Will Environmental Crises Segregate Sports?
Snowless Mountains and Poisoned Beaches Will Drive a Wedge Between Athletes of Different Classes
In Brazil, Olympic rowers and sailors will chase gold through dying rivers and poisoned lagoons. Even amid all the crises piling up on this year’s games—unfinished infrastructure, political drama, financial turmoil, the Zika epidemic that had prominent experts calling for the games to be moved—the water stands out. Reports say athletes may have to compete in oil-slick water stinking of raw human sewage and contaminated with antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Their boats are already turning brown.
Marquee sporting events are often billed as a great boon for cities and the environment. Chapter 1 …
