Climate Crisis Melts Winter Olympics Safety?
Greetings to you! Since the 2022 Winter Olympics are right around the corner, I’d like to talk about how effects from climate change are creating more dangerous conditions. A recent report says, “Climate change is threatening the future of the Winter Olympics and snow sports by eroding the season and forcing more dangerous, artificial conditions.”
The Beijing Olympics will actually be “the first Winter Games using 100% artificial snow, relying on more than 100 snow generators and 300 snow-cannons working flat-out to cover the ski slopes.”
Researchers at Loughborough University explained, “This is not only energy and water intensive, frequently using chemicals to slow melt, but also delivers a surface that many competitors say is unpredictable and potentially dangerous.”
Scottish freestyle skier Laura Donaldson warned and said, “Freestyle super pipes are formed from snow-making machines in a poor [natural snow] season, the walls of the pipe are solid, vertical ice and the pipe floor is solid ice. This is dangerous for athletes.”
Similar fears about conditions were also evident in the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics when “athletes fainted and collapsed due to heat in a city that is on average 2.86C hotter than in 1900.”
The report warned, “The risk is clear: manmade warming is threatening the long-term future of winter sports. Global heating is also reducing the number of climatically suitable host venues for the Winter Olympiad.” It continued and said, “The snowy slopes outside Beijing mask an unfortunate truth: they will be the result of an estimated 49 million gallons of chemically-treated water frozen through snow machines.”
The Beijing organizing committee issued a sustainability report saying, “The Games’ smart snowmaking system could use 20% less water than traditional methods.”
Four-time Olympic snowboarder Zoe Gillings-Brier recently explained that, “many competitions are now being cancelled due to lack of snow – this wasn’t the case when I started competing internationally 20 years ago.”
Beijing said, “Chinese authorities would tackle polluters to ensure the Games would be held in a good environment.”
The researchers said, “Of the 21 venues used for the Winter Games since the French resort of Chamonix hosted the first in 1924 by 2050, only 10 will have the climate suitability and natural snowfall levels to host an event.”
They added more sobering news for future Winter Olympics by saying,“Chamonix is now rated high risk along with venues in Norway, France and Austria, while Vancouver in Canada, Sochi in Russia and Squaw Valley in the United States are deemed unreliable.”
What is an Excellent Way to Talk to Kids about Climate Change?
One awesome tool for talking to kids about climate change is to read my fourth installment in the award-winning Kobee Manatee® Children’s Educational Picture Book series. It’s titled, Kobee Manatee® Climate Change and The Great Blue Hole Hazard. It’s about climate change and plastic pollution in our oceans.
When you read this educational picture book to children, you’ll discover it’s a fun and fictional adventure loaded with weaved in facts on climate change and plastic pollution. This helps children learn about this serious subject in a fun and entertaining way. Here’s a brief synopsis …
Kobee Manatee, the protagonist and his seafaring pals, Tess the seahorse and Pablo the hermit crab swim from the Cayman Islands to Belize. Kobee wants to help his cousin Quinn clean up plastic litter at her new, all-veggie underwater bistro called Quinn’s Seagrass Café.
On their Caribbean journey they encounter harmful effects of climate change and plastic pollution. As if that wasn’t enough, several other unforeseen problems occur with a distressed loggerhead turtle, a giant Portuguese man-of-war, and a venomous scorpionfish. They’re all amazed when they discover the extraordinary Great Blue Hole. Then their adventure takes another crazy turn when Pablo plunges into its huge abyss!
Each page includes in-depth, scientific details on climate change and plastic pollution in our oceans with Dr. Tracy Fanara, Inspector Planet & NOAA Scientist. Tracy can be seen on The Weather Channel as a visiting expert and she’s also seen on their “Weird Earth” segments.
We already have Fantastic Reviews on this New Release!
“A well-crafted, thoughtful, and well-illustrated addition to a noteworthy educational book series.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Robert Scott Thayer presents an important environmental message in an engaging story with wonderful characters. Anyone who loves the ocean and wants to help save it should read Kobee Manatee: Climate Change and The Great Blue Hole Hazard. I’m looking forward to the next Kobee Manatee adventure.” —Readers’ Favorite
For young readers who enjoy imaginative tales surrounding affable and heroic sea creatures, as well as parents and/or teachers looking for a way to introduce youngsters to the importance of marine conservation, Kobee Manatee® Climate Change and The Great Blue Hole Hazard offers a perfect blend. Highly recommended! – Chanticleer Book Reviews
Keep watching for more of my updates on climate change!
If you see any sick or injured manatees, please call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission at: 1-888-404-3922 (FWCC). They are the folks who are responsible for rescuing us in Florida.
Here’s the Save the Manatee Club link to learn more about us manatees …
Here’s a cool link for you to learn more about how we’re rescued and brought into rehabilitation …
~ Kobee Manatee
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