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Climate change

3K views 34 replies 20 participants last post by  f00bar 
#1 ·
I was going to post this in the Vancouver thread because it was made by whistler, however obv this is a problem for everybody.

In general I'm conscious of my carbon footprint and try to reduce it, however when it comes to riding I know I'm somewhat of an offender.

I don't have the money to upgrade my car (gas guzzler) and 80% of the time it's only myself in my car when I drive to the hill. 40min for my local and 90min to whis.

 
#2 ·
I don't have any hope for humanity doing anything to truly stop this. My wife actually did her Master's Degree on the human psychology of denial.

Long story short: human nature is flawed and rejects facts that contradict one's "world view" so no matter how bad it gets, people with a vested interest in keeping the status quo will undermine the efforts to fix the problem (which may actually require us the change our behavior). It's like that saying "don't confuse me with the facts".

As for me, I only have one engine in my life (car) and do have solar panels on the roof, and ride my old bike to work every day. That's not gonna save the world, but is something I can do. It's nice to get a check instead of a bill from the power company, too....
 
#3 ·
Humanity can thank me later. I'm in Japan right now vacationing with the gf. I went to a Shinto shrine and prayed to ooyamazumi no mikoto, who is the god of mountains.

I was a bit selfish by specifically mentioning Whistler and I thought I included the rest of the world, but after looking at my pics, I realized I only prayed for North America. So at least I got Canada and the US covered. haha :)








 
#5 ·
I have a tough time with this. First off thanks to Moto for praying to the Mountain Gods for us. I used to live in Japan so I think that is pretty cool, the shrines there are rad.


I have mixed feelings about being a snowboarder and talking about climate change. On the one hand, low tide is a problem for all of us who love snowboarding. It seems that winters are warmer, shorter, and with less snow over-all. My hope is that this is a short term trend, some kind of global micro-cycle. There were periods in the 1970s and 1990s when the Earth cooled slighty for a few years, fingers crossed that happens again. My fear is that this a long term trend and we all need to learn how to sandboard. :crying:


On the otherhand... I feel like we are the biggest hypocrites for worrying about this. We use tons of fossil fuels getting to mountains and up mountains. Planes, cars, snowmobiles, gondolas, high-speed quad chairs, helicopters, and snowcats. And we burn these fossil fuels for fun, not work, fun. I'm under no illusions that my hobby which I love is terrible for the environment, also it would be impossible to do without fossil fuels. Some pro snowboarders are so full of shit when they talk about the environment, seriously pro snowboarders use gasoline more than anyone.


So I guess I'm saying don't bullshit yourself and be as green as you can while being a snowboarder:

1. don't leave beer cans, chip bags, and candy wrappers in the bush on the side of a resort ski run (I'm embarassed to say I did this back in the 90s)
2. ride your bike to work as much as possible, I'm proud to say I used to do this before I had to take my kids to school. I will do it again once they are old enough to get to school on their own.
3. don't buy a second vehicle, I resisted this for years but once we had kids we had to get a second vehicle, sadly. I didn't have a car at all for a long time, just biked to work.
4. don't buy a huge house or 2 houses, live small and cheap. And live close to your work if you can.


Ultimately, if you really want to be as green as possible, you could always quit snowboarding and take up: skateboarding/longboarding, or surfing, or biking, or jogging. Otherwise just relax and realize that you are part of the problem. I have made my choice and I'm ok with it.
 
#6 ·
There are so many other things you can do in your life outside of snowboarding to reduce your carbon foot print. Just because you snowboard doesn't mean you're killing the planet, that statement is flawed logic.
Consolidating errands, automatic lights, energy efficient lighting, heating/cooling, buying recycled stuff, composting, eating less meat, stop buying a shit ton of stuff (we are definitely guilty of that), buying local produce and food and food that is in season, idk the list goes on, but swapping snowboarding to skateboarding doesn't even make sense.
 
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#7 ·
It's really all in how you look at it. You can look at the global picture and say "fuck I don't matter and it's getting worse" or you can go "well shit guess I can do the best I can and hope it helps."

I subscribe to the latter.

Recycle, Reduce, ReUse. These are all things I do.

I haven't owned a car in 12 years and walk everywhere. Then again I have a free transportation system here.

