powers roughly 450 cities in North America. Each of those cities have roughly 16,000 residents. This is a total 7.6 million people who would be affected. Even if you don\u2019t ski or snowboard, it still affects residents of a ski town. The majority of Aspen\u2019s income is from tourism. Without skiing, our tourism decreases significantly. Not to mention, the ski industry has a $887 billion revenue each year. Envisage the hit to the economy if the ski industry collapsed.<\/p>\n

As bad as it may seem, there are ways you can help. For one, you can contact your representatives to support bills such as the COREACT. Another phenomenal way to help is to donate to programs that are fighting climate change, like the Protect Our Winters Foundation. You can also simply drive less and keep your lights on for a shorter time everyday. For more drastic measures, you might even consider moving to more clean energy sources, such as wind or solar. Although one person may be small, a community can make a huge difference and every single contributor matters. And remember, the civil rights movement wasn\u2019t all Americans, just the best.<\/p>\n

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