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DAVOS: The climate is on everybody’s lips at WEF 2018, in more ways than one. Climate change and issues of environmental sustainability are prominent on the agenda at the gathering in Davos. Environmental risks were identified as the No. 1 concern of the WEF’s Global Risks Report, published just before the event began and intended to set a theme for the debates.
So much of the thinking is centered on climate change that it was fitting that the opening performance for the Crystal Awards ceremony on the eve of the first day proper was a performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons concerto aimed at “exploring the fine line between chaos and harmony in our relationship with nature.”
Outside the Congress Hall where the concert took place, that fine line was explored further, and chaos was definitely the winner. Even for the Swiss, whose whole way of life has been defined by their ability to take on and beat the forces of nature, it was a challenge to deal with such unpredictable weather conditions.
Of course, snow at 1,500 meters up in the Swiss Alps is totally expected. But, as the locals explained, this was not normal snow. There had been several days of extreme snow falls, and the evidence was everywhere: High mountains of the stuff bulldozed to the side of the road; fountains of it being thrown into the air by those clever snow-blowers virtually every resident of Davos seems to keep in their garage; and multiple layers of it on the town’s freezing streets.
But on Monday, just as the Weffers were gathering from all over the world, nature played a cruel trick. The temperature rose quite sharply a few degrees below zero, and it began to rain. The effect on all that lying white stuff was catastrophic.
Roads were turned into slithering rivers of slush that even chained wheels had problems with. When, a few hours later, the temperature dropped again, the Davos-Klosters transit corridor turned into a dirty brown skating rink.
“Masters of the universe,” in very expensive but totally impractical handmade shoes, sitting on their backsides in the slush was a common sight, and strangely satisfying.
Train was the only way to make the journey between the two towns, and even that was a challenge, with services late (unheard of in Switzerland) and unusually overcrowded.
What will Donald Trump — who famously prefers the balmy climate of Mar-a-Lago in Florida to winter in New York or Washington — make of it all when he arrives later in the week? His arrival and the security arrangements involved will only add to the chaos.
Seasoned Weffers are indulging in a little sport to while away the hours spent waiting for trains or shuttle cars. One may only guess what Trump’s corny quip will be about the Swiss weather.
The favorite at the moment is something like: “How can you complain so much about global warming? Just look at all this snow!”