The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics is roughly two days away from starting its festivities and firing away its machines to create fake snow to cover its stadiums and events that require the powders. Yes, Beijing will enforce 100 percent artificial snow to protect different events and requirements as the region does not receive the proper amount of snow geographically to host the games.
Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics: Fake Snow is Harmful to the Environment
BEIJING, CHINA - FEBRUARY 2: Former World Speed Skating Champion Luo Zhihuan carries the torch as he runs the first leg during the launch ceremony for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics Torch Relay in front of the Olympic Tower outside of the closed loop bubble on February 2, 2022 at Olympic Park in Beijing, China. The games are set to open on February 4th.
London's Loughborough University released a report and study regarding the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and artificial snow to cover its event and compensate for the lack of natural ones. This year, the Winter Olympics that Beijing, China, is hosting will use fake snow to compensate for its lack of natural snowfall for its Winter season.
The study said that using fake snow is harmful to the environment because it produces said flakes, cool them, and blows them to different places. In order to achieve the snowing effect and have the place filled with white, powdery material, the machine has to do this non-stop for the entire day.
The machines will need to produce 1.2 million cubic meters of snow (about 42.4 million cubic feet), which will be the new normal for the public.
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Winter Olympics Fake Snow is Dangerous for Humans
On the other hand, fake snow is harmful to the environment, but it is also dangerous for humans to use, especially in terms of falling to it in case of accidents. According to AP News, falling on fake snow is like landing on concrete, and it is because it does not have the natural texture of snow that can hold its shape more and avoid melting immediately.
Climate Change? Beijing 2022 Follows Tokyo 2020
A natural crisis brought the world to its knees and threatened to entirely cancel the Tokyo 2020 events. The events and games continued a year later. However, technically it was initially canceled by the committee and placed under massive planning if it was to continue on the following year last 2021.
The same fate is now what faces Beijing 2022 as people are still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, and not all are willing to host this year's event for the Winter Games. However, that is not the only problem that the Beijing 2022 games need to face, as it also accounts for Climate Change and global warming affecting its supposed operations.
The Summer Olympics may require stadiums and courses for its events, unlike the Winter Olympics that need fake snow.
The series of mischiefs affecting Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022 shows how much the world is suffering right now, and it is not exclusive to COVID-19's virus. The world is suffering from Climate Change beforehand, and it seems that it needs to adopt a new normal to continue traditions, mainly talking about the prestigious Winter Olympics.
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Written by Isaiah Richard
