Ski resorts are embracing a new role: climate activist

Ski resorts are beginning to embrace a role as climate activists as global warming threatens their industry.

By

National News

March 17, 2023 - 4:09 PM

A skier goes down a hill at Arapahoe Basin Ski Area on Friday, Jan. 20, 2023, in Dillon, Colo. As global warming threatens to put much of the ski industry out of business over the next several decades, resorts are beginning to embrace a role as climate activists. (AP Photo/Brittany Peterson)

ASPEN, Colorado (AP) — Snow falls thick as skiers shed their gear and duck into the Sundeck Restaurant, one of the first certified energy efficient buildings in the U.S. — this one at 11,200 feet above sea level atop Aspen Mountain in Colorado. Skiers in brightly colored helmets jockey for a spot at the bar, their bodies warmed by thick, insulated walls and highly efficient condensing boilers.

Overhead, WeatherNation plays on the television, looping footage of last year’s mega storms and flashing a headline: “2022 billion dollar disasters.”

Aspen Skiing Company’s vice-president of sustainability, who sits nearby eating a slice of pizza, says it’s not enough for resorts to just change their on-site operations to become “green.”

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