Читать книгу Shaped by Snow. Defending the Future of Winter онлайн

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Warmer temperatures, more precipitation in the form of rain rather than snow, and dust storms will be the downfall of snow in the American West. Climate change will send the ski industry into decline, degrading the snow, which we didn’t realize was a nonrenewable resource until now. The demand for snow will grow as the resource becomes scarcer. As resorts in lower elevations close, more enthusiasts will have to travel further from their homes to ski. Higher-elevation resorts, like Snowbird and Alta, will become busier, till they, too, lose their snow. Instead of ghost mining towns, we will have ghost ski towns.

When both sets of my grandparents chose lives based around snow, one from a business perspective, one as a career, they never predicted it would become a nonrenewable resource. My parents, too—my mother a ski instructor, my father a ski racer and coach—never realized that a life built around snow might not be stable in the future. They never had to worry about climate change when choosing a career.