Discussion»Questions»Environment» Can you avert an avalanche by blowing up a mountain or does that exacerbate the problem? How do you stop/divert/repurpose Mother Nature?
I know in mountainous regions, ski areas, they will purposely set of charges to cause an avalanche, to lessen the chance of a "natural" avalanche that might catch people/skiers by surprise. Of course they aren't blowing up the mountain though!
So to head off possible catastrophic avalanches that would hit unexpectedly they create small ones. That makes sense. Thank you for your reply Angela! :)
An "avalanche" is a snow slide, hence Angela's comment that no-one is blowing up mountains - and I would jolly well hope they don't try. Avalanches are only dangerous to those humans who put themselves in the danger area, willingly or inadvertently; whether that be above a ski resort or in Mt. Everest's Western Cwm.
To answer the more general point... you cannot "stop / divert / re-purpose Mother Nature." The most we can do is protect ourselves from individual natural hazards.
I can't even imagine how one might "re-purpose Nature". I know "re-purpose" is a recently-coined "buzz-word" of the sort politicians love to use as it has little real meaning, but when applied to natural processes and events, it has no meaning at all.
Benedict Arnold 