POW UK Blog: climate change and coronavirus

What will be the impact of climate change and coronavirus on the 2020/21 Ski Season?

Closed due to the coronavirus: Legendary Avoriaz party spot, La Folie Douce, sits empty on a bluebird day.

On August 22nd of this year, we hit Earth Overshoot Day - the day on which we exhaust what natural resources our planet can provide us with for the year and start existing on ecological credit. This year, as a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic and the lockdowns imposed to counteract this, Earth Overshoot Day was over three weeks later than in 2019, when it fell on July 29th. The massive coronavirus shutdown gave earth a mere twenty-four days’ respite.

Then the world got back on track for business as usual.

In May, China’s CO2 emissions overtook their precoronavirus levels, with a 4-5% rise from May 2019.

At the Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station on the northwest tip of Tasmania, climate scientists have recorded more C02 accumulated in the atmosphere between January and July 2020 than the same period in 2017 or 2018. And on August 54.4C – the highest temperature ever recorded on earth. Photograph: Adobe Stock

17th, the temperature in Death Valley, California,

reached a high of 54.4C, which, when verified, will be the highest temperature ever recorded on earth.

Perhaps yet even more alarming than this, however, was this summer’s Arctic heatwave, with the Siberian settlement of Verkoyansk sweltering in an unprecedented 38C in June. Research indicates that if the current trend continues, the Arctic may be ice-free in summer by 2035.

And this list could go on.

Despite unprecedented lockdown restrictions, the long-term impact of coronavirus on the climate change crisis has been slight.

Photograph: Adobe Stock

In other words, the current long-term impact of coronavirus on the climate change crisis has been slight. However, the impact of climate change, and, crucially, the man-made causes of climate change, on both the increase of infectious diseases, such as malaria, and further new zoonotic viruses (viruses which are transmitted from animals to humans) such as COVID-19, is significant.

As average global temperatures rise, so does the geographical spread of contagious illnesses such as malaria and dengue fever; as humans continue to destroy habitat through deforestation, so species are forced to migrate, leading to higher likelihood of contact with other animals or people, and the transmission of germs. 70% of infection diseases have come from the natural environment, with many from animal-to-human contact.

“When we damage the natural environment, when we overexploit it, and then we don’t monitor what’s happening to infections in domestic animals and infections in humans, we’re basically leaving ourselves open to these risks.” (Dr Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum, Head of the Climate Change and Health Program at the World Health Organization) We may close our eyes to the reality of it, but as with everything on earth, coronaviruses and climate change are inter-connected.

The impact of man-made causes of climate change on zoonotic diseases is significant. Photograph: Google Creative Common Licences

Across our planet, there has been fast and drastic large-scale action against the coronavirus.

In the UK, ongoing lockdowns and restrictions throughout the year have led to previously unthinkable changes in how we live our lives.

Faced with the immediate threat of a pandemic, the reaction of the majority has exposed our extraordinary human capacity to not only empathise and care for others, but to adopt behaviours that benefit everyone we share our world with. And of course, many of these lifestyle changes have had a positive

impact

on

our

environment, which in turn will have a positive impact on us.

Busy roads remain empty during the COVID-19 lockdown, Muntinlupa City, Philippines. Photograph: Flickr / Google Creative Common Licences

Studies have shown that exposure to air pollution increases the likelihood of dying from COVID-19; indeed, going back to the SARS coronavirus epidemic in 2003, scientists drew the same link between exposure to particulate matter air pollution and an increased risk in dying from the disease. Therefore, we have a vested double interest in combating air pollution where coronaviruses and climate change are concerned.

So why is it that humans have been so quick to respond to the threat of COVID-19, yet seem unable to muster a similarly united, drastic and timely attack against climate change?

Though there is no one reason, perhaps the most significant

lies

in

our

fundamental

human

psychology. “We have evolved to pay attention to immediate threats,” explains political psychologist Conor Seyle, director of research at One Earth Future Foundation. “We overestimate threats that are less likely...like terrorism, and underestimate more complex threats, like climate change.”

In his 2014 book, ‘Don’t Even Think About It: Why our Brains are Wired to Ignore Climate Change’, George Marshall explores in depth the cognitive ‘blind spots’ that render us inherently ill-equipped to respond appropriately - rationally and emotionally - to problems that we perceive are long term dangers.

In Don’t Even Think About It, George Marshall explores the psychology behind climate change denial.

Photograph: Google Creative Common Licences

However, as our lives are increasingly impacted by the consequences of climate change, we are seeing an important shift in the perception of climate change as a long-term danger: a widespread awakening to the reality that climate change is not some future problem; we are already living with its disastrous, destructive effects.

