Warming Trends: Green Grass on the Ski Slopes, Covid-19 Waste Kills Animals and the Virtues and Vulnerabilities of Big Old Trees
A column highlighting climate-related studies, innovations, books, cultural events and other developments from the global warming frontier.
April 3, 2021
Jessie Diggins of the United States competes in the women's 10-kilometer freestyle at the 2021 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Bavaria, Germany. Credit: Sergei Bobylev/TASS via Getty Images
Related
An Olympic Skier Watches High Slopes Warm
For champion cross-country skier Jessie Diggins, becoming the first American woman to win the cross-country skiing world cup last month was the pinnacle of her career, even more than winning gold in the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics. But the sport that has defined the 29-year-old’s life is changing with a warming planet. The European mountain towns that often host elite cross-country ski events are no longer guaranteed to have snow, meaning she regularly races on man-made snow. Since her rise to fame in the Olympics in 2018, Diggins has used her platform to advocate for climate action, including lobbying in Washington, D.C. with Protect Our Winters, the environmental nonprofit for which she is a board member.