02/02/2022

(Global Voices) Why Beijing’s Artificial Snow At The 2022 Winter Olympic Games Is Stirring Controversy

Global Voices - Richard Wanjohi

Beijing Winter Olympics use of artificial snow raises concerns
“初级雪道 / Entry-level ski trail” by livepine is licensed under (CC BY 2.0)
With the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, China from February 4–20, Beijing will become the first city ever to host both the Winter and Summer Games.

The Chinese city has been abuzz with activity, COVID-19 preparation, and controversy as the Games draw closer.

However, with virtually no precipitation in the country's driest region in recent weeks, environmentalists have been raising concerns over the city’s snow — or lack thereof.

In the absence of any snowfall, Beijing organizers have resorted to creating fake snow for the alpine hills at the Yanqing Skiing Hub and have been blasting 290 cannons, also known as “snow guns” round the clock since December 2021, to prepare for the Games. In fact, for the first time, all of the snow at the upcoming Olympics will be entirely man-made.

To create the snow, the turbines mix water with compressed air, before propelling the droplets into the air to form snow. Workers driving “snowcats” spread the snow onto the ski runs and sculpt jumps and turns. This is to ensure that the venues have snow that meets precise standards of depth, hardness, and consistency.

“The biggest challenge for us is maintaining uniform snow quality,” said Li Xin, deputy chief of mountain operations at the National Alpine Skiing Centre in Yanqing, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Beijing, according to a France24 report. 

Experts have raised concerns over the environmental sustainability of this process, as man-made snow requires thousands of liters of water and Kilowatts of energy. And in a 2020 study published by the Nature journal, scientists warned that groundwater depletion in northern China was some of the most severe globally due to urbanization, lack of precipitation, and intensive agriculture irrigation, calling it a “critical issue.”

According to the estimates, the Games will need almost 49 million gallons of water to create enough artificial snow for the winter events.

In their Pre-Games Sustainability Report organizers estimated approximately 890,000 cubic metres of water would be used in Yanqing from November 2021 to March 2022 and 1.9 million cubic metres in Zhangjiakou, with actual figures to be published in the post-Games report. 

Environmentalists have also raised concerns about the proximity to the 4,600-hectare Songshan National Nature Reserve. Many are also concerned that the noise pollution from the artificial snow machines will disturb wildlife at the reserve.

In Beijing, state-controlled media outlets have been touting the upcoming games as a feat of sustainability, even going so far as to call them the “green games.” In their Pre-Games Sustainability Report, the Beijing 2022 organizers highlighted steps made to reduce carbon emissions and use renewable energy.

In an article from the state-owned China Daily news site, critics argued that snow-making is not an irreversible process of consuming water, instead, snow-melt water can be recycled into reservoirs. As part of the Games, organizers have put up three reservoirs that will collect and recycle the snow-melt and rainwater to be used for making the artificial snow. 

But experts have other ideas. Professor Carmen de Jong, a hydrologist with the University of Strasbourg, Paris, commented “these could be the most unsustainable Winter Olympics ever held…these mountains have virtually no natural snow.”

Due to the high water and energy consumption, she said, the fake snow will damage soil health and cause erosion, not to mention the chemicals that are used to prevent the snow from melting. Other concerns arise on the time it takes for artificial snow to melt.

 According to a Spiegel story in 2008, it takes about two to three weeks longer to melt than natural snow and may affect the normal levels of underground water. 

Organizers of the Games voiced a different opinion saying concerns over the artificial snow are “ill-informed and unfounded.” 

Joe Fitzgerald is a Canadian slope-building expert hired as a consultant at the Genting Snow Park, Zhangjiakou, Hebei province which is co-hosting the Games.

He told the state-owned China Daily that artificial snowmaking has been at eight other Winter Olympic Games and Beijing is no exception. He also noted that artificial snow helps to make a consistent surface, reducing the incidence of injuries from falling on the snow.

But other experts and winter sports athletes disagree, saying artificial snow causes more injuries because it is wetter and becomes harder and more densely packed, meaning a fall can result in more severe injuries.

Artificial snow is no new phenomenon at the Winter Games and was first used at the 1980 Winter Games held in Lake Placid, New York, USA to subsidize low natural snow levels. This was after an “exceptionally dry” winter forced organizers to manufacture artificial snow at the different venues. 

Other experts from previous Olympics insist that it is difficult to rely on naturally occurring snow when organizing the Games, which can also have an impact on fairness during the competitions. 

Various users turned to Twitter to either raise concerns or share their opinion on artificial snow use.

New research from the Sport Ecology Group at Loughborough University in England and the Protect Our Winters environment group suggests that as the climate crisis continues to worsen, winter sports could become less feasible and may even become more dangerous.

