{"id":11658,"date":"2016-11-04T16:58:40","date_gmt":"2016-11-04T20:58:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/record-breaking-athletes-battle-record-breaking-temperatures-climate-change-as-a-threat-to-the-future-of-the-olympics\/"},"modified":"2016-11-08T00:20:55","modified_gmt":"2016-11-08T05:20:55","slug":"record-breaking-athletes-battle-record-breaking-temperatures-climate-change-as-a-threat-to-the-olympics","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/record-breaking-athletes-battle-record-breaking-temperatures-climate-change-as-a-threat-to-the-olympics\/","title":{"rendered":"Record-Breaking Athletes Battle Record-Breaking Temperatures: Climate Change as a Threat to the Olympics"},"content":{"rendered":"

A flower has sprouted in the street.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Buses, streetcars, steel stream of traffic: steer clear.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

A flower, still pale, has fooled the police, <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

it\u2019s breaking through the asphalt.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Let\u2019s have complete silence, halt all business.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

I swear that a flower has been born.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Its color is uncertain.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not showing its petals.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Its name isn\u2019t in the books.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

It is ugly, but it really is a flower.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I sit down on the ground of the nation\u2019s capital at five in the afternoon<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

and fondle with my fingers this precarious form.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

It\u2019s ugly, but it\u2019s a flower.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

It broke through the asphalt, tedium, disgust, and hatred.<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As Dame Judi Dench poignantly read the above translation of \u201cNausea and The Flower,\u201d a poem by Brazil\u2019s Carlos Drummond de Andrade, at the opening ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, the world took notice: Rio de Janeiro brought the conversation about climate change front and center at the Olympics.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a ceremony broadcast to an estimated primetime audience of above 3 billion,[1] the organizers devoted an entire segment to stark warnings about rising sea levels and global warming. The traditionally five-colored Olympic rings were unveiled in an all-green version. The cauldron had a low-emission\u00a0design alluding to the power of solar energy. Reaction was immediate: The climate change focus headlined ceremony reviews.[2]<\/span><\/p>\n