Environment
Monday, 18 February, 2008
Smog blankets Alps
The long period of high pressure has resulted in a smog cloud settling on the French and Swiss alps below 800 meters altitude. The pollution alert reached 9/10 (bad) on Saturday as thousands of tourists crossed the region heading for the ski resorts. The French love of diesel cars doesn’t help matters. However road transport is not the only culprit. The fine particle cloud is also the result of domestic heating and industrial emissions such as waste incineration.
Smog in the Arve valley yesterday
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Thursday, 13 December, 2007
Artificial snow, a short term fix?
The Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research located in Davos have just released a monster 189 page tome in German studying the effects of snow canons on the mountain economy. I’ve only had time to read the “shorter” 35 page version. The overall conclusion is that while artificial snow is essential in the short term for the economic stability of ski areas long term it has no future below 1500 meters.
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Wednesday, 12 December, 2007
Kilimanjaro, blame it on the sunshine
The melting snows of Kilimanjaro near the African equator have become a symbol of global warming but is there really a link between the two? Two geophysicists, Philip Mote and Georg Kaser don’t think so. In an article in the journal American Scientific the two scientists have identified other causes.
Kilimanjaro - shrinking snows (photo: Nasa)
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Tuesday, 04 December, 2007
Oil price will hit ski resorts hard
Sheikh Yamani once said that the stone age didn’t end for lack of stone and if a new book by Jean-Marc Jancovici, consulting engineer and specialist in energy consumption is correct the ski age will end long before snow runs out. Interviewed by Stéphène Jourdain for the Dauphine Libere Mr Jancovici’s book is called “Le Plein s’il vous plaît!” (fill her up, please - ISBN: 978-2757803011).
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Tuesday, 13 November, 2007
Drought worries southern ski resorts
The mayor of Gap in the Hautes-Alpes has introduced water restrictions. From today it will be illegal to water gardens, wash cars or to fill private swimming pools. The mayor has asked everyone in the area to make an effort. The restrictions will be reviewed on the 2nd of December. The region has been suffering from a drought for some time with little rain over the last few months. Many reservoirs are lack water and there are worries that the shortage may have a knock on effect on the ability of ski resorts to make snow.
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Friday, 09 November, 2007
Environmentalists take aim at snowmobilers
Yesterday saw the opening legal shots in a long standing dispute between the refuge Napoleon on the Col d’Izoard and the group SOS environment. The court case is in the Gap criminal court. The refuge is being prosecuted unter the French Mountain Law for using a motor vehicle on a highway normally closed to traffic due to snow cover.
Image: Mountain Wilderness Italy
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Saturday, 03 November, 2007
Pyrenean Glaciers melting away
This summer the ice fall of the Petit Vignemale has been disintegrating. It is the last in the Pyrenees and it illustrates the spectacular retreat of the regions glaciers over the last century. In the same range this summer the ice in the couloir du Clot de la Hount has also melted. A classic mixed ice and rock route on the north face of the Vignemale, the couloir de Gaube has also dried out.
Glacier d’Ossoue
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Monday, 15 October, 2007
Ski Company Goes Green To Combat Climate Change
With the impact of global warming increasingly affecting winters in the Alps a young ski company leads the field by going carbon negative. Chalet 1802 has gone green in order to offset its carbon footprint, offer clients an environmental option when booking their ski holidays and raise awareness about climate change within the ski industry.
Saturday, 13 October, 2007
Mont Blanc doubles in size
New detailed GPS readings taken on the 15-16th September have shown that Mont-Blanc measures 4810.9 meters. Mont-Blanc is covered by a thick ice-cap which has thickened by 2.15 meters in just 2 years but more suprisingly the volume of the ice has nearly doubled. At least that is, according to the “Géomètres experts de Haute-Savoie”.
Le Mont Blanc in the summer
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Tuesday, 24 July, 2007
Savoie ski resorts commit “ecological suicide”
Member of parliament for the Savoie and former minister, Herve Gaymard has accused ski areas in the Savoie of committing “ecological suicide”. Gaymard, former president of the ANENA (National Association for the Study of Snow and Avalanches), says that the valley has to “stop the headlong over development of ski resorts.” The battle is over water and the players include local farmers, permanent residents, ski resorts and the EDF, the Government run electric company. Along with other local representatives he has called “for a global approach to water management”. Already residents of some towns in the area have suffered from water shortages during the winter.
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