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The Nation's Pulse
Skiing and Recycling Lessons
Taking advantage of a captive chairlift audience.
It’s getting harder all the time to have unadulterated fun. Recently, for example, I had the pleasure of spring skiing for three days in the scenic Lake Tahoe area. In almost all ways it was a completely enjoyable and positive experience. The snow was good, the lift lines non-existent, and the sun was shining (most of the time).
I gained useful and valuable tips in the lesson I took on the first day we spent at Squaw Valley. The best payoff from a lesson is practicing and seeing if you can apply what you’ve learned. Our second day was spent at nearby Alpine Meadows, another large and excellent facility. My time at Alpine Meadows, however, was slightly diminished by what you might call a gratuitous and incongruous distraction.
If you’ve ever been skiing you’re familiar with riding on the chair lifts. Moving cables take the attached chairs up the slopes at about five miles an hour. The cables are held aloft by lift towers roughly 200-300 feet apart.
On the lift towers at Alpine Meadows are attached signs conveying the following fascinating bits of information: “Milk cartons take five years to decompose,” “Plastic six-pack beverage holders take fifty years to decompose,” “Aluminum cans take fifty years to decompose, “Leather takes five years to decompose,” and “Styrofoam never decomposes.” There were about a dozen other messages along the same theme, but you get the idea.
These informational gems raised a number of questions in my mind: Why are they telling me this? What am I supposed to do with this information? What led them to believe that a ski resort is an appropriate venue to educate people about relative durations of decomposition? Is the fact that it takes five years for a milk carton to decompose a good thing or a bad thing? Is that too fast or too slow? Since Styrofoam never decomposes, should I avoid it like the plague? If I need to be educated (or re-educated) why do they assume it’s about waste management?
You and I could both at least guess about some possible answers. One purpose of the signs is to take advantage of a captive audience to enlist them in the great recycling crusade, whether or not they actually want to be enlistees. What kind of reaction are they hoping to generate? Remorse, despair, indignation, resolve, I’m not sure.
Skiing could be considered a somewhat decadent activity. It’s not cheap. Lift tickets typically cost $60-$80. Renting skis, boots, and poles is another $50, about the same for a snow board and boots. A group lesson is $50, a private one is $120. Lodging adds another $100-$300 a night. For a family, it can be a very expensive weekend.
The patrons might be feeling guilty about how much fun they’re having. They’re probably a good “target of opportunity” for making them feel guilty about their selfish and profligate use of resources. The implicit message is “Don’t go enjoying yourself too much, your lifestyle is generating residue that takes too long to decompose.”
I’ve seen information posted on ski towers many times before, but it’s always been relevant to skiing safety or courtesy, “Stay within designated boundaries,” for example.
The primary purpose of a ski resort, I assume, is to make a profit by making it possible for people to have fun. Why compromise that experience? Why spoil the fun? I doubt that it’s in the best interests of the resort owners. When I go someplace for recreation or entertainment it would be nice if that were the exclusive focus of the proprietors.
I imagine most readers of these signs don’t react as I have. They’re just the kinds of statements you commonly see these days. They’re not exceptional or unexpected. For all I know other skiers might be fascinated by decomposition trivia.
My frustration, of course, is not really with the owners and management of a particular ski resort, but rather with the cultural climate that spawns such intrusive and annoying nonsense. It’s a climate that gives far too many people a license to nag.
About the Author
Ron Ross Ph.D. is an economist who lives in Arcata, California. He is the author of The Unbeatable Market. Reach him at rossecon@gmail.com.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (42) | Leave a comment
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Kitty| 5.12.10 @ 6:25AM
Billboards along the highways are bad enough. Why would good progressives want to litter the ski slopes like that?
You had a good article until that feeble paragraph at the end. If I had spent all that money, I'd definitely complain to the ski resort management.
...