Cut down on eating beef. This is huge. I quit eating beef 7 years ago and I know that makes a bigger dent than anything else I do. I've slowly cut down my milk dependency, but cheese is soooo soooo sooo good. Plus you can't have taco's without sour cream. But that's just me.

Take shorter showers. I don't, fuck that shit I like a long ass shower. But I know that I can offset this off with other things I do.

Basically it just comes down to a lot of people doing small things that can add up. Will I own a Tesla at some point? Maybe, but till then free transportation, skateboard, walking, and bike are my main modes of transportation.

At this point it is what it is. We will long be dead when shit hits the fan.
 
#11 ·
….Cut down on eating beef. This is huge. I quit eating beef 7 years ago and I know that makes a bigger dent than anything else I do. I've slowly cut down my milk dependency, but cheese is soooo soooo sooo good. Plus you can't have taco's without sour cream. But that's just me.

Take shorter showers. I don't, fuck that shit I like a long ass shower. But I know that I can offset this off with other things I do.

…..E.g. the beef n dairy food we eat comes from cattle which was raised with grass of the pastures they live on, the proper food for that animal and not by corn (Edit: gain, not corn) or any fast growth concentrated feed forcing their stomachs to produce way more methane. Oh, organic meat is more expensive? Then eat less of it! Double win, it's better for your health and better for the world.

I don't recall the exact figure,.. but IIR, it's more than 70-80%+ of ALL the corn, soy, grain crops etc that are grown, is grown for animal feed. Beef, Pork, chicken!!

While I'm probably outing myself as a hypocrite,… (I'm not about to give up my burgers, chimis, or chicken fajitas!) :embarrased1:

Drastically cutting consumption of meat could conceivably put a HUGE dent in greenhouse gasses!!


As far as the alarmists are concerned,… The really frightening thing about climate change, global warming, whatever you want to call it is that there will be a "Tipping Point!" Once reached,… it will likely feed on itself and spiral out of control no matter what we do!

It's happened in the past,… and once that tipping point is reached? Ma Nature will need a couple 10's of thousands if not millions of years to right herself!
 
#8 · (Edited)
Well, everyone who likes to snowboard adds to the footprint. Be it the production of our gear or the vast energy n water needed to produce the snow and lift. However, in ones daily life, one can do lots of little things. BA mentioned good points, the beef reduction probably being the most important IMO, cos, as Killc mentioned, I as well have no believe that we'll reduce the oil use. That stuff is there and will be used. By us or by the neighborhood. It will be burned/cunsumed. Reducing ones oil consumption by driving less, travelling less is futile IMO (sure, this fits into my world picture cos I like to travel ;)). But I try to conciously use my part for things which I cannot easily replace (flights), and spare the parts where one has options (e.g. reduce the ridiculous waste in plastic).

What one can do easily IMO, is to contribute to the reduced production of toxins n methane. Recycle and re-use, eat organic stuff. E.g. no PET/glass bottle, tin/alu can, paper/cardboard, battery leaves our home other than to the proper recycling facility. E.g. the beef n dairy food we eat comes from cattle which was raised with grass of the pastures they live on, the proper food for that animal and not by corn (Edit: gain, not corn) or any fast growth concentrated feed forcing their stomachs to produce way more methane. Oh, organic meat is more expensive? Then eat less of it! Double win, it's better for your health and better for the world.
 
#9 ·
Actually grass fed produces much more methane than corn. Grass is harder to digest, but on top of that they grow faster and go to slaughter faster so on a lb meat per ft^3 methane basis its actually shockingly less with corn, something like a 1/3rd from memory. According to a Panda the proper food for it is bamboo, yet they can barely digest it at all.

Of course it also means a lot more cows, cheaper meat, and more consumption. But that wasn't the argument.

Alarmists like to scare people. It's what they do. Overstate and hope for some traction for your cause, with the cause often being money driven.

Cold War, Overstate the USSR's threat, get Star Wars funded.
Y2K, Overstate the issue, get tons of IT funding.
Global warming ~15 years ago before it changed to climate change? A Katrina every other year, currently in the longest drought of Cat 5 storms in the Atlantic in history.
Ebola? So long Africa. Oh wait its still on the map and was contained.
Brexit? Lights still seem to be on there.

