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When viewers tune in to the 2026 Winter Olympics, they will see pristine, white slopes, groomed tracks, and athletes racing over snow-covered landscapes, thanks in part to a storm that blanketed the mountain venues of the Italian Alps with fresh powder just in time. But at lower elevations, where cross-country and other events are held, athletes and organizers have been contending with rain; thin, sometimes slushy snow; and icy, machine-made surfaces. Most of our races are on machine-made snow, 2026 U.S. Olympic team cross-country skier Rosie Brennan told us ahead of the Games. TV production is great at making it look like we are in wintry, snowy places, but this year has been particularly bad. As scientists who study mountain snow, water resources, and the human impact of warming winters, we see winters changes through data: rising temperatures, shrinking snowpack, shorter snow seasons. Olympic athletes experience changing winter conditions personally, in ways the public and scientists rarely do. Lack of snowfall and more frequent rain affect when and where they can train, how they train and how dangerous the terrain can become. We talked with Brennan and cross-country skiers Ben Ogden and Jack Young as they were preparing for the 2026 Winter Games. Their experiences reflect what many athletes describe: a sport increasingly defined not by the variability of natural winter but by the reliability of industrialized snowmaking. What the cameras dont show Snowmaking technology makes it possible to create halfpipes for freestyle snowboarding and skiing competitions. It also allows for races when natural snow is scarcethe 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing relied entirely on machine-made snow for many races. However, machine-made snow creates a very different surface than natural snow, changing the race. In clouds, each unique snowflake shape is determined by the temperature and humidity. Once formed, the iconic star shape begins to slowly erode as its crystals become rounded spheres. In this way, natural snow provides a variety of textures and depths: soft powder after a storm, firm or brittle snow in cold weather, and slushy, wet snow during rain or melt events. Machine-made snow varies less in texture or quality. It begins and ends its life as an ice pellet surrounded by a thin film of liquid water. That makes it slower to change, easier to shape, and, once frozen, it hardens in place. Theyre faster, icier, and carry more risk When artificial snow is being made, the sound is piercinga high-pitched hiss roars from the pressurized nozzles of snow guns. These guns spew water mixed with compressed air, and it freezes upon contact with the cold air outside, creating small, dense ice particles. The drops sting exposed skin, as one of us, Agnes Macy, knows well as a former competitive skier. Snow machines then push out artificial snow onto the racecourse. Often, the trails are the only ribbons of snow in sighta white strip surrounded by brown mud and dead grass. Courses built for natural snow feel completely different when covered in man-made snow, Brennan, 37, said. Theyre faster, icier, and carry more risk than anyone might imagine for cross-country skiing. Theres nothing quite like skiing on fresh snow. After a storm brings a blanket of light, fluffy powder, it can almost feel as though youre floating. The snow is forgiving. On artificial snow, skiers carry more speed into downhill runs. Downhill racers may relish the speed, but cross-country skis dont have metal edges like downhill skis do, so step-turning or skidding around fast, icy corners can make an athlete feel out of control. It requires a different style of skiing, skill sets and strengths than I grew up learning, Brennan said. How athletes adapt, with help from science Athletes must adjust their technique and prepare their skis differently, depending on the snow conditions. At elite levels, this is science. Snow crystal morphology, temperature, ski base material and structure, ski stiffness, skier technique, and environmental conditions all interact to determine an athletes speed. Before cross-country, or Nordic, races, ski technicians compare multiple ski pairs prepared with different base surfaces and waxes. They evaluate how quickly each ski glides and how long it maintains that glidetraits that depend on the friction between the ski and the snow. Compared to natural snow, machine-made snow generally provides a more durable and longer-lasting surface. In cross-country racing, that allows for more efficient and stronger pushes without skis or poles sinking deep into snow. Additionally, improvements in the machines used to groom snow now provide harder and more homogeneous surfaces that permit faster skiing. While fast skiing is the goal, ski crashes are also the most common cause of injury in the Winter Olympics. With machine-made snow, ski jump competitors and anyone who falls is also landing on a harder surface, which can increase the risk of injury. Why winters are changing Weather can always deal surprises, but long-term climate trends are shifting what can be expected ofa typical winter. In the Alps, air temperature has increased by about 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit since the late 1800s, before rising fossil fuel use began increasing the levels of greenhouse gases trapping heat in the atmosphere. Globally, 2025 was the third-warmest year on record, following 2024 and 2023. For mountain regions, these warmer conditions have consequences. Snow melts earlier and more frequently in midwinter, especially during warm spells that used to be rare. Midwinter snowmelt events are occurring more often at higher elevations and earlier in the season across many mountain ranges of western North America. At the same time, the snow linethe elevation where precipitation shifts from snow to rainis moving upslope. Warming in high mountain environments is also causing the threshold where rain turns to snow to rise by tens of meters per decade in some regions. This means storms that once blanketed entire valleys in snow now may deliver snow only to