I would like to believe we still live in a free society with the freedom of choice in how we spend our leisure time. I am always thankful that so many others provide these amenities, and I do respect their need to bring in enough money to make them sustainable. It worries me when I hear about farmers going out of business, being pushed out in fact because they just can’t compete with the giant corporations. It also makes me cringe when I hear small local businesses being crushed by Walmart and Amazon. Worse yet, Walmart goes into a town, destroys the businesses and then seems to have no remorse in shutting down when they decide it just wasn’t worth it.
A recent article condemning ski lifts who need more snow making equipment because this increases their energy use. Read the article from New to Ski. Didn’t these same people ban natural gas in new buildings which will increase the electric use plus cost the building operators more money. Doesn’t anyone realize the added costs of snow making will raise ski lift ticket prices … that’s all … and given how much these tickets are already, hardly anyone will complain. After all, they want snow!
The Washington Post article referenced here illustrates that energy has always been a significant cost for ski resorts. If the planet is warming a bit and there is less snow, are you going to declare that they have to go out of business? How about irrigation to increase crop yields? Are you going to ban that? After all, that too increases the energy use, plus it depletes the water supply.
I do think we need to ask and answer water use questions, especially in the Western US where these agribusinesses do not pay for water anyway … they have hundred year old rights to water. Why were those rights granted? Because they are growing food you fool! This is part of modern business.
Rank has its privilege. Where does carbon stand in the ranks? The last time I checked, food and shelter took the high rank. We can certainly live without skiing if we decided it was destroying the planet … which it is not.
Why are we continuing to tilt at this windmill? Oh, I forgot … this is all about the money … in other people’s pockets.
