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

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I love snow. I love how it drifts outside my bedroom window and the way it covers surfaces, rounding out corners and smoothing the landscape. I stay up late into the night so I can witness how it glows after the sun has set. I love how the world feels smaller and domed after a storm, like being inside a crystal ball. As a child I spent hours writing my name in snowfields, my footprints creating designs in the fleeting substance. I’d ski every day during the winter if I could.

My relationship to snow is an unsolved problem. Climate change is threatening snow in the American West, causing moisture to fall as rain. When I ski, I participate in an industry reliant upon fossil fuels for operation and transportation. When I travel to the mountains, ride chairlifts, or spend time in resort buildings, I release carbon emissions into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change.

My family has helped develop the ski industry in Northern Utah for almost one hundred years. Skiing is the reason I live the way I live and have the relationships I have. It has heavily influenced the way I appreciate the world. Snow is one of the reasons I care about the climate. But by skiing, I contribute to snow’s demise.