LAKE LOUISE, Alberta — Climate change caused by greenhouse-gas emissions has been called the greatest challenge of our times.

But at least in Canada, it will have to wait.

“We will not aggravate an already weakened economy in the name of environmental progress,” said Jim Prentice, minister of environment for the Canadian government.

Prentice spoke at a forum held in Lake Louise in conjunction with the World Cup ski races.

The theme this year, as last, was climate change, and Prentice acknowledged climate change is the “pre-eminent environmental issue of our time.”

What is needed, he said, is an “acceptable balance between measurable environmental progress and steady economic growth and prosperity.”

The Rocky Mountain Outlook says that former California Governor Pete Wilson also spoke at the forum, and he said that California’s front-edge politics regarding energy use have gone too far.

“There is a need for a kind of realism to be expressed, but California is not waiting,” said Wilson.

Wilson advocates nuclear power but is dubious of carbon-sequestering technology, which would allow the abundant coal resources to continue to be used. Sequestering of carbon, however, has so far defied efforts to do it in any broad, large-scale way.

Marlo Raynolds, executive director of the Pembina Institute, a climate-action group active in Canada, told reporters that a carbon tax is badly needed.

Former U.S. President Al Gore, in an interview in Newsweek, is calling for the same thing, to be balanced by a reduction in payroll taxes.

Moly mine still open but expansion delayed

REVELSTOKE, B.C. — How quickly this economy has turned. Even last spring, the news hither and thither across the West was of mines being reopened or at least being contemplated.

Now, mines are being shuttered or, as in the case of a year-old molybdenum mine near Revelstoke, the expansion shelved.

Scott Broughton, president and chief executive of Roca Mines, says his company will continue to mine, and he said he’s “keenly interested” in preserving the jobs of the 100 or so workers there.

“It’s not just goodwill, and it’s not just philanthropic,” he told the Revelstoke Times-Review. “We want to be able to have this mine up and running and producing molybdenum when prices do go back up again.”

The newspaper notes that the price for molybdenum, an alloy in steel and iron often called simply “moly,” had been holding steadily at $30 to $35 US per pound, but has now skidded to $12 per pound.

Plenty of downhills reported in Telluride

TELLURIDE — Expectations continue in Telluride of a hard winter, with real estate development and sales shuddering to a near stop and tourism acting like it has a tummyache.

Bookings are down 25 percent from last winter, a stellar season. The more apt comparison, says The Telluride Watch, is the 10 to 12 percent drop of the longer-term average.

The bleak prospects have some lodges cutting rates — 10 percent at one lodge and another willing to discount by 30 percent.

In common with other ski areas, Telluride has allocated extra money to advertising its charms to Phoenix, Santa Fe, N.M., and Albuquerque, N.M. — cities within a day’s drive or less.

The real estate market, which has become the dominant economic driver since the early 1990s, is a tougher nut to crack. Real estate sales were down 51 percent for the year through October as measured by dollar volume.

Possibly more severe yet is the drop in construction.

“Nobody is walking in the door for a construction loan,” said Tim Cannon, president of the Bank of Telluride.

Bankers tell the newspaper that they have tightened their lending criteria. So far, however, none has foreclosed on any properties.

Andrew Karow, president of the local Alpine Bank, said he’s optimistic that the ski resorts of Colorado’s Western Slope will be more resilient than other areas.

“We’ll experience far fewer foreclosures than Denver, Las Vegas or Phoenix.”

“We will get to the point, maybe a year out, when a lot of projects are underwater,” said Tricia Maxon, president of Community Bank. “It’s happening in other places, where the value of the property is less than the amount of the loan. Will that happen here? I think that’s probable.”

Already, many in the real estate trades are scouting other jobs. Not many are to be had.