A few days before the start of its 70th edition, the organizing committee of the Quebec carnival needed snow. To meet this demand, 10,000 cubic meters of artificial flakes had to be produced… or 20 times more than last year.
For safety reasons, says Marie-Ève Jacob, general director of the Quebec Carnival, we produce a little snow every year.
In 2023, between 300 and 500 cubic meters of artificial snow were reported to be needed, mainly for snow bathing and ice sculpture, key activities of the Quebec Carnival.
The information provided by the organization of the Quebec Carnival was initially quantified in tonnes. In this unit of measurement, data on the amounts of artificial snow produced in 2023 and 2024 were presented in an earlier version of this article.
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Marie-Ève Jacob, general director of the Quebec Carnival.
Photo: Radio-Canada
What justifies the need for at least 20 times more snow this year?
Cité de Sliding is a new activity in which it will be possible to slide on three hills in Quebec City: the Ross Coast in Sillery, the Rue de la Promenade-des-Sœurs on the Cap-Rouge side and the Coast of Pente-Douce, which connects the districts of Saint-Sacrement, Montcalm and Saint-Sauveur.
This four-day activity from January 25th to 28th is reserved for official effigy holders. The rest of Quebec's Carnival festivities will take place until February 11th.
For much of the week, 24 hours a day, the cannons spit out pure, malleable snow. You cannot work with street snow that contains sand or stones, emphasizes Ms. Jacob.
We use as much natural snow as possible, but often in additional layers, so that when we talk about sliding, the final layer must be produced, blown snow.
irony
Asked about the environmental impact of the production of artificial snow, whose cannons in this case require the use of generators powered by fossil fuels, answered Luc Renaud, associate professor in the Department of Urban and Tourism Studies at the University of Québec à Montréal (UQÀM). With a smile he emphasizes the irony of such a need.
We produce snow because there is less of it, because there will be less of it every year due to global warming… but we produce snow by producing greenhouse gases, by producing CO2 it makes it slide.
He believes that we need to ask ourselves questions on a philosophical level.
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The 70th Quebec Carnival will take place from January 25 to February 11, 2024.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Magalie Masson
For its part, the organizing committee of the Carnival of Quebec says that it is aware of the ecological footprint associated with the use of generators, and not only for the production of artificial snow, admits general director Marie-Ève Jacob, the specifies that the operation of its sites exclusively through the Hydro-Québec network is not always possible.
At the moment we are offsetting these impacts by purchasing emissions credits, also known as carbon offset credits.
If they do it with a credible organization, says Luc Renaud, adding that the world of carbon offsetting is still the Wild West today, it is already a step in the right direction.
And Marie-Ève Jacob claims that in the next few years she will be doing business with a company whose mission is to find alternative solutions that are less polluting than generators.
We can improve […] Energy efficiency, but if we have to produce more, we end up using more energy in absolute terms, says Luc Renaud. But […] It's the Quebec carnival: people expect snow, they need snow for their activities.
With information from Magalie Masson