Dagny Taggert| 5.12.10 @ 6:53AM
I can't tell if this is an anti-recycling rant or just too far a stretch to whine about something. Who cares? If Squaw and Alpine were smart, they'd sell pepsi ads--at which point you could complain about the despoilation of the natural beauty around you. I do plenty of spring skiing, and one of the uglier parts is the trash that gets exposed under the chairlifts as the snow melts. There's no more populous part of the mountain than the chairlift line--and thus 6 months of stuff (purposefully or by mistake) accumulates underneath the chair.
I'm as hardcore a conservative as there is, but this attempt to turn the topic into a political or ideological tug-of-war is lame.
I think the purpose of the signs are to remind the skiers not to litter. Once something goes off the chair, it's not like you can reach down and pick it up. What if the rational behind the signs is to remind skiers to be responsible for themselves and make sure their trash makes it into the barrell at the top of the lift?
Quit looking for a fight where there might not be one.
Dagnar Ranneskjold| 5.12.10 @ 3:26PM
I completely agree. I ski Alpine Meadows frequently and never considered those signs as some political statement. I always considered it as the operators getting tired of picking up trash under the lifts. Actually, I thought it quite brilliant trying to guilt riders into using the trash can.
SpiralArchitect| 5.13.10 @ 1:19PM
Squawllywood is the epitome of capitalism. Everyway to make money that we can was the virtual swan song for Squaw Valley USA for years. Now it is, likely, even more corpaerate after Al Cushings departure ( google him, fascinating story, unless youre the Lorax of course).
Alpine Meadows? Polar oppisite! The hippie- esque crowd, the tele-skiers ( pinheds) equate to a much more laid back atmosphere.
I lived at the bottom of both ski areas for quite some time, along the truckee River, great place indeed. The authors take is quite acurate. Kinda like force feeding global warming on everyone - I know they wont read this, so were safe on that one...
Skiing? Mammoth is open until July 4th this year - I leave for some action friday night :)
Give me a shout if you're there anyone , lol!!
PS- you think Alpine is 'bad' in that regard, try Homewood down the west shore - EEK!
Well take care all and remember -
Like Reagan said - Just Say No! ( to Socialism )
Pingback| 5.12.10 @ 7:14AM
Twitter Trackbacks for The American Spectator : Skiing and Recycling Lessons [specta links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pecos Pete| 5.12.10 @ 7:52AM
I've been sking for 40 years. Old skis, bindings, poles and boots never decompose, they reside in the attic, barn, basement and storage. I can't imagine what my great grandchildren will do with this stuff.
Denver Todd| 5.12.10 @ 8:29AM
Dagny, if the focus of the campaign is not to litter, then the sign would say "please don't litter."
Ragnar Danneskjold| 5.12.10 @ 3:30PM
That is boring, though and more ineffective than guilting riders into thinking twice before dropping their trash under the lifts.
Sam Vaughn| 5.12.10 @ 9:10AM
Good one. I'm sick and tired of being talked down to and attempts at "re-education". Next on the "road to transformation" intense cultural revolution by Ivy League know-it-alls demanding change in my life habits while they congratulate themselves on the ride up the chairlift at Deer Valley. Funny thing is that I downsized my "footprint" long before it was fashionable and these same people looked down their noses at us for selling our 3400 square foot house and moving into a tiny condominium. We did it because we value our financial freedom and we saw this whole mess coming in 2003. I'm so pissed off at the constent lecturing that I think I'll quit re-cycling, it's a pain in the a** anyhow, and turn the air-conditioning on full blast.
JS| 5.12.10 @ 1:14PM
I refuse to recycle. The reason I refuse to recycle is because everyone tells me I should. For Earth Day I opened the tail gate of my 10 mile-per-gallon four-wheel-drive pickup and let the trash blow out on the highway. I don't mind people recycling. I think its a good idea. However, I will not be pushed into doing it. You'll lead me a long way, but you won't push me very far...
