Snow of tomorrow | The pandemic winter is also a climate change winter

ISPO 2020: A different world

I've been omnipresent ever since I came home from ISPO on the last day of January 2020 on PowderGuide business. Before that, there was only news of a virus in China and 14 infected people in Munich, but the situation was completely under control and all chains of infection (the word didn't even exist back then, did it?) could be traced. We couldn't really believe that at the time - but we were all still lulled into a sense of security. There were still jokes on the exhibition grounds along the lines of "Don't go into the C halls! There are people from Wuhan!" - It wasn't really that funny, but everyone smiled anyway.

Who thought about stopping normal-frequency air traffic back then? After all, that's part of sensible globalization! At the end of January 2020, visitors and exhibitors from all over the world were still flying to Munich for a sporting goods trade fair! Today, we hardly see any contrails or planes in the sky and all trade fairs are taking place digitally.

Walking around the exhibition grounds wearing a face mask? Apart from the (sensible) Asians, nobody ever did that! And we usually came home from the trade fair with at least a bad cold, if not a full-blown flu. Today, we only see people with covered faces and toddlers learn the word "mask" as one of their first words alongside "mom" and "dad". Three-year-olds want "no more corona at Christmas!", even though people are trying their hardest to keep these topics away from the little ones.

Crisis within a crisis

This is probably also where the difficulty lies in giving climate change a similar presence to a pandemic. I was (positively) surprised at how quickly such a crisis can attract worldwide attention and be dealt with with substance and consistency. And at the same time, I was also confused as to why politicians and businesses can't get involved in climate protection in the same way! During the pandemic, many everyday things were suddenly no longer important. With a decisive media tirade, enough hysteria was stirred up so that even the last person understood that it was an existential crisis (but we still can't say how threatening it really is). It is debatable whether we may have overreacted a little. There was and still is definitely no room for maneuver for many measures, but I have the feeling that we can no longer deal with existential fears. Possibly because since the post-war period and thus in the last two generations (at least in ours) we have wallowed in a luxury of "I want that, I'll buy that" consumption and the most life-threatening thing was to set off for the Alps by car.

The ratio of costs to income has shifted so much that we can afford virtually anything - from cheap trips and new ski touring equipment to plenty of Argentinian beef and organic products in discount stores. There is no longer any incentive to do without or to make, grow or repair things ourselves. Globalization with very different minimum wages around the world certainly contributes to this, but the basic idea of competition and an economy of growth is probably also more responsible locally and regionally. We can probably only defend ourselves against this if we consciously decide against it. Are we Homo sapiens brain-developed enough to destroy our planet? Or are we too stupid to save this planet?

Must climate protection become economically viable?

I am concerned with the fact that climate change was suddenly no longer or almost no longer on the radar and, on the other hand, a crisis like this mobilizes all the forces in the world to fight for human survival. How efficient is one or more vaccines developed in less than 12 months? Of course, the pharmaceutical industry's supposed humanitarian superficiality has a lot of economic background to it - and an infinite amount of state support. Once again, it probably only works if there is money.

Couldn't we finally shape climate protection in such a way that economic interest increases accordingly? Sure, efforts are already being made to some extent, but CO2 certificates have become "calculable running costs" rather than a real incentive to do business differently.

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To go one better: How can we generate such an incentive on a small scale if even politicians fail to do so because they are far too caught up in the classic economic foundations of growth, because the links to the economy are far too entangled to keep an independent eye on the big picture and really act in the interests of the citizens? I'm not even talking about the perfidy of some politicians who have decided to enrich themselves by forcing themselves to wear masks.

To remain constructive: Can we only make decisive progress on climate protection if we establish the economics behind it? Or are we making the mistake of once again failing to accept that the basis of our economy (growth!) is already inherently flawed because we live in a closed system (Earth!) and perpetual growth can only come at the expense of others? So it has to happen regardless of economic considerations?

Why can't we use all our energy in society, politics and the economy for our planet in the same way? What prevents us from devoting as much attention and consistency to the issue of climate change as we do to the pandemic? Such thoughts probably crossed many of your minds - in the many hours of free time that could not be filled with skiing (or similar). Or during the few select hours of walking that we were still allowed. You have to let that melt in your mouth! We are allowing our freedom to be taken away to fight this pandemic, but we are (for the most part) not prepared to make significant changes to protect the climate. We would rather invest the money saved from the canceled vacation (for the most part) in things that the world doesn't need for climate protection.

Tearing down lifts - so what now?

To rekindle the discussion from the penultimate issue of Snow of Tomorrow (see at the bottom of the comments). I am of the opinion that a society of exclusively radical rethinkers will not work. Or to put it another way: should we condemn people just because they couldn't be more consistently committed to climate protection than they already are? Like a friend who is taking a sabbatical to campaign for climate protection - starting with educating people about the most climate-smart cross on the ballot paper, he has initiated a YouTube channel. Should I now call him and tell him that YouTube consumes non-renewable resources? Probably wouldn't make much sense. Just as tearing down the lifts won't mean that there won't be any more winter tourism.

