Why Australia’s Largest Ski Resort Must Ban Meat to Avoid Melting Away
At 1,245 skiable hectares, Perisher is Australia’s largest ski resort. Now, as it prepares for what is predicted to be a warmer-than-average ski season, PETA is urging the popular holiday spot to become the world’s first vegan ski resort.
With animal agriculture driving the mercury up, more and more venues now offer animal-free menus to reduce their carbon impact. Perisher might not lead the charge for ski resorts (though it should!), but there’s no denying that evolving to a vegan business model might be the ski industry’s best bet to future-proof their operations.
Meat = Heat
While human-accelerated climate change has dominated news headlines for decades, animal agriculture has only started getting the attention it deserves in the past decade or so. Still, the science is clear.
The world’s most comprehensive analysis of diet and emissions to date found that vegan diets resulted in 75% less climate-heating emissions, water pollution, and land use than diets that include even 100g of meat daily.
One reason animal-derived products have such a high impact on the planet is that ruminant animals emit methane, a greenhouse gas up to 80 times more potent than CO2 at warming the Earth in the short term. This gas, like CO2, prevents the Earth’s natural cooling cycle, and scientists warn that methane reductions of 30% from 2020 levels must happen in the next five years to keep global warming below 2°C.
Emissions aren’t the only way meat harms the planet. Animal farming also drives 79% of Australian deforestation, demolishing valuable carbon sinks and native animal habitat, such as that vital to the now-endangered koala.
To add to this, animal agriculture is a thirsty industry. On a hot Aussie day, a single cow used for dairy guzzles up to 250 litres of water, and our drought-prone nation is attempting to sustain more than two million of them. That’s in addition to 30 million cows and bulls bred for beef, and around 70 million sheep.
It’s no wonder the heat is on!
The Future of Ski Seasons Uncertain
You don’t have to be a scientist to see why an ever-warming planet is bad news for resorts that rely on wintery weather and snowfall.
CSIRO modelling warns that the Australian ski season could shrink by 80 days a year by 2050, with warmer days, more unpredictable weather, less reliable snow, increased costs, and a higher risk of rainy days instead of snowy days all adversely impacting the industry.
Australia isn’t the only place feeling the heat. University of British Columbia research found that climate change could significantly lower the number of skiable days at ski resorts, forecasting that more than 90% of northwestern resorts will have ski seasons shorter than 120 days by 2085 if countries don’t curb greenhouse gas emissions.
Even the European Geosciences Union’s best-case scenario modelling shows that the Alps’ 4,000 glaciers are set to lose half of their ice by 2050.
Animal Suffering Isn’t Cool
Aside from compounding climate-warming emissions, driving deforestation, adversely impacting biodiversity, and polluting water systems, farming animals for food (and fashion) is obscenely cruel.
Every year in Australia, more than 4.9 billion animals are killed for their flesh. Most land animals bred for meat spend their short and miserable lives confined to sunless factory farms or languishing in outdoor factory farming operations called feedlots.
These animals are not “stock”, but individuals with wants, needs, and a will to live no different to our own.
Fish, clever, social beings who feel pain and fear, are either dragged from their wild homes or factory farmed in overcrowded, disease-filled pens.
No matter how they’re farmed, all animals farmed for food are killed while they’re still just babies, and die lonely, covered in filth, and bellowing in pain and fear at blood-soaked slaughterhouses.
All that suffering for a fleeting taste, when kind vegan upgrades are so much more delicious and sustainable!
Ski Bunny or Not, You Can Help Animals and The Planet
No matter how you “shred” it, you can’t be a meat-eating environmentalist or animal lover. Whether you want to see the planet thrive for all kinds, or just so you can hit the slopes for many snowy seasons to come, the power to tackle catastrophic climate change lies on your plate.
Sign up for our 30-day pledge and receive tips and encouragement to help you transition to a kinder, greener tomorrow.
Help Animals in 2026: Renew Your PETA Membership!
Donate Now