We may not have reacted to the climate crisis with the same immediacy as against COVID-19, but a global Ipsos poll conducted to mark World Environment Day in June found that three in four people in sixteen major countries expect their government to make protection of the environment a priority when planning a recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

There is a recognition that we cannot return to business as usual; we need a new ‘normal’, because the old normal was not working either in the best interests of the planet or in the best interest of most of the people living on it.

Fossil Fuels - the old normal is not working in the best interests of our planet or the people on it. Photograph: Google Creative Common Licences

In the UK, you can help be a part of positive change by supporting The Time is Now campaign, which is run by The Climate Coalition, the UK’s largest group of people dedicated to action against climate change, and signing the declaration calling for a ‘healthier, greener, fairer future’.

It is imperative that we realise that our fight against the climate crisis is, in actuality, an opportunity; that by achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, we will be creating a better world for every living creature on the earth, and protecting our earth for future generations.

Thus, as we reflect on how best to live safely in the time of coronavirus, and sustainably in order to prevent further disastrous climate change, how are these factors affecting the imminent 20/21 ski season?

We know already that both COVID-19 and climate change are having a detrimental impact on the winter sports industry. As the pandemic escalated in March, ski resorts across the Northern Hemisphere shut down early; as the Southern Hemisphere entered its ski season this summer, two Australian ski resorts were closed due to a COVID-19 spike.

Legendary Austrian party resort Ischgl became infamous when hundreds of cases were traced back to it, leaving as a lasting legacy the resort’s intention to reinvent itself for 20/21, scaling back the après-ski partying and bringing in free coronavirus testing. Ischgl’s remarketing foreshadowed the wide scale shift in the whole culture of a ski holiday that we are seeing in the measures being put in place across the continent for the upcoming ski season.

Austria’s Ischgl came under fire when hundreds of coronavirus cases were traced back to one of its bars. Photograph: Google Creative Common Licences

Currently, European countries are clashing over whether or not ski resorts should be open at all, with French, German and Italian governments keeping their resorts shut over Christmas, and arguing for neighbouring countries to do the same, with Switzerland in particular coming under fire for its decision to allow resorts to open. Austrian resorts will be opening on Christmas Eve, but with hotels and restaurants still closed, it is likely only locals will be able to take advantage of open lifts.

Where there seems to be little dissent in policy, however, among both Alpine and Scandinavian resorts, is with regards to the world of après-ski and hospitality on the slopes.

With restaurants either closed or opening under strict rules of operation – limited numbers and table service only – it is unlikely that we’ll see any table-top dancing at iconic party nightspot La Folie Douce in the near future.

Ultimately, of course, for snow sports purists, no après is never going to be a dealbreaker; and who stops for a leisurely lunch at a restaurant on a powder day anyway? Nevertheless, Britons wanting to get their skiing trips booked so they can start dreaming of mountain air and snowy pistes are deeply frustrated at the uncertainty and risk of doing so.

The COVID-19 lockdown has devastated the UK economy, and the tourism industry is no exception,

with

government’s amendments

the

short-noticed to

the

travel

corridor list throughout the year causing particular havoc.

Airport travel in the coronavirus era. Photograph: Google Creative Common Licences

Ski holiday companies have tried to tempt customers by offering early-booking deals and guaranteeing refunds or credit notes in the event of cancellations, but, understandably, the combination of ongoing travel restrictions, uncertainty over resort openings and the fact that companies are going out of business and holidays being cancelled already, are all hindering people’s ability to book a trip for the upcoming season.

For snow-lovers determined to get to the Alps one way or another this winter, a possible alternative to the traditional lift-powered ski holiday, one which means not only less proximity to other tourists, but a lower personal carbon footprint too, is the ski-touring / splitboarding holiday. Nick Parks of Grimentz Zinal BackCountry Adventures, based in Switzerland’s stunning region of Valais, outlines the plethora of plus points to this type of winter-sports getaway: “In terms of coronavirus, ski-touring in a private group allows people to go away in a ‘bubble’ of friends or family who know each other, rather than mixing with individuals you don’t know.

Ski-touring holidays are well-suited for all abilities; the important thing is for everyone to master the off-piste and skinning skills, which they can do with our qualified Mountain Guides, who can gauge the safest tour to best suit the levels within the group.