Here in the Black Forest this season, there was traffic chaos like never before in the best winter times. A conspicuous number of license plates from nearby cities were the consequence (but also many day tourists who usually spend Saturday afternoons shopping in the city or similar). Whereby "nearby" is definitely relative. When there were no signs of a northern traffic jam, the snow situation in Bavaria was miserable, the Austrian Alps were not available as an alternative and the parking fees in the Bavarian Alps and the Allgäu were becoming increasingly expensive, OA or M license plates were often found in the Black Forest.

The next day, a ski tour that normally only sees a few ski tourers every few years (Weilersbach Tal-Hinterwaldkopf) led to a lack of parking spaces in the valley and an abundance of people on the summit. Yes, pretty much all parking lots of standard tours (I'm just saying ski touring guides and PowderGuide-CRs), were overcrowded this winter in the SW - and that already at 8:30 in the morning. Again, I would like to emphasize that I have nothing against day tourists! And I don't care whether they come from Freiburg or other cities.

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It's natural to speculate what would happen if the ski resorts in the Alps were to be closed in one fell swoop. Would it be better for Fler to go to the SW for a day instead of spending a week skiing in the Alps? Sure, it would be quieter for the small valley in the Alps, but definitely not helpful for the big picture. Apart from that, there's a fair amount of localism involved, which I dare to question.

Only a gentle change will be possible here too. But we also need radical minds to stand up and lead the way - otherwise the masses will not be able to change gently. I am therefore more in favor of a "minimum length of stay when arriving by car" in the valley in order to get a grip on day tourists and the corresponding CO2 emissions on arrival. In addition, of course, no more new lift closures and sensible use of the old lifts until they can no longer be used. There are enough examples of nostalgic 60s gondolas that are still in operation. Unfortunately, most of them have already been dismantled in the European Alps (at least in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and to some extent also in FRA) and exported - mostly to the East - because it always has to be the latest and greatest here in the West. Something has to change about that, not about the question of whether we can still have lifts!

We learned about the importance of tipping points in the last issue of the Schnee of Tomorrow column and without falling into fatalism, it's probably not possible. Yesterday I learned from my friend on sabbatical that the earliest calculated date for the tipping point "Amazon rainforest becomes savannah" is 2021. 2021!! It's probably more realistic to assume that it won't happen for another ten to 15 years, but the fact is: we can't predict it with one hundred percent certainty. Conversely, this also means that it cannot be ruled out.

When will our human system reach the tipping point where we finally understand that our planet can only continue with massive change? And has that ever been calculated? I think we probably haven't reached the earliest point yet and unfortunately it could take another ten to 15 years before this tipping point is reached. Last week, Lea linked to an article worth reading that deals with social and decisive tipping points for successful climate protection. Apparently, it is not possible to calculate when we will be ready.

The destination was quickly chosen and I was already on my way to Freiburg's local mountain, Schauinsland. By bike up to an altitude of around 700 m and then on to the summit (1,284 m) on skis. It was precisely this tour that best reflected the contrasts. You have to know that the summit can almost be reached by car and that at the weekend there are lots of hikers, tobogganists, walkers and, of course, ski tourers around the summit. When we overcame a small cornice on the last few quiet meters of the north side to change our skis on the hiking trail, we and the crowd of people were somewhat surprised by the bizarre encounter. More and more people stopped and waited for us to finally ski back down into the valley (some were already taking out their cell phones to film and asking if we were really going to ski down here - these were probably the people who normally go shopping). This must be how mountaineers in the Bernese Oberland must feel, being eyed by Asian tourists from the Jungfrau Railway (was it any different this summer?). Here the masses, who generate a nature experience with as little effort as possible, there the ski tourer, who takes on extra effort and sees the nature experience in it.

The other Freiburg ski tour peaks Feldberg, Hinterwaldkopf (was a bit crowded on the summit, see above), Kandel and Belchen followed and I can only recommend it, because without looking for a parking space and the additional sporting activity, it definitely felt more contemporary. And the time required for most of the tours was quite reasonable (around three to four hours from door to door). In addition, there were one or two projects to use public transport to accumulate downhill meters and this also led to quite reasonable daily activities (sometimes with 36 km and 2,700 m downhill on skis). Fortunately, this winter we repeatedly saw other cyclists with skis on their cargo bikes, on their backs, on their ski trailers or under their arms.

I would like to emphasize once again that this is not about self-congratulation or self-promotion (to't get ahead of myself: no, I am definitely not as climate-conscious in other aspects), but about doing things differently on a small scale, changing habits and passing on ideas! And to stimulate the necessary, lively and constructive discussion about the future of winter sports!

With this in mind, I hope for plenty of fresh snow in the next few days, right down to the lowlands of the Black Forest!