“The risk is clear: man-made warming is threatening the long-term future of winter sports. It is also reducing the number of climatically suitable host venues for the Winter Olympiad.” The report adds:

“Climate change is eroding the ability of snow and ice sports to take place under natural conditions… We hear that the intensive use of artificial snow could lead to more injuries, warnings over the environmental damage from pesticides used to keep manmade snow cold, concerns that grassroots opportunities will dry up as ski seasons become more erratic.”

Meanwhile, a new study in the Current Issues in Tourism Journal shows that only one of the 21 previous Winter Olympic locations will have enough ice and snowfall to host Winter Games by 2080 if global emissions remain on the current path. The same study finds that by the same year, there will only be nine cities globally with enough snow to host the Games.

“No sport can escape the impacts of a changing climate. Achieving the Paris agreement targets is critical to save snow sports as we know it and ensure there are places across the world to host the Winter Olympics,” said Daniel Scott, a researcher and lead author of the study.

It will remain to be seen what the Beijing Olympics organizers will do to mitigate the environmental concerns raised above. It will also offer the International Olympic Committee (IOC) food for thought when considering future hosts and venues for the Winter Olympics.

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(The Conversation) Methane In The Atmosphere Is At An All-Time High – Here’s What It Means For Climate Change

The Conversation - 
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, but lasts around nine years in the air. Including the knock-on effects it has on other gases, its total global warming impact since 1750 is roughly half that of CO₂.

After rising sharply in the 1980s and 1990s, atmospheric methane then stabilised. Growth resumed in 2007 and has accelerated in recent years – the sharpest rise on record happened in 2020. This was not expected when world leaders signed the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Methane is becoming the largest discrepancy from emissions trajectories necessary for meeting the agreement’s target.

So what’s behind the recent surge – and is there a way to reverse it?

Where methane comes from

 About 600 million tonnes of methane are released into the atmosphere each year. Estimates suggest two-fifths of these emissions come from natural sources, mainly rotting vegetation in swamps. The remaining three-fifths of emissions come from sources tied to human activity.

Emissions from the fossil fuel industry are well over 100 million tonnes a year and grew rapidly in the 1980s. Natural gas, which in the UK heats homes and generates roughly half of electricity, is mainly methane.

Gas industry leaks are widespread at wells and pipelines and from distribution pipes under streets and home boilers.

 The coal industry was reponsible for up to one-third of fossil fuel emissions between 2000 and 2017 via ventilation shafts in mines and during the transportation and crushing of coal for power stations.

A gas flare atop a metal structure.
Methane in the atmosphere increased as the fossil fuel sector expanded in the 1980s. Alexisaj/Shutterstock

Agriculture, producing about 150 million tonnes a year, is the largest overall source. As are urban landfills and sewage systems, contributing about 70 million tonnes annually.
Scientists can identify sources of methane by studying the proportion of carbon-12 to carbon-13 in the atmosphere. These different forms of carbon – chemically similar but with different masses – are known as isotopes.

Biogenic methane, made by microbes in rotting vegetation or in cow stomachs, is relatively rich in carbon-12, while methane from fossil fuels and fires has comparatively more carbon-13.

For two centuries, rapidly expanding gas, coal and oil industries steadily drove atmospheric methane richer in carbon-13.

Since 2007, that trend has reversed, and the proportion of carbon-13 in atmospheric methane has decreased.

 Although fossil fuel emissions may still be growing, soaring methane emissions are now primarily the result of faster-growing biogenic sources.

Why are biogenic emissions growing?

 Global monitoring shows that in many years since 2007, methane’s growth in the atmosphere has been led from sources in the tropics and sub-tropics. In some years, the high northern latitudes have also been important contributors.

A colourful chart depicting growth in methane emissions over time according to latitude.
Methane growth rate by year and latitude. The tropics and sub-tropics are between 30°N and 30°S, while the Arctic is north of 66°N. NOAA, Author provided


From tropical swamps in the Amazon, Nile and Congo basins to tundra in Russia and muskeg bogs in Canada, wetlands emit roughly 200 million tonnes of methane a year.

As global temperatures increase, the rate at which wetlands generate and decompose biomass grows and these environments release more methane.

Methane emissions accelerate climate change and climate change causes the release of more methane – a positive feedback of warming feeding more warming.

The microbes in the stomachs of ruminant animals like cattle, sheep, goats and camels are similar to wetland microbes. In effect, cows are walking wetlands. Ruminants produce nearly as much methane as fossil fuel emissions, roughly 115 million tonnes of annually. Globally, about two-thirds of farmland is animal pasture.

