Along with obvious environmental dangers to global warming, there are a number of tangible financial dangers as well. Ski hills, coastal regions, and the lobster industry are just a few of the industries that have felt an economic pinch as a direct result of climate change. Because of the changes in temperature, many of the economies that depend on industries with a reliance on the weather are starting to experience problems.
The ski industry is one of the obvious ones, naturally. To put it bluntly, without snow there is no ski season. In America, the ski industry is worth around $4.5 billion a year. States like Colorado are largely reliant on snow in certain parts of the year in order to fuel many of its local economies. Without that snow, the local economies die off.
Between 1950 and 1997, springtime mountain snow cover in the Rockies was down 16 percent, the Cascades lost an average of 29 percent, and many sites in Washington, Oregon and Northern California saw springtime snow down more than 50 percent. This type of snow loss is increasing each year, meaning that companies have to create their own snow. That is an expensive process, to say the least.
Man-made snow is prepared by replicating the same conditions needed for natural snow. While the immediate temperatures don’t have to be freezing, they do have to be close. The warmer it is, the more expensive it is to make snow.
With local ski hills suffering because of a lack of snow and more of an emphasis put on manmade snow, it can be tough to imagine how the economy can possibly get any worse for areas that depend on snow to make a living.
Despite claims to the contrary, changing our driving habits now actually CAN make a difference as to how the world operates and how much of an impact climate change has on our world. Stop by your local Scion dealer today and check out some of what they have to offer by way of fuel-efficient cars. You might save a ski bunny or two!
Everybody thinks the "big bad oil companies" are benefiting from rising gas prices. The only problem with that theory is that they only make about four cents per gallon right now instead of the 10 cents per gallon they made when gas was cheaper. Most of these companies have cut their profits just to cut down on the price the consumers need to pay at the pumps. The federal and state governments actually make four or five times the amount of the oil companies for each gallon sold.