upper slopes, with rain falling below. Together, these changes mean that many winter storms produce less snow, over less area, and for shorter durations than they did a generation ago. Training venues The changing winter landscape has also transformed how athletes train. Traditional training venues, such as glaciers once used for summer skiing, have become unreliable. In August 2025, the Hintertux Glacierthe only year-round training center operating in Austriaannounced its first temporary closure. Its been increasingly hard to make plans for locations to train between races, Brennan said. Snow reliability isnt great in many places. We often rely on going to higher elevations for a better chance of snow. Higher-elevation training can help, but it concentrates athletes in fewer places, reduces access for younger skiers due to the remoteness and raises costs for national teams. Some of these glacierslike Canadas Haig Glacier or Alaskas Eagle Glacierare accessible only by helicopter. When skiers cant get to snow, dryland training on rollerskis is one of the only options. Winter athletes see the climate changing Because winter is their workplace, athletes often notice subtle changes before those changes show up in long-term statistics. Even athletes in their early twenties, like Young, said they have noticed the rapid expansion of snowmaking infrastructure at many racing venues in recent years. Snowmaking requires large amounts of energy and water. It is also a clear sign that organizers see winters becoming less dependable. Athletes also witness how communities are affected when poor snow conditions mean fewer visitors. In the Alps, when conditions are bad, it is obvious how much it affects the communities, Ogden, 25, said. Their tourism-based livelihoods are so often negatively affected, and their quality of life changes. Many winter athletes are speaking publicly about their concerns. Groups such as Protect Our Winters, founded by professional snowboarder Jeremy Jones, work to advance policies that protect outdoor places for future generations. A wintry look, but an uncertain future For athletes at the 2026 Olympics, the variability within the Olympic regionsnow at higher elevations, rain at lower onesreflects a broader truth: The stability of winter is diminishing. Athletes know this better than anyone. They race in it. They train in it. They depend on it. The Winter Games will go on this year. The snow will look good on television. But at the same time, winter is changing. Keith Musselman is an assistant professor in geography, mountain hydrology, and climate change at the University of Colorado Boulder. Agnes Macy is a graduate student in geography at the University of Colorado Boulder. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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When Obvious Ventures launched 12 years ago with a focus on world positive companies, the idea was a contrarian bet: that startups tackling climate, health, and economic resilience could deliver big returns, not just feel-good impact. Founded by Twitter cofounder Ev Williams and others, the firm backed companies like Beyond Meat, the AI drug discovery company Recursion Pharmaceuticals, and Diamond Foundry, which makes sustainable lab-grown diamonds. By 2020, other VC firms had gotten into the climate investing space, and overall investment in climate tech surged. Now, as the Trump administration rolls out anti-climate policy and some investors retreat, Obvious is leaning in. Fresh off closing its fifth fundat the precise figure of $360,360,360the firm remains bullish. We talked to managing director Andrew Beebe about how Obvious has grownand the current state of climate investing in the age of Trump. World positive investing went mainstream In the beginning, Obviouss approach was unusual. We started with this basic idea that the biggest companies of our time are going to be those that solve the worlds biggest problems, Beebe says. Some people misunderstood it as impact investing that would only have concessionary returns. But Obvious was thinking differently: the thesis was that solving global challenges could drive financial success. Over time, as Obvious Ventures had early successes with companies like Beyond Meat, a growing number of investors moved in the same direction. (Beyond Meat has since struggled, but had the best-performing IPO in the U.S. in 2019.) Twelve years forward, weve had many venture firms copy, or lets say lift, some of our language, Beebe says. But we appreciate that. We definitely consider imitation a sincere form of flattery. And because of that, but also because of the successes of these early companies, its been easier to explain what world positive means. Thats important with limited partners. But its also really important with founders, so that we are not just getting, you know, sort of a yoga mat cleaning service or something, but instead getting these extraordinary ideas like radically reducing the cost of geothermal energy or AI for drug discovery. The big change is that I think more people can more easily digest what we do and why we do it. And the movement of world positive companies is stronger than ever. Smart climate investors arent pulling back As the federal government pivoted on climate policypulling back billions of dollars in funding for clean energy projects, tax credits for EVs and other incentives, and pouring more support into the fossil fuel industryclimate investing dropped. But the fundamentals havent changed, and Beebe says that climate investing still makes sense. Venture firms outlast presidential cycles by definition, he says. And in this case, easily, because we only have two more years. But more importantly, with regard to climate, I love climate investing because its the macro of all macros. Unfortunately, we can very predictably see where things are going. And thats just not always true. In health care, its hard to predict where things are going. But climate, the problem literally gets worse by the day, even if the government chooses to ignore itoftentimes, because they choose to ignore it. And yet there are a lot of investors in the US who say, Well, the