In July 2010 a team of nine Nepali women have begin the first international leg of a tour that will see them climb seven of the highest peaks on each of the seven continents. On successfully climbing all seven summits they will be setting a world record for being the largest team to do so.
The team will be using their expedition to highlight the urgent issue of climate change, and they are currently in Australia.
Check here for extra information and itinerary.
Climate change is already negatively impacting the snow and ski industry.
Our notoriously fickle winters are becoming more erratic. For instance, climate change projections show that, as Australia’s temperatures continue to increase, the maximum snow depths will continue to decrease and the snow seasons will become shorter (source).
In spite of compelling evidence, there is still stubborn denial in some parts of the snow community.
Here is one example.
If your income came from running a large ski business, do you think it would be worth tracking what trends are happening in your industry? And if anyone and everyone was saying that climate change was going to impact on the future and possibly even the viability of your business, do you think that maybe you might look into what’s coming?
Obviously not everyone works that way. Here’s some choice quotes from Mick Klima, co-owner of the Rhythm Snowsports megastore in Cooma, courtesy of Powerhound magazine.
(Does climate change worry you?)
“I’m with [British politician] Lord Monckton on that one, mate. That guy’s got it together. It’s a scam. It’s the new religion. It’s become too politicised and too emotional”. Which does beg the question, does ignoring it because its ’emotional’ make it go away?
“I’m not into the masses being manipulated by fear. There’ll always be something that politicians use to manipulate the way the public’s money is spent”.
(Will it impact on your business?)
“It won’t happen in my lifetime. I hope it doesn’t happen in my lifetime.”
Yeah, well, good luck with that one Mick.
To borrow a phrase from TV advertising, the current edition of the Australian Alps National Parks ‘news from the alps’ newsletter is a “must see” for anyone with an interest in our alpine environments.
The theme is climate change, and the newsletter pulls together a summary of the threats – and various complications that come with these threats – facing Australia’s alpine parks as a result of global warming.
A rather sobering take home message includes the following: “no longer will we be effective in building the Alps’ resilience simply by preserving all species in their current locations, but rather we need to make space and opportunities for them to self-adapt, re-organise, move. And we need to continue our efforts to remove the pest plant and animal species from the picture as this is a stress and a threat that we can control and minimise (unlike increased fire or reduced rainfall). We need to press on with connectivity conservation, again in the interests of space and adaptive movement, and we should also be poring over maps to help us spot potential refugia to focus our efforts on – sweet spots where Mother Nature, even under the influence of climate change, is more likely to be kind to biodiversity under threat”.
Surely, as we struggle with in-action on climate change both at the national and state levels, the work being done by a range of agencies and individuals across the alps becomes ever more important. As the editor notes, the many people profiled in this edition are doing visionary and necessary work and “this will make a profoundly positive difference to what would otherwise be a confronting future”.
You can download the newsletter here.
“The forces of destruction grow exponentially, like compound interest. It is my hope that we can make the trends to sustainability also grow exponentially, at a higher rate. If we can do this, there may be a future.
Can we prevent disaster? No, because it has already started. The 173 Victorians killed by the Black Saturday fires were killed by climate change.
We can mitigate climate change, reduce the generation of deadly pollutants, nourish and maintain soil and water and other essentials of life. We can work to adapt life to cope with the changes that are inevitably on the way, that are here already. As I said, if the growth toward sanity can overtake the current growth toward insanity, then we have a hope of salvaging something, of creating the seed of a decent future.
But this needs a complete culture change. It means rejecting greed as the primary motive force.
We can do it in principle. In practice?”
The full interview is here.
The following is an opinion piece from snowboarding legend Jeremy Jones. This has been widely published in newspapers across the USA.
Here in Victoria, we have a promise from the state government to deliver a Climate Change Bill.
If prominent Australian skiers and boarders expressed this type of sentiment – and followed up with activism – it would bring a new dimension, perspective and sense of urgency to the climate change debate here.
Check here to read Jeremy’s letter.
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