Skiing is not going to exist' – global warming threatens future of winter sports, warns former Olympian Vonn
The Austrian glaciers where Lindsey Vonn honed her craft are essentially gone. The slopes she grew up speeding down have melted away.
Now a few years removed from her decorated alpine skiing career, the Olympic gold medalist is sounding the alarm on the impact of climate change for the next generation of downhillers.
“Skiing is not going to exist, winter sports are not going to exist if we continue down this path,” Vonn told Yahoo Finance. “We see it firsthand.”
For the first time in Winter Olympics history, athletes will be competing on 100 percent man-made snow.
It’s not surprising since it never snows much in and around Beijing.
But, because of climate change, even places that once were buried in snow are struggling to keep the slopes covered.
New research led by University of Waterloo climate experts shows that without a dramatic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, many former Olympic sites would no longer be viable hosts in just a few decades time.
“You can't deny that global warming exists and that the world is changing, and that we have to make the change in a huge way,” Vonn said. “But to many it’s not quite as apparent, so I’m not sure how we can make a change substantial enough to fix what's happening.”
Activists like Mustafa Santiago Ali have spent their entire careers fighting to raise awareness about climate change and stave off its devastating effects.
“Every aspect of society will be impacted by climate change,” said Santiago Ali, who currently serves as Vice President of Environment Justice, Climate and Community Revitalization for the National Wildlife Federation. “The good point is that we can actually make change happen and begin to mitigate many of those impacts.”
Ali is encouraged by the pledges from the Biden administration to curb emissions and heavily invest in efforts to mitigate global warming. And, as a grassroots activist, he believes in the power of the average citizen to make meaningful change — before it’s too late.
“We have a lot of work to do, and time is ticking.”
No comments:
Post a Comment