“And, unlike what a typical resort holiday is likely to be like this season, there will be fewer restrictions, and a greater sense of normality and freedom - as well as discovering untouched snow in amazing surroundings! At Backcountry Adventures, we are promoting a greener

approach to ski holidays: arriving by public transport, staying in a super-insulated, minimal carbon footprint chalet, and then the ski-touring itself, of course.”

“Ski-touring in a private group allows people to go away in a ‘bubble’ of friends or family who know each other.”

Photograph: Grimentz Zinal Backcountry Adventures Facebook

Ski-touring and splitboarding are becoming increasingly popular with skiers and snowboarders searching to reconcile their passion for the mountains and untracked snow with their desire to keep their carbon footprint minimal, an ideology explored in 2019’s documentary Shelter, and discussed in depth with the rider behind Shelter, pro-snowboarder Mathieu Schaer, in a POW UK feature earlier this year.

Certainly, for anyone looking to minimise their contact with other tourists on the slopes this year, Alpine ski-touring or splitboarding with companies like Backcountry Adventures offers the perfect solution.

Of course, this still leaves the question of how to travel to one’s holiday destination this season. With holiday favourites in Northern America and Japan currently closed to British tourists, for those hankering after further afield destinations such as the US, Canada or Japan, there is really only one option if you’re travelling from the UK - to fly.

In terms of the risk of infection where the coronavirus is concerned when flying, recent studies suggest that this is relatively low. Moreover, long-haul flights do actually have a slightly lower rate of C02 per person km than short-haul or domestic.

However, for anyone wanting to drastically minimise both their personal carbon footprint and the amount of people they come into contact with while travelling, either car-pooling, or taking the train or coach from the UK to the Alps is the answer, with the potential to cut your personal CO2 emissions by up to 90%.

With the myriad of benefits of travelling by train in mind, it was intensely frustrating for many environmentally-conscious skiers hoping to get to the Alps using this form of transport this season, when Eurostar cancelled their hugely popular ski train in July, blaming the challenges imposed on them by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Travelling by train from the UK to the Alps can allow you to cut your carbon footprint by up to 90%.

Photograph: Google Common Creative Licences

Ski Flight Free have started a campaign against the cancellation (you can sign the petition here, if you haven’t already), but it is still possible to get to the Alps by train; it just means a change of trains in Paris. As the website Ski Carbon point out, given that a person’s decision to fly to the Alps rather than taking the train is the equivalent of leaving their TV on standby for twenty-two years, changing the way we travel does make a significant difference.

Ultimately, however, you can get your winter-sports fix this season without having to leave the UK at all. With six ski centres in Scotland, those looking for lift-powered fun on the snow have a range of locations to choose from.

From the staggering beauty of Nevis Range, with its beautiful backdrop of Loch Eil, to the rolling slopes of the Lecht, a good day riding in Scotland is as guaranteed to put a smile on your face as any Alpine piste.

Backcountry touring in Scotland’s Nevis Range. Photograph: Ed Smith Photography

Furthermore, foot-powered backcountry adventures are on option here too: if you want to avoid the crowds and stay in a safe ‘bubble’ with a group of friends, a Scottish-based splitboarding or ski-touring trip may be the solution this winter.

Situated in the stunning Cairngorm National Park, the renowned Sport Scotland National Outdoor Training Centre of Glenmore Lodge offer trips and courses for skiers and snowboarders of all levels. A highly professional organisation, Glenmore Lodge have already provided comprehensive details about the policies in place for COVID-19, so you can rest assured that you will be in safe hands.

Alternatively, you can check out either the Facebook page or the website of British Backcountry, who also offer ski-touring packages.

Co-founder of the company, Blair Aitken, and a seasoned mountain guide in both the Alps and Scotland, explains what it is that makes the Mountain Guide Blair Aitken. Photograph: Blair Aitken

Scottish backcountry so special:

“I value my days out in the Highlands as much as a good day in the Alps. Like snow itself, ski touring descents are fleeting moments that stay with you. The more preparation and work you put into those moments, the more powerful and memorable they are. I’ve skied some terrific lines in the Alps after short lift-served hikes. I know they were good...but I don’t remember them as well as some of my big Scottish ski tours or dramatic Highland gully descents. There is something special about taking part in our wonderful sport on home turf.

And if you’re not convinced, come on one of my ski touring courses and I’ll do my best to show you!’

We still can’t predict for sure what the ski season of 20/21 is going to look like. But by doing your research and keeping an open mind to travel possibilities and types of holidays available, it should be possible for everyone to enjoy the snow safely when it comes.

Ski Scotland…backcountry adventures in Nevis Range. Photograph: Ed Smith Photography