Are Snowmen About to Go on the Endangered Species List?

A Swiss report on the danger to snowmen from decreasing snowfalls and warmer winter temperatures is confirmed by statistics from around Europe. The shrinking snowman habitat is a potential disaster for future generations of children.

The article in Eco Worldly is tongue-in-cheek, but the loss of the world’s snowmen is real, and just one of the unanticipated side effects of climate change.

Christoph Marty, a climatologist at the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research in Davos has shown a continuous and marked reduction in snow coverage at lower altitudes.

Data from Austria, Germany, France and other parts of Europe reveals the same pattern. Warmer temperatures mean that even when snow does fall, it doesn’t stay around long enough for snowmen. The loss of children’s wintertime fun is only one aspect of the reduced snowfall. Swiss resorts at lower altitudes are already feeling the economic pressure as there is less and less snow to lure tourists. We might be looking at a day sometime in the not so distant future when ski runs have been moved much further up the slopes, and when towns that rely on winter tourism have to find other sources of revenue. The article goes on to say that “There has so far been no official response from conservation groups, although some Snowmen have staged protests outside government buildings to raise awareness of their plight.” When will such demonstrations be reduced to one or two lonely snowmen slowly dripping into oblivion? Maybe the children of the world can take up the fight for this endangered species and do what their parents seem unable to do, find realistic ways to fight global climate change.