Geoscientist: “Winter Games without natural snow are crazy”
A brave new winter sports world that is being advertised there in Beijing – but which probably looks a little different in reality: Carmen de Jong, a geoscientist from the University of Strasbourg, even speaks of the “most unsustainable games of all time“. This is due to the fact that there is very little precipitation in the Olympic ski areas and, above all, almost no natural snowfall, explained de Jong on Deutschlandfunk. According to expert estimates, 200 snow cannons should be set up in the Yanqing ski center alone, the venue for the alpine competitions to produce the necessary artificial snow. Organizing the Winter Games in such an arid region, de Jong described as “insanity“.
Even if the snow-making systems are to be largely supplied with rainwater, as the organizers have announced, de Jong nevertheless referred to the enormously high energy consumption: the water first has to be pumped into the ski areas via kilometer-long pipelines that have been newly laid underground. She also doubted that the high energy demand during the competitions could really be covered with green electricity alone, mainly because of the masses of artificial snow. In the end, it is feared, coal power would have to be used to help.
Risk of soil erosion
Soil erosion is also a major problem, emphasized environmental expert de Jong, especially in the newly developed ski areas in China: There, huge areas of erosion canyons were simply filled in. Loose soil that will be removed again over time by rain. This puts settlements and roads at risk.
There is none of this in the sustainability concept of China’s Olympic hosts – but the announcement that new trees will be planted to compensate for environmental damage. This has a certain irony, according to de Jong: “In Yanking was actually a nature reserve. Large areas were deforested there, soil and vegetation were destroyed. And the idea of offsetting emissions by planting trees is a joke.”
Nature reserves and villages had to give way
The “Guardians” recently quoted a Chinese scientist who had indicated that the route for the alpine competitions should at least partly run across the Songshan National Park area – and not along the boundary of the nature reserve as indicated in the IOC inspection report. For the Olympic ski jump, which was also newly planted in the mountains, not only had to give way to thousand-year-old terrace cultures, but also entire villages, 1,500 people were resettled.
Winter Games should boost ski tourism in China
China’s policy keeps up with the “regional development“against and one”better life for the population“, this is also a goal in the sustainability concept. The Winter Games also serve as a powerful advertising campaign that is intended to boost the relatively young ski tourism industry and ignite enthusiasm for winter sports in the country: In the larger area around Beijing alone, eleven new resorts were built from the Ground pounded, with ski schools and ice rinks, plus hotels, lifts and snow-making facilities… In addition to an express train, a new motorway was built in the ski area around Zhangjiakou, and the nearby airport was expanded.
China’s government wants to get 300 million people interested in winter sports, according to the plan announced by President Xi Jinping, which was also well received by IOC President Bach. However, whether the new tourist offer will really be noticed by a broad mass of the population and not only by the wealthy middle and upper classes can at least be doubted.
Climate researchers: “Air quality in Beijing is worrying”
Another sustainability promise that the Chinese made when they applied is to improve the notoriously poor air quality in smog-ridden Beijing. In 2015, just in time for hosting the Olympics, the renowned climate research institute Berkeley Earth Sounded the alarm: The gigantic air pollution in China is responsible for the deaths of 1.6 million people every year, according to a study by climate experts from California. The air quality in the greater Beijing area has improved significantly over the past five years, he said Zeke Hausfather from Berkeley Earth compared to the sports show, but also restricted it straight away: “Compared to western standards, the levels are still worrying, especially in the winter months.”
The climate researcher also expects China’s leadership to order temporary emergency measures against air pollution during the Winter Games in February, above all shutting down the industrial polluters around the capital and severely restricting traffic. A trick that the regime had already used during the 2008 Summer Games. Back then, people in Beijing were allowed to take a deep breath, at least for a few weeks. But shortly after the Olympic flame went out, the old, poisonous haze hung over the city again.
Status: 12/30/2021, 4:43 p.m