University of Wyoming Nordic Ski Team: Blog #1

Soft music fills my ears just out of consciousness. It is present, but not overbearing. I hear it only when I let the other thoughts fade from my mind. I am wrapped in a soft fleece on a cot. Catherine lays in the same position to my right with her knees slightly lifted to support her Physical Therapy homework. Yara lays to my right in the same position with her opposite leg as mine cocked in the same manner. Her eyes are closed. I cannot tell if she is imagining fantastic architectural designs or allowing the gentle music into her mind or if she too is distracted by the Slovakian conversation in front of us. Wearing nothing but bed sheets, the two Slovakian men speak in deep voices. Their language is at the tip of the tongue and it bites the air differently than English. Right now, in the Hotel FIS Wellness Room, the language is relaxing and almost lulls me into a daydream.

At the far end, Britta is reading Fevered by Linda Marsa. It is appropriate that she is working through Chapter 5, “Running on Empty”. A chapter devoted to the world’s food distribution and clean water problems. After spending two hours in three separate saunas, showering, hot tubbing, and flushing the toilet three to four times because we are staying hydrated with the fresh lemon water, the four of us slap the world’s clean water problem right in the face. Here in the Slovakian mountains, I can ski on real snow, ski on man made snow, shower, sit in a steam room, sit in a hot tub, flush a toilet, and drink clean water throughout the day with no effort on my part. The water usage is ridiculously high. “[Las Vegas] slashed their per capita water footprint to 75 gallons a day (in comparison, residents of Tucson use 114 gallons, while Angelenos consume 125 gallons)” (Fevered, 140). Where in other parts of the world, women carry water from unclean sources each and every day and that is all they have for cooking, cleaning, bathing, and drinking.

As I become disgusted by my wastefulness, I look out the window and see the ski trails illuminated by lights at the ski jump. Outside, the World University Games torch burns brilliantly 24 hours a day. It was lit during Opening Ceremonies January 24^th and will remain lit through Saturday 31^st. This torch along with the gasoline required to groom the trails for both the Nordic and Nordic Combined races for one week are probably a substantial addition to the area’s emissions. I think about my USA garb in my hotel room: a hat, scarf, coat, pants, fleece top, socks, credentials, pins to trade with other teams. All of these items generated emissions through both production and shipping. And every single team has their own gear to contribute that was made and shipped to them and then shipped to Slovakia specifically for this event. Add to these, the emissions generated by flying all of the teams to Slovakia and then the bus ride 2 hours from cities with airports to the mountain town of Štrbské Pleso, and you’re looking at one incredibly wasteful athletic event. Of course, these things do not include the excess waste all the athletes and spectators generate, excess food that must be made and shipped here, travel while here, etc. You get the idea.

The waste is enough to make anyone notice. But perhaps we are slightly more sensitive to it because the Wyoming team is documenting and analyzing the impact. As part of our class, we read The Added Value of Study Abroad: Fostering a Global Citizenry by Tarrant et al. 2013. Global citizenry includes social responsibility, global awareness, and civic engagement and was shown in this paper to be significantly increased in study abroad programs that incorporate sustainability as a major component. Additionally, there was little difference between programs that were semester-long versus 4-weeks long. The paper discusses how students go from a Good Samaritan (based on charity) outlook at sustainability to a Good Earth Citizen (based on obligation) standpoint in which each person realizes his or her responsibility to act in a sustainable manner every single day. The major benefit of reading this paper before travelling abroad was to understand our coaches’ goals with this course. And we in turn adjusted our mindset to a more engaged, active role.

I am sitting at the dinner table with the USA team. Around us, there are tables with Australians, Koreans, Slovakians, Chinese, and Ukraine coaches. Each group has their own dietary habits, yet we are forced into this one dining hall to eat the same foods as one another. On race mornings, this could be incredibly important. I start to think about all of the other cultural differences between the teams crammed in this room and find it strange that skiing is what has brought all of us together. Even the differences in terms of skiing become apparent. There are some in this room who started skiing only 4 years ago while others have raced since they were very small. There are some who are only dedicated to this sport in the winter and then have completely separate lives the rest of the year, while others have fully committed themselves to this sport. This makes me laugh because when I start to think about sustainability and climate change, it seems impossible that so many different people could collaborate in a meaningful way.

For the UW class, we are also reading Fevered and have online discussions with questions directed at each student’s major. We utilize each student’s unique talents, interests, and passions to build a better understanding of the many ways we can analyze the climate change issues. We are able to talk about heat waves, asthma, the health care system in terms of major weather events, the food distribution and clean water issues from many angles including: economics, politics, science, religion, social, and environmental perspectives. I can’t imagine how cool this class would be if the students came from all the teams represented here. Then we would have a Chinese person’s perspective on population growth and an Australian’s perspective on desertification. It would be so fantastic to see the variety and breadth of solutions that these students could come up with because what we have done so far has been inspiring.

I think the most amazing thing about taking an academic course with my teammates is the ability to understand them in a completely new way. It is wonderful to be able to read Will Timmons’ posts about politics and the economics of climate change while simultaneously learning racing technique from him. This course adds a whole other level to the race experience and allows for a more holistic understanding of my teammates’ ambitions and emotions.