State Olympic Regional Development Authority Board Chair Joe Martens, left, and author/environmental activist Bill McKibben are seen during the FISU World Conference at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts. (Provided photo — Naj Wikoff)

While we have been having weather challenges in the Adirondacks, winter resorts in the French, German, Italian and Swiss Alps and beyond are in worse shape. They have no snow. Thus, the FISU World Conference — “Save Winter” — held from Jan. 13 to 15 at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts is timely.

Furthermore, the caliber of presenters was world-class.

“Organizing a conference around saving winter seemed like a natural,” said Karlan Jessen, head of sustainability and legacy for the Lake Placid 2023 FISU Winter World University Games. “We thought everyone’s going to be here, the weather may or may not be good, and the athletes are going to want to compete on the best snow and ice. Let’s talk about what’s happening.”

New York’s economy is the 10th largest in the world; thus, decisions and actions in the state can reverberate far beyond its borders. For example, when New York banned fracking, it sent a powerful message about the environmental dangers of that energy extraction method. By partnering with Hydro Quebec, the state is now enabling New York City to replace one-quarter of its electrical energy currently generated by carbon-based sources like coal, oil and natural gas.

“It takes all kinds of renewable power to transition away from fossil fuels,” said Serge Abergel, chief operating officer of Hydro Quebec. “Intermittent resources like wind and solar are wonderful, but we also need something that’s in between when there is no wind, no sun, and that’s the role hydropower plays.”

Serge Abergel and Peter Rose of Hydro Quebec are seen during the FISU World Conference at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts. (Provided photo — Naj Wikoff)

Abergel pointed out that people living near or downwind of fossil fuel-generating plants, primarily minorities and people of low economic means, often have asthma and other ailments resulting from the pollution caused, which shifting to hydropower will eliminate.

The presentations on Friday, Jan. 13 underscored the economic and work opportunities of developing stainable economies and non-carbon energy sources. Author and climate activist Bill McKibben concluded the day by shifting the focus toward the hard choices we must make now to create the possibility of a better future for the younger people alive and yet to be born.

“Bill challenged us to take risks, and the risks aren’t what we do when we walk out of the door,” said Erik Backus of Clarkson University. “He is saying the things we hold valuable today aren’t the things we will hold valuable tomorrow and for our children’s tomorrow.”

“I think this conference is every bit as important as the athletic events,” said Joe Martens, former commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Conservation and current Olympic Regional Development Authority Board chairman. “This conference brings experts from around the world to talk about what our actions are doing to the winter and the planet and what’s at stake. We have people here who are affected by climate change, who can participate in the discussions, and who can spread the word. Here is the axle, and I hope the spokes spread out through the world.”

“It’s more than our interest; it’s our duty to figure out a path forward that will lead to the return of the kind of winters we love and desire,” said McKibben.

U.S. Olympic figure skating medalist Nathan Chen poses with Karlen Jessen, head of sustainability and legacy for the 2023 FISU Winter World University Games, during the FISU World Conference at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts. (Provided photo — Naj Wikoff)

McKibben said our addiction to fossil fuels is putting the equivalent of the heat generated by 400,000 Hiroshima’s nuclear blasts into the air every day, heat that our carbon emissions trap. Hot air retains moisture which comes down in torrents as it did in Pakistan this fall and is now in California.

McKibben added that a carbon-based economy is terrible for our health; a recent meta-study revealed that one death in five results from breathing byproducts of fossil fuel combustion. Furthermore, he said studies had shown a link between fascism and fossil fuel. That as long as we depend on a product that is only available in a few places in the world, the leadership of the people who live on top of those resources is highly likely to abuse, be it the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the president of Russia, or the Koch brothers, the biggest oil barons in the United States that use their winnings to degrade our democracy.

McKibben said that over the past 10 years, engineers have been able to drop the cost of renewable energy by 90%, making it often lower than fossil fuel. At the same time, engineers radically cut the cost of storage batteries and increased their storage life. He said it is now possible for humans to end their history of burning coal, oil and wood for heat. During so, they will also remove the economic power of fascist leaders and improve overall human health and well-being.

He then proposed two basic approaches to reducing the use of fossil fuels, do whatever we can as an individual, be it riding e-bikes, switching our stoves to electric induction and choosing public transportation over driving to working together to lobby congress and corporate leaders and get as many people to vote as possible. McKibben also said we need to stop referring to youth as the generation that will address climate change; instead, older people need to become as active as possible.

“We must act fast and become a powerful opposition to the fossil fuel industry,” said McKibben. “We must overcome inertia and vested interests and do it quickly. The people who have been active most have been young people. Over 70 million people in the U.S. are over the age of 60. They have enormous political power as they vote and own over seventy percent of the nation’s wealth. So, if you want to take on Washington and Wall Street, it helps to have people with hairlines like mine in this fight. Chase, Citi, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo are the world’s largest lenders to the fossil fuel industry; we need people to cut up their credit cards, make as much trouble as possible, and get them to stop lending.”

Adirondack Council’s Adirondack Wilderness Campaign Director Aaron Mair is seen with Ukrainian Marlia Bulatova, a member FISU Education Committee, during the FISU World Conference at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts. (Provided photo — Naj Wikoff)

McKibben also said that we must lobby our legislators and vote for politicians that reflect our values. The following day, Aaron Mair said that it was critical we bring in voices of those whose lives and health have been damaged by pollution and climate change, such as violent storms, forest fires, rising seas, and, in our region and others like us, a lack of winter.

“We need to address the human violation that’s taking place that’s the direct result of climate change,” said Mair, the first Black person to lead the Sierra Club and now the Adirondack Council’s Adirondack Wilderness Campaign director. “We can save this planet, but we must engage and do so justly. We must have just, inclusive and holistic relationships. The Adirondacks is a Noah’s ark; it is one of the few green islands around the globe that, joined with others, can help save humanity and biodiversity. I enlist all of you, in this room and abroad, to use your voice to lift up the fight for the trees, for all those things that are wild, the biodiversity that cannot speak for themselves, and defend all creation.”

“If we don’t act now, and work together, everything we love could be at risk,” said U.S. Olympic figure skating medalist Nathan Chen.

Fortunately, all the presentations with their links to resources have been recorded and are available on the Lake Placid 2023 FISU Winter World University Games website under “Save Winter, Learn More.”

(Naj Wikoff lives in Keene Valley. He has been covering events for the News for more than 15 years.)