Think about this as you head to the slopes
Snow is soon to become as valuable as oil.
Sound preposterous?
While some may spend off-hour reading Oprah's magazine "O," we find more productive information in "E" -- The Environmental Magazine -- that covers everything from how China is getting tougher on proventing the production of plastic grocery bags to the Sierra Club suing Shell Oil for its continually poluting the planet to how to invest your 401k in companies that are going for the right kind of green.
The January/February issue goes with the headline "Losing Winter," and focuses on the dwindling snowfall that's a result of global warming -- yes, it's happening.
More interesting from a sports spin are the winter athletes -- particularily skiiers and snowboarders -- who are ahead of the curve in trying not only to alert the rest of the world about how their playground is disappearing.
In a sidebar story entitled "SOS: Save Our Snow, Winter AthletesTake the Lead in Fighting Global Warming," managing editor Brita Belli writes about alpine skier Steven Nyman, like everyone else, finds themselves now "chasing off-season snow, missing out on crucial contests cancelled due to unseasonable 60-degree weather, or competing in rough conditions as the snow rapidly melts and compacts beneath their skis and boards. They’ve been trying to out-run global warming’s effects."
A fact brought up in the story: Over the last 16 years, the National Ski Areas Associationhas tracked the number of days that its 326 member ski resorts are open. The data shows that the resorts have lost one day per season over those 16 years and 1.2 days in the northeastern U.S. More than 88 percent of those resorts make snow, but rising overnight temperatures is already making that difficult to sustain.
“Last year we only had a total of three World Cup events,” says 22-year-old snowboarder Lindsey Jacobellis, the World Cup snowboardcross (SBX) champion who won the silver in the 2006 Olympic SBX event. “Normally there are eight. All the contests in Europe were cancelled because there was no snow.”
Also, Boston Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference is an outspoken eco-advocate, pushing for a carbon-neutral commitment from the entire NHL, which would affect the league's practice of travel and hotel accomodations.