Europe - The Shrinking Alps
After one of the warmest winters on record, the future of Europe's ski resorts hangs in the balance. There's a real fear global warming could bring parts of the Alps crashing down on villages below.
Marcia Phillips regularly checks the avalanche fences on Mount Schafberg. They're meant to stop loose rocks tumbling down and flattening the village of Pontresina below. But much of Mount Schafberg is built from frozen soil and snow. And the mountain, like everything else in the Alps, is warming up. "We have to assume that the whole mountainside will come down", states climatologist Dr Marty. Ski resorts in the alps have been particularly hard hit by unusually warm winters. Banks already refuse to lend money to ski resorts at lower attitudes. As Dr Bruno Abegg states; "global warming is affecting us right now".
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