Let me say I absolutely believe in climate change. Can't wait until fossil fuels go away. I just don't buy into every headline or documentary that I see on how the sky is falling because the purpose of most are to generate clicks and use scare tactics to influence people. I just tire of seeing nothing but headlines from what I consider extremists on both sides.
 
#13 ·
Here's the things about jobs and people get too caught up in it, you can always change what you do. People get too hung up in that fact and are scared to do so. Oh no you lost your meat job, guess what you can do something else you just have to want to do something else.
 
#14 ·
Or.....how about we move this thread from "General SNOWBOARD Chat" to: Off topic or the political one. Or better yet.....lets have the "what causes global warming and everyone giving their best guess" on one of the MANY MANY forums that is full of global warming arguments instead. :) Just no way to delve into this here without having it get ugly. :) Everyone has strong opinions and most don't really know the facts....including me :) Plenty of room elsewhere! :)

Then again, we can go that route and maybe start one here in the "snowboard chat" section on "Abortion helps keep the slopes less crowded, what do you think" :)

I think we should stick with "wax or don't wax" :) It will get ugly, but at least the word "snowboard" will be included :)
 
#17 ·
I think we should stick with "wax or don't wax" :) It will get ugly, but at least the word "snowboard" will be included :)
We should save the world by not waxing, did you know snowboard wax is responsible for 490,000 tons of green house gasses annually? And that you can use statistics to prove anything? 63% of people know that.
 
#19 · (Edited)
May I recommend the Kerama islands just off Okinawa? Jacques Causteau called it the best scuba diving in the world. :) ?? I mean, if you are going to drop thousands of quid on a trip to pray...why not choose something very different than BC right? :) I'll even share my secret dive cove with you. :) And....plenty of shrines to pray in :) In fact, this picture is a wedding that was happening at a Temple there that would be perfect for your prayers. i watched this unfold....when suddenly a man breaks in with an document proclaiming that the Groom-to-be....a BC Canadian like yourself but named Niles, was NOT the father. The document was unsigned and had wet ink....but no one seemed to question it as he scampered off to the airport; surfboard in hand, bride's father raging :)

Edit: This has much facetious humor in it.....but the right people will get it :)

Building Chinese architecture Temple Place of worship Temple
 
#16 ·
I'm all for the 3 R's reduce, reuse and recycle, but do I really think it will help the planet as a whole? Not really, but it helps me feel better about my self when I actually remember to bring my thick ass reusable plastic bags to the grocery store so I don't have to get or buy any of their thin plastic ones. Most of what we recycle ends up in the dump anyway, stuff like e-waste goes to places like India where people get to expose them selves to toxic chemicals to extract the small amount of rare earth metals to recycle them.
As far as pollution and greenhouse gasses go I kind of have a hunch the worlds industrial movement is the major reason we are at this point. In the grand scheme of things would taking your e-car to the slopes with a full load of people really make much difference between me driving up alone in a V8, while China and India are trying to develop and industrialize and have literally no concern for the environment? If the world could stop driving for three days or even just one I feel like greenhouse gasses would significantly decrease.
I'm just wondering if it's too late to unfuck the world?
 
#21 ·
While now I haven't watched it yet.

How many times did you go last year?
120? Times?
140? Times?

How many of those times did you call me?

You'll be getting an earful in a min I suspect?

Tssk tssk tssk


TT
 
#24 ·
Ugh, I hate these threads but I can't help but post. What's wrong with me? Look I just don't think we snowboarders should be "holier than thou." We have a hobby that is terrible for the environment and we need to accept that. I didn't even mention the acres and acres of trees that need to be bulldozed to build a resort. And don't forget the snowmaking. There are more environmentally friendly hobbies out there if you really feel that strongly about it. Don't be full of shit. Don't blame oil companies or fossil fuels for the fucked up planet. Blame yourself. FYI: You couldn't snowboard without fossil fuels, duh!


I hate this thread. I want to talk about getting stoked for the season not the dying planet and how I'm to blame. I'm going to put my head in the snow (if we get any this year) and pretend there isn't a problem. We all need to pray to snow gods for a good winter.
 
