Ian Austen's "Ottawa [1]Journal [1]"provided a light-hearted tour of the Canadian city as it approaches a record level of snowfall this winter.
People here are divided between those longing for a few more inches of snow to set a record and others who think the 14 feet that has already landed, and mostly lingered, is more than enough.
An attentive reader will read in vain for a single reference to global warming or climate change. But what if there had been a shortage of snow in Ottawa this winter?
The Times has in the past made a big deal about global warming's threat to snowfall and, consequently, ski resorts, perhaps trying to perk the attention of its affluent liberal readership. Check out the start of Elisabeth Rosenthal's report [2]from November 1, 2007:
Global warming's foes rarely cite ski resorts and golf courses among its victims.
But, though they may be less adorable than penguins and less gripping than melting ice caps, resort owners and tour operators will be directly and strongly affected by climate change [3]. Indeed, few livelihoods are more dependent on the weather, other than farmers'.
Last month, organizers of a United Nations conference in Davos, Switzerland, sought to hammer that point home to officials and tour operators from nearly 100 countries.
The headline to Mark Landler's story [4] from December 16, 2006:
"Global Warming Poses Threat to Ski Resorts in the Alps."
Yet when the snowshoe is on the other foot, the Times' treats the near-record snowfall as just another wacky weather event.