government supports gone. And look, people arent buying EVs anymore. So, lets move on. And I love that. Those tourists should go home. And, I guess, go back to enterprise SaaS or whatever. Meanwhile, both on the founder side and on the investor side, the people who really understand the science and really understand the macro are not going anywhere. As climate investing grew over the past several years, Obvious Ventures had focused more of its last fund in other areas like health and robotics. Climate got really frothy and overpriced, he says. But its a better investment now. Its only over the last year, and this year, where Im much more comfortable going really hard into climate. The One Big Beautiful Big Act slashed support for a wide swath of climate startups. Still, Beebe argues that some of what was in the original Inflation Reduction Act wasnt necessary. I was very supportive of the climate bill as an American, as an Earthling, he says. But from an investment standpoint, there was too much hype because of it, and it threw a lot of money at things that I did not think were going to work. We sort of stepped back and we only had one company out of maybe 25 that was really impacted by all of that being yanked. Now, because of that, a lot of those things that I didnt think deserved investment are not going to get more investment. I would say an example of that is direct air capturea lot of people are really into it as an investment category, I just dont believe it. So, I think a lot of those things are going to die on the vine. He believes that other technology, from tech to help the electric grid to electric aviation, can grow now. All of these things are not getting as much attention and are better priced, but are awesome, better solutions than whats out there today, he says. Its hard to say were doubling down on climate because weve always been in it, but, for sure, I am more bullish on the investment landscape and climate that Ive been in probably five years. Theres still room for optimism on climate In its latest annual report, Obvious includes some predictions from Beebe on what could come in the next decadelike the idea that well have energy thats too cheap to meter, and well stop selling gas-powered cars. Despite the headwinds, Beebe is optimistic. I love that Gates quote that we overestimate what we can do in two years and underestimate what we can do in 10, he says. Decade-long predictions I find pretty easy, but the near term is a different bucket. You know, Im a professional optimist, Im a venture capitalist, we have to do that. But I do think that graded on a curve, Im much more optimistic than a lot of folks out there. Even with the unfortunate rhetoric from the federal government, he says, states, utility companies, and startups are still moving forward with solutions. American car companies risk falling behind on EVs, but globally, theyre still booming. The rest of the world has also figured out that solar plus storage, wind plus storage, is much cheaper than natural gas, he says. Most U.S. utilities have figured that out, too. Unfortunately, there are some people in the administration who I actually think know that as well, but have decided to just take a very head in the sand approach. That wont last. This is going to be our biggest solar year of installations yet, and I think well probably see something of the same size next year. Itll dip without changes after that. But I think well see some changes. Im pretty optimistic.
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MacKenzie Scott helped build one of the most recognizable companies in modern historyall while writing her first novel. As Amazon scaled from a fledging startup to a global force, Scott was simultaneously cultivating a literary life. Long before Amazon, Scott launched her literary career. While studying creative writing at Princeton University, Scott landed herself a highly coveted spot as one of Toni Morrisons advisees, a relationship that would shape her literary pursuits. This writer that I admired so much also turned out to be such a gifted and devoted teacher, Scott said at the dedication for Princetons Morrison Hall. She has given me a real example of a life of passionate devotion to more than one calling. For some time, those callings competed. In Amazons early years, Scotts writing necessarily receded as she supported the companys founding and expansion. But by 1996, she stepped into a less involved role, carving out space for her literary ambitions and for her family. She consequently forged a slow, deliberate writing life. And after a decade of workbalanced alongside raising her children and supporting Amazons growthScott published her debut novel, The Testing of Luther Albright. Morrison continued to mentor her through the process, offering advice and encouragement. Your hand is sure, your technical ability sophisticated, Morrison said, according to Howard University. Dont worry about overdoing it at this point. It is so much easier to cut back than to write up. Morrisons mentorship proved pivotal, as Scott went on to win the American Book Award for her novel, cementing her literary career. Morrison, however, was not the only writer to leave a lasting imprint. In her Giving Pledge letter years later, Scott returned to The Writing Life by Annie Dillard, a slim meditation on the discipline and solitude of writing with no promise of success. Scott rediscovered the book on a shelf of college-era favorites, its pages underlined and started. One passage, in particular, stuck with her. For Scott, the advice was no longer just about writing. It became a framework for philanthropy. I have no doubt that tremendous value comes when people act quickly on the impulse to give, she wrote in her pledge letter. The same philosophy that propelled Scotts literary success also undergirds her philanthropic pursuits, treating wealth not as something to preserve, but as something meant to be spent with intention. By Leila Sheridan This article originally appeared on Fast Companys sister site, Inc.com. Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy.
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