#25 ·
Ah yes, the great irony of the mountains - they only reason you can get up into them to enjoy nature is because of logging and mining (not to mention gas powered cars, trucks, helicopters, snow-cats, snowmobiles, atv's etc).

The movie "All I Can" by Sherpas Cinema pretty much sums up how I feel about the problem (yes - ouch, a ski movie!)

http://www.scilogs.com/from_the_lab_bench/allican-for-climate-and-extreme-skiing/

“A lot of the comments I get revolve around people feeling badly, people feeling badly about the car they drive,” said Schendler in a film interview. But, he points out, “this isn’t about you. It’s about how we all become part of a bigger solution.”
Film athlete and interviewee JP Auclair emphasizes that environmentalism is not about doing less, but about doing more. “If you try to be less and less, that is not progression,” said Auclair, among film visuals of wind energy technology. “You are not really moving forward, you are just basically slowing down. I don’t think it’s about doing less, I think it’s about being more creative, more active.”
Check it out if you haven't seen it - just don't turn into a skier

 
#26 ·
Climate change is something that I'm sure is extremely complex. I haven't done enough research to have formulated a strong opinion on it. I'm definitely off-put by the extremist idiots on each side of the issue.. both the Al Gores who predicted that the world would be a giant volcano by now, and the conservative far right who won't even admit that the earth is warming. The senator who gets campaign donations from the Oil lobby is just as bad as the environmental scientist whose research study and personal income is funded by the "stop global warming" campaign.

The one thing I know about climate change is that this is one subject where the most reasonable, well-researched voices are often the quietest, while the loudest voices that get reposted or retweeted tend to be factually incorrect.
 
#27 ·
In case anybody wanted to watch any of the docs.

Each are approx 7 mins long.

PART 1: CONFLICTED OBSESSIONS
IS OUR THIRST FOR ADVENTURE THREATENING OUR ENVIRONMENT?
As global weather systems continue to shift, skiers, snowboarders and ski areas are acknowledging their impact on the environment they are trying to preserve. What steps can we take to ensure the same opportunities are there for the next generation of mountain lovers?



PART 2: TECH TRAP
WHAT IF KIDS STOPPED PLAYING OUTSIDE?
Today’s youth are constantly engaged with electronic devices and technological wonders, some that improve our experience on the mountain and some that hinder it. As the line between nature and technology gets blurred, how can we make sure that our children (and all of us) get the chance to unplug and get outside?



PART 3: PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES
IS THE PULL OF THE BACKCOUNTRY PUSHING OUR LIMITS?
Backcountry skiing is the fastest growing segment of the snowsport industry, but are people ready to accept their responsibilities when they step beyond the boundary? Ski resorts are at the front lines of backcountry access to winter wilderness and they play a vital role in backcountry safety.



PART 4: SURVIVE OR THRIVE
WHAT’S THE FUTURE OF SKI RESORTS?
Like all ski resorts, Whistler Blackcomb must adapt to a changing ski and snowboard world if it wants to flourish for another 50 years. What will the future hold for ski resorts? Dave Brownlie, Whistler Blackcomb’s president and CEO offers his perspective.
 
#29 ·
I studied environmental science in college at a school that attracted a lot of 'environmentalists' to all programs (not just in the environment program) and did my thesis on modeling climate change. I spent a lot of time around people that were pretty extreme environmentalists, always petitioning or protesting something, but I tried my best not to be. One of my professors would always say that scientists couldn't be environmentalists because you had to be impartial...

Anyways, yes I have studied the facts. Yes climate change is happening, but as somebody else said there are people on both ends of the spectrum. There are always going to be people that think everybody can and should drastically change their lives to stop it, and there will always be people that refuse to admit this is human caused. Personally I fall somewhere more towards the middle. I try my best to reduce my impact on the environment, I could definitely do more, but I am also not going to try to force my opinions on anybody else. I also feel that a lot of the responsibility falls to industries and companies to reduce their impact and promote better practices.

I think their video is well done. I would love the opportunity to study the impact of climate change on the mountains, the social aspect and the mitigation like those guys do.
 
#32 ·
You've mingled two methods to show a vid :)

either post the entire url without using the YT button
or if using the YT button, only post the vid number (only the number of the specific vid, without the http etc) within the YT brackets (those
 
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