Richard | 5.12.10 @ 11:19AM
Liberals believe they are entitled to expectorate their opinions anywhere and to anyone whether the liberal is a post office employee, a sports fan, a street protestor or whatever. After all they mean well.
Justin Blackburn | 5.12.10 @ 12:16PM
This is an ignorant and uneducated article. I understand that most folks only visit ski resorts during the winter so they may not be aware of what spring and summer bring. Folks ride ski lifts and routinely dispose of empty beer cans, soda bottles, wrappers, and other garbage by throwing it off the chairs on the way up. Most of the time, it is covered by snow fairly quickly as it tends to, you know, snow a lot at ski resorts. So as it gets buried in the snow, it is not visible until the following spring when as the thaws happen, the areas under the ski lifts resemble highways that have not been adopted. Ski resorts have to pick up your garbage the following summer during the melt. It is time consuming since most lifts run in steep areas and it damages the environment at the resort. These signs are almost assuredly simply to remind people not to discard their garbage off the lifts, not as some sort of environmental indoctrination.
Silver Streak| 5.13.10 @ 7:50AM
I've skied for many years, mostly in the northeast - NH, VT and ME. At no mountain I've skied at have I ever seen an accumulation of trash along the trails or under the lifts. Certainly no beer cans or other inorganic items.
If the resorts you ski at have this problem, consider skiing elsewhere. Or, perhaps complain about the people who are causing the trash problem.
I believe most of the people I've skied with over the years are not the cause of your trash problem. They love the beauty of the outdoors. At least a few folks I know claim to be ardent environmentalists. Well, everyone should have a moonbat acquaintance.
SpiralArchitect| 5.13.10 @ 1:23PM
Justin B - OK, you write a blog on skiing. Thats fine, enjoy.
Perhaps you're short, because the point the author was trying to make went right over your head.
Justin Blackburn | 6.2.10 @ 11:14AM
No, I got the point. The point is that it comes off preachy for resorts to post constant reminders about littering.
I am saying that if you want to attack the industry being preachy there are so many other things to attack it about. The littering problem is very real. And like I said, "I've skied and never seen a littering problem..." well that is because the problem is covered with snow. I have skied everywhere from Beaver Creek to Brian Head. Probably 15-20 resorts. People throw trash out. If littering was not a problem, folks wouldn't do it on the highways either.
Bob Fay| 5.12.10 @ 2:33PM
For several years Vail Resorts pretended to obtain their electricity from windmills. They did this by buying their power from Xcel Energy at market rates, then sending additional funds per KWH to a flim- flam company which promised to use these funds for "green" projects. This nonsense was discontinued during this past ski season. One shudders to think of the adverse effects on lift ticket prices and shareholder value engendered by this silly exercise in futility.
Gr0w1er| 5.12.10 @ 4:35PM
I used to be an alpine skier, forever chained to ski area slavery. About 15 years ago, I learned to ski telemark and heaven't looked back since. Whenever the snow is good, we go up to the high mountain passes, put on our climbing skins and go in search of the best snow fields, chutes, and glades. True freedom. But not without responsibility. With us we carry avalanche probes, beacons, collapsible snow shovels, radios/cellphones, and my personal snow-lung. Alas, freedom does have a price.
Woodsman| 5.12.10 @ 6:56PM
How long will it take the lift towers, cables, chairs, and all the resort buildings to decompose?
Stammon| 5.12.10 @ 10:18PM
Not long at all. They're made of steel, and scrap steel has value. We melt about 5,000 tons a day and we're just a mini-mill. On the other hand, a few years ago I took our carefully sorted bags of plastics down to the local rural recyclers. He had me throw it all into one big pile of garbage. He makes no money on plastics, so to keep his contract with the county he buries it.
Bob Fay| 5.13.10 @ 12:35PM
Good reply, Stammon. In not too many years you will be busy melting down wind turbines when the public realizes that economical wind power is as big a fraud as human caused global warming.
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