Those ski races in the desert that even the Olympic Committee doesn’t like

Much artificial snow will fall in the desert during 2029, in such abundance that the Asian Winter Games will take place. And the International Olympic Committee (CIO) does not like this at all, as they made known from Lausanne, both because it was not involved and because of the lack of sustainability of the event in environmental terms. The announcement of the games was made by Saudi Arabia’s sports minister, the prince Abdulaziz bin Turki al-Faisal, after the assignment of the Asian Winter Games (Awg). “We are proud to have won the tender to host AWG Trojena 2029 as the first country in West Asia,” he tweeted. In fact, the previous editions took place, starting from the first in 1986, in areas far to the east and suitable, such as the island of Hokkaido in Japan.

Trojenathe home of the games, is the location under construction 50 kilometers from the Gulf of Aqaba, linked to the future project worth 500 billion dollars Neom. This is an area of ​​26 thousand kilometers which is intended to become the new face of the country. It will include both the Oxagon industrial center and The Line, the city 170 kilometers long and 200 meters wide designed to accommodate 9 million inhabitants and which has caused much discussion. Some have questioned whether the project is technologically feasible, others have branded the idea as dystopian as well as not very feasible. Meanwhile, the English newspaper The Economist claimed that only two buildings have been built so far. Most of the project area remains deserted, as it has always been.

In the video presentation on the Trojena site you can see a group of skiers winding through the snow as they ascend to the top of a mountain instead of descending. The mountain is Jabal al-Lawz, near which the large resort overlooking an artificial lake will rise. The video is an involuntary metaphor of an upside-down world where, while the climate crisis is changing the planet, winter games are organized in places that require a massive use of energy to have the desired climate.. “Trojena will have the right infrastructure to create the winter atmosphere in the heart of the desert and make these Winter Games an unprecedented global event,” he explained. Nadhmi al-Nasrmanaging director of the Neom project.

Leading the way was this year’s Beijing Winter Games, the first in which only artificial snow was used. In China they assured that it was snow produced thanks to energy from renewable sources, the Olympics would have been zero-impact. Too bad then that a series of reports, starting with Slippery Slopes of Loughborough University in London, had questioned these claims even before the games began. “Even using renewables, the electricity needed for such events is enormous, with very high costs and an equally important water absorption.“, the report reads.” The same host committee estimated the necessary amount of water to be 158 million liters to create snow conditions for the events and Beijing to be one of the most water-deficient cities in the world. “

The madness of Trojena 2029 is actually less extreme than it seems. The mountainous area where there is Mount Jabal al-Lawz reaches an altitude of 2580 meters. In winter, between December and January, the temperature drops to minus two degrees at night, while during the day it ranges from a minimum of three to a maximum of 19. We are far from the ideal conditions for a winter Olympics, the bottom of the slopes must have temperatures that fall to minus ten at night, but we are equally so from the indoor artificial track built in Dubai in the Mall of the Emirates which operates in a city where it goes from 25 degrees in winter to over 40 degrees in the summer months.

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It is not enough to justify the organization of the winter games not far from the Red Sea, but it is not enough even for the World Cup in the scorching summer of Qatar, despite the assurance that all the stadiums have been equipped with cooling systems. with zero emissions thanks to the use of solar power. However, it is a stretch that, in the case of the World Cup, “really requires a lot of money”, as he confirmed to the agency Reuters Saud Abdul-Ghani, the professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Qatar who led the design of the air conditioning system for the stadiums. According to some estimates, there is a double or triple construction cost compared to a traditional stadium.

Global warming is decimating glaciers and reducing the places where snow can be safely found. The cannons for the artificial one are a system of manipulation of the climatic conditions, as the air conditioning, now used everywhere. Thinking of doing without it with the summer months that are gradually eating the others and the winters that are becoming mild seems impossible. We will therefore increasingly need to control the conditions of the environments in which we live by detaching them from the external ones. Because the alternative is to adopt completely new strategies such as migration, he argues Gaia Vince in his latest essay Nomad Centurymoving entire cities north.

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However, there are forms of manipulation that are more environmentally friendly than what I intend to do in Saudi Arabia on a much smaller scale. On one of the islets in front of Stockholm in Sweden, Marie Granmar And Charles Sacilotto for example, they built a sort of greenhouse around their home, inspired by the eco-sustainable principles of the Swedish architect Bengt Warne. Inside, the climate is Mediterranean and the family can grow vegetables and tomatoes all year round. It is the greenhouse itself that maintains an internal temperature of about 20 degrees, without the need for heating, while the external thermometer indicates -15 degrees. In summer, on the other hand, by opening the roof, it is possible not to overheat the house which uses solar panels for energy and recycles all the water it uses, minimizing its impact. Above all, it uses very little energy, the only possible key to greater sustainability. It is not a viable solution everywhere, but it is one of the possible avenues for adaptation.

“The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was not consulted on the decision regarding the Asian Winter Games“, declared a spokesperson for the organization based in Lausanne. The Olympic Committee of Asia, which organizes the winter games, is part of the National Olympic Committee which in turn reports to the IOC.” As far as we are concerned, sustainability it is a fundamental pillar of the 2020 + 5 Olympic Agenda “, added the official referring to the new policy of the International Olympic Committee in terms of the environment.” There are clear indications for the venues of the games. If these do not exist, the use of temporary venues is encouraged. And if none of these solutions work from the point of view of sustainability, the events must be held outside the host country. “We will see how it will end. From now to 2029 there are still seven years left, just a few years to build a town in the mountains of ‘Saudi Arabia and snowing it from head to toe, more than enough to spark controversy and criticism that has already begun to fall on the event.