The article I used to write this post can be found on The New York Times - http://goo.gl/mrgW3
Just recently there has been much dispute in Flagstaff Arizona on the
fake snow that a local ski resort will be using this year. This,
however, is not just frozen water, though, it is made of 100% sewage.
This ski resort, Arizona Snowbowl, needs to use fake snow because they
are in Arizona, and it doesn’t snow very much there. The Navajo indians,
whose reservation is right next to the ski resort is protesting against
this because they believe that this snow would be bad for the land that
to them is sacred, and bad to the health of local skiers.
A
scientist named Catherine R. Propper has been studying
“endocrine-disrupting chemicals” that she found in the snow. “The
substances were not considered in the Forest Service’s impact assessment
because federal guidelines do not require doing so, and their
non-status is part of why Flagstaff can consider its water safe despite
Dr. Propper’s findings.” Propper believes that this water is not safe to
use but the resort does not seem to care much about what they are
doing.
This article relates to “The Lorax” because it shows how humans are putting something bad into the environment and the ski resort doesn’t really care about it. In “The Lorax” the Once-ler pollutes the air and earth with is large factories, but does not really care about what he is doing. In this article there is tension between the Navajo Indians and the ski resort on whether or not they should do this. Personally, I would side with the Navajo, because even though the water may be approved, I still wouldn’t want to go skiing in sewage. Also the indians have been there longer and it is sacred land to them that may be getting polluted. After reading this article I think that people should think more about the people and earth that they are affecting before they do something that may get them a little more money. Photo -http://njmonthly.com/downloads/2713/download/snow1.gif
I think that doing something like this shows that the ski resort has much disregard in the way of health and safety. If the snow has been studied by scientists and found to possibly have dangerous chemicals in it, then I'm not sure why the resort would be using it. When the snow melts, the substance will most likely leach into the groundwater and prove a potential hazard for people. I'm not sure if the sewage takes longer to melt and this is the reason for the use of it, but if that isn't the case, then the resort could just as easily be using water instead of sewage.
ReplyDeleteThat is quite the interesting article, Will. My only major question is: how are they converting 100% sewage into snow? I understand that they are using chemicals, but how is it totally sewage and not even a little bit water or other things? Either way, that is pretty gross but if it was done correctly could be a good idea.
ReplyDeleteI think that recycling sewage to convert it into artificial snow may seem like a good idea to the ski resort, maybe because of the cheap price, but I don't understand how this ski resort can be so ignorant to their client's health. I think that ski resorts that use sewage for their artificial snow will get less business due to the dangers of skiing in sewage. I definitely wouldn't ski at a resort that uses sewage for their artificial snow, and I know many more people wouldn't ski in sewage either.
ReplyDeleteI think that the two reasons that they will still get a fair amount of business, despite the fact that they are using artificial snow made of sewage is, first of all, that people don't know. Unless they explicitly state this somewhere, or unless people read this article, people probably won't know that this is how the snow is made. Also, even if people do know, there will be a fair amount of people who don't care about it, so long as they know that it won't harm them.
DeleteI agree with Kevin that they will get less business by using this technique to make fake snow. It just seems gross and obviously is now widely known and is gonna be a big issue to gain back skiers to the mountain. Also, I think it would be interesting to find out how much money they would save by doing this. They can't be saving too much money because now they have to spend extra money on chemicals. In general I just think this is a bad idea for the ski resort.
ReplyDeleteI some what agree with Kevin and somewhat agree with Nat. Like Kevin said, it is good that they are re using sewage to make snow. but if it is harming the environment that is a big issue. I personally think it would be the best choice for the resort to invest in research to find a more environmentally friendly artificial snow. If they could find a more friendly snow they could with the resort and and every one would be happy. But until they make friendly snow the might have to stick with the unfriendly snow, that harms the environment.
ReplyDeleteWill this was a very interesting article and I had not seen it before. I think that it is just plain wrong to pollute that whole entire area with this sewage. Frankly, it is just gross. I know that I wouldn't want to go skiing on these slopes if they are pretty much waste. I think that you made some really great points because this land is indeed very sacred to the Navajo and some of the citizens that live there. You also made a great connection to the lorax because the resort doesn't care at all and they just want money from this. Overall, I think that this was a very "interesting article" because the resorts always seem to claim that nothing is wrong but this one put it out into the open. (probably to attract more people for money) You made a very great assessment on the article and the details in it.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you, I think people get too greedy and want to make as much money as possible without even thinking of how they affect the environment. It seems like, most people care about maximizing their profits even at the cost of harming the environment. I also agree that I wouldn't want to be skiing on sewage that could potentially harm me. On top of all that, the land the resort wants to do that on is next to the Navajo Indian Reserve and if its sacred land to them I don't think its right to put harmful artificial snow on it. I think you have to respect that even if you disagree with the snow being or not being harmful to the environment.
ReplyDeleteI agree Ricky. Why would you want to potentially hurt hundreds of people just to earn money. In my opinion, making waste into snow is hurting the resort more than it is helping it. The snow would not just hurt skiers, but the people living around the area like the Navajo. You also have to respect the Navajo because you are using their land. I think that locals should be protesting and trying to stop the sewage snow usage before too many people get sick.
ReplyDelete