Feigning a winter wonderland. According to a recent article in the New York Times, there's a trend towards people making their own snow so that their kids can make snowmen—since temperate winters have meant little to no snow in many parts of the country.
Well, we admit we're from California and usually only see snow when we head to the mountains for the weekend, but doesn't this seem just a little strange to anyone else?
People are spending tens of thousands of dollars to create backyard snow mounds. Even more troubling than the wanton use of cash, a lot of these people seem to be contributing to the very problem that's causing their lack of snow.
As the Times article says, "As global warming continues to wreak havoc with the weather, snowmakers impose a nostalgic order — albeit one that does nothing to help the situation, since snowmaking runs on electricity (and water, of course, one and a half to six gallons a minute, depending on the size of the machine). "
But maybe we're just being grinches and making a mountain out of a snow mound, so to speak. What do other people think?
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I find this topic very interesting. I have a die-hard snowboarder husband and he's been talking about wanting to try to make one of these for us to create our own mini-rail on land we want to buy.
I consider myself environmentally-conscious, but I must admit that I never looked at snow making this way. Maybe the machine could somehow create a way to run it off solar power on sunnier days? Or collect rain water through the year and use that for snow making? This topic has given us lots to think about...
So deeply wasteful and ironic...