Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Warnings over ‘unsustainable’ Winter Olympics
THE mountains for the forthcoming Winter Olympics, outside of the Chinese capital of Beijing, boast some spectacular scenery but are missing one vital element.
Between January and March, the National Alpine Ski Centre in Yanqing had just 2cm of snow.
At the time, London, Paris and Madrid all recorded greater snowfalls.
A warning also came in 2015 that the Chinese venue would need to rely completely on artificial snow.
Experts are now warning these could be the most unsustainable Winter Olympics that have ever been held after it was calculated that China will need to use nearly 50 million gallons of water to simulate the right conditions.
About 200 cannons will be required to create artificial snow via a network of pipes and trenches that will supply water from a reservoir. Professor Carmen de Jong, a geographer at the University of Strasbourg, France, said artificial snow was water and energy intensive, damaging soil health and causing erosion.
Other ski resorts are also increasingly relying on artificial snow. According to a study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in 2007, global warming could jeopardise as many as twothirds of ski areas in the Alps.
The impact is also starting to be felt closer to home. The Cairngorms, the largest area of mountains in Britain covering 300 square miles, is also losing its snow cover at an alarming rate. Once encrusted in ice and snow for most of the year, it is predicted they could be snow-free by 2080 if temperatures continue to rise. The lack of snow has also seen the area’s ski resorts forced to invest in a snowmaker in 2019 to try to guarantee snow sports on the lower slopes.
It’s yet more damning evidence of the effects of climate change.
It’s closer to home too... the Cairngorm mountains are losing snow