Interview with SWI Swissinfo: Can Switzerland host a “sustainable” Olympics?
I gave a quick interview to SWI swissinfo.ch on the feasibility of hosting a sustainable Winter Olympics here in Switzerland.
The basic idea is to ditch the idea of a host city and go towards something like a host country. One advantage of this would be that you could use only existing infrastructures and eliminate new constructions, which is a great idea. This could only work in smaller and highly developed countries, and especially those with existing, reliable, and high quality transport. So in that sense, the Swiss bid might have something here.
On the other hand, they say they’ll have to build at least one new venue, which raises eyebrows. Research shows that once a bid is won, all bets are off. The gates can be opened for any number of expensive interventions, and no one can stop it because “the Games must go on.”
Also problematic is the fact that so many slopes here rely on artificial snow. This is another warning that we as a species really can’t continue business as usual. And then there are the security costs, which aren’t mentioned in this article, but which are always huge and tend to be borne by the public.
In all, is this the right time and place to be planning a global party? Even in a wealthy country with almost enough existing infrastructure, should we pretend that there aren’t more pressing issues to deal with? And should we pretend that “sustainable Games” are even possible?
I’m grateful to participate in this debate (thank you Anand Chandrasekhar), and I hope that the Swiss public are given a chance to make their voices heard. And it would be amazing if the high percentage of residents who do not have traditional voting rights could also participate, since they live here and pay taxes too.