The Austrian glaciers where Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn honed her craft are shrinking as the slopes she grew up speeding down melt away.
Now a few years removed from her decorated alpine skiing career, the Olympic gold medalist is sounding the alarm on the impact of climate change for the next generation of winter sports enthusiasts.
“Skiing is not going to exist, winter sports are not going to exist if we continue down this path,” Vonn told Yahoo Finance (video above). “We see it firsthand.”
While artificial snow has been used previously in Winter Olympics, this year's Games marks the first time that athletes will be competing on 100 percent artificial snow.
It’s not surprising since it doesn't snow much in and around Beijing.
But, because of climate change, even places that once were buried in snow are struggling to keep the slopes covered.
New research led by University of Waterloo climate experts shows that without a dramatic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, many former Olympic sites will no longer be viable host cities in just a few decades.
“You can't deny that global warming exists and that the world is changing, and that we have to make the change in a huge way,” Vonn said. “But to many, it’s not quite as apparent, so I’m not sure how we can make a change substantial enough to fix what's happening.”
This echoes the calls of activists like Mustafa Santiago Ali, who have spent their entire careers fighting to raise awareness about climate change and stave off its devastating effects.
“Every aspect of society will be impacted by climate change,” said Ali, who currently serves as Vice President of Environment Justice, Climate and Community Revitalization for the National Wildlife Federation. “The good point is that we can actually make change happen and begin to mitigate many of those impacts.”
Ali said he is encouraged by the pledges from the Biden administration to curb emissions and heavily invest in efforts to mitigate global warming. And as a grassroots activist, he believes in the power of the average citizen to make meaningful change — before it’s too late.
“We have a lot of work to do, and time is ticking,” he added.