While emissions from landfills have been reduced in many countries in Europe, western Europe emits a lot of methane from biodigesters which convert urban food and garden waste to fertiliser.

 In Africa and India, expanding cities are creating new landfills while rural areas burn vast quantities of crop waste and grass, causing widespread air pollution, but there is little research on their emissions.

Mopping up methane

 Methane’s short lifetime means that cutting emissions quickly reduces the greenhouse impact. Gas leaks are obvious targets, both at wells and in leaky street pipes. Ending the coal industry is an urgent global priority, not just to cut methane but also CO₂ and air pollution.

In the short-term, removing methane from coal mine air ventilation and cattle barns can be done as easily as certain pollutants are removed from car exhausts. Emissions from biodigesters will need stricter government regulation.

Reducing emissions in tropical nations means ending crop waste burning. Landfills are likely to be fast-growing sources of both methane and pollution too, yet emissions can be cut by covering landfills with soil.

Growing agricultural emissions are linked to rapid human population growth and the increasing global demand for a meat-rich diet. Population growth is slowed by improving access to education among women and girls.

A red cow licking a sampling rod with yellow wire attached.
Demand for meat is fuelling methane emissions from converted tropical forests. Lucy Broderick, Author provided

Methane hitting 1,900 ppb is a fire alarm. We cannot stop natural wetland emissions. But human-caused emissions can be reduced, quickly.

 At COP26 in Glasgow – the most recent UN climate change summit in November 2021 – more than 100 nations signed the Global Methane Pledge, promising to cut methane emissions 30% by 2030.

Getting started is simple: plug gas leaks, cover landfills, halt crop waste burning and remove methane from coal mine ventilation.

All these actions will have wider benefits such as reducing air pollution, but large emitters, including China, India, Russia, Qatar and Australia, did not join.

Absentee nations ultimately harm themselves and should sign the pledge.

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(UK Phys.org) Pioneering Research Forecasts Climate Change Set To Send Costs Of Flooding Soaring

Phys.org - University of Bristol

The extents of simulated design floods with a return period of 10, 100, and 1000 years in Des Moines, IA. Credit: Fathom (fathom.global)

Climate change could result in the financial toll of flooding rising by more than a quarter in the United States by 2050—and disadvantaged communities will bear the biggest brunt, according to new research.

The University of Bristol-led study, published today in Nature Climate Change, deployed advanced modeling techniques to make the colossal calculations, which forecasted average annual flood losses would increase by 26.4% from US$32 billion currently to US$40.6 billion in less than 30 years.

By analyzing nation-wide property asset data and detailed flood projections, the team of leading international flood risk scientists developed for the first time a comprehensive, high-resolution assessment of flood risk in the US.

The estimates of financial loss, which include damage to homes, businesses and their contents, were based on 2021 dollar values so the actual numbers would likely be much bigger factoring in inflation.

While the research reveals poorer communities with a proportionally larger face the most danger at present, future growth in flood risk will have a greater impact on African American communities on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

Predicted population change was also shown to have a have a huge effect on flood risk, resulting in four-fold increases compared to the impact of change alone and sending costs further spiraling.

Maps showing the distribution of US flood risk (expressed as the annual average loss due to flooding) by county, and its projected change by 2050. Credit: Fathom (fathom.global)

Lead author Dr. Oliver Wing, Honorary Research Fellow at the university's world-renowned Cabot Institute for the Environment, said: "Climate change combined with shifting populations present a double whammy of flood risk danger and the financial implications are staggering.

"Typical risk models rely on historical data which doesn't capture projected or offer sufficient detail. Our sophisticated techniques using state-of-the-science flood models give a much more accurate picture of future flooding and how populations will be affected.

"The mapping clearly indicates Black communities will be disproportionately affected in a warming world, in addition to the poorer White communities which predominantly bear the historical risk. Both of these findings are of significant concern.

The research is a call to action for adaptation and mitigation work to be stepped up to reduce the devastating financial impact flooding wreaks on people's lives."

The nationwide simulation of the 100-year design flood from fluvial, pluvial, and coastal sources. Credit: Fathom (fathom.global)

The research was carried out in partnership with experts from universities in New York, California, and Philadelphia.

Co-author Professor Paul Bates CBE FRS, Professor of Hydrology at the university's Cabot Institute for the Environment and School of Geographical Sciences, said: "Current risk in western society is already unacceptably high, yet climate and change threaten to inflate these losses significantly.

"The relatively short timescales over which this increase will take place mean we cannot rely on decarbonisation to reduce the risk so we have to adapt better, both to the situation now and for the future."

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