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.
