Skiers Save our World

By Dan Estabrook - December 5, 2008 While we wouldn't know it here in Northern California, ski season is upon us.  Unusually warm and almost summer-like weather has been sitting over the state and our beloved Sierra Nevada has hardly seen one snowflake. This, I am sure, is instilling fears about the upcoming ski season. Skiers around the world are thinking a lot about global warming.  As delegates from all over the world gathered in Poland this week in the latest round of United Nations climate talks, some of our planet's top skiers and snowboarders gathered near the talks to show their stuff and help raise awareness about global warming.  Such snow stars as Ted Ligety, Julia Mancusco, Magdalena Gwizdon and Tomasz Sikora joined the signing of a petition in support of urgent U.N. action on climate change calling for an 80 percent reduction in global carbon emissions by 2050.  Global warming is a threat to the entire sport and snow sports industry, and scientists claim that Europe could end up with just 56 percent of its currently active ski slopes that it has today. I guess I'm going to wait before buying my next pair of fat powder skis.  Read more here. Photo: A snowboarder performs a jump on artificial snow in a park to protest global warming in Poznan, Poland, Friday, Dec. 5, 2008. Delegates from about 190 countries and non-governmental organizations are discussing climate change issues on the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Poznan. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)