Paris When It Sizzles!
When the final torch bearer lights the Olympic cauldron in Paris today athletes will be hoping to set new records in the 45 sporting events in which they will be competing. One event included for the first time this year will be breakdancing and it seems such a surprising addition that I might just watch it.
Unlike the freestyle routines in ice skating and gymnastics, the “breakers” will have to improvise their performances to music they won’t have heard beforehand. Olympic DJs will select the tunes and I doubt we’ll hear anything from The Nutcracker or Swan Lake although I’ll assume that just like with skaters and gymnasts, spins and flips that earn a 10 from the judges will be necessary to get you the gold medal.
However, the most consequential world record for the next two weeks and beyond was already set even before these Olympics begin. This past Monday was the hottest day globally ever recorded and it broke the previous high average temperature for the earth over a 24 hour period that was reached just the day before. It’s old news that our planet is heating up but how this relates to things we have historically taken for granted is increasingly staring us in the face.
Take the Olympics for instance. Six months ago China hosted the Winter Olympics and not a single snowflake was supplied by Mother Nature. One-hundred percent of the snow was man-made using nearly 50 million gallons of water shot by 290 snow cannons that operated non-stop for two months.
That was a technological feat that ranks as the greatest snow job of all time but whether or not it is going to be sustainable for making Winter Olympics of the future feasible is questionable.
It's predicted that by 2050 nine of the locations around the world that have hosted the winter games in the past will not be reliably cold enough to do so again and a short time after that virtually none of the places where the games have been held previously will be suitable to do it again if global warming remains on its current trajectory.
And how about the Summer Olympics? In a generation global warming is likely to eliminate over half of the cities where the games could take place today. China, Japan and all of Southeast Asia will be too hot by mid-century and if the summer games continue to be held in July and August only cities in northern Europe, Russia and Canada or locations in the southern hemisphere when July and August are winter months will be left as useable venues.
Recent history has already shown us where we’re headed. The average temperature in Paris during late July and early August has warmed by more than five degrees fahrenheit since 1924, the last time the city hosted the Olympics.
I wasn't much interested in math as a student but I wasn't bad at it either. The difference between arithmetic and exponential growth is a concept that I grasp but wonder if the world does. Global warming isn't like increasing a kid's allowance by a dollar or two a year. If you start multiplying it instead of adding to it by the time he or she finished college you’d be bankrupt and trying to cut a deal with the Saudis.
The reason for environmentalists having such dire outlooks about the future is that they understand the definition of exponential.
Here's a quote I found...
"A lack of appreciation for what exponential increase really means leads society to be disastrously sluggish in acting on crucial issues. I am utterly convinced that most of the great environmental struggles will be either won or lost in the next decade. And by the next century it will be too late."
Thomas Lovejoy, an ecologist and conservation biologist who coined the term "biological diversity" spoke these words in 1989 and was referring to the decade of the 1990s. Lovejoy died last year.
So, “Que les jeux commencent!” and best of luck to all the athletes and especially to those competing outside “Restez hydrate!”
And for those in the break dancing competition “Casse une jambe!”
Actually, I’ve just learned that the French term used to wish French actors success is the word merde. Why? Because a couple centuries ago people arrived and departed the theater in horse drawn carriages. The evidence of how many had showed up was left in the street.