It’s likely that almost every cross-country skier in the U.S. knows who Jessie Diggins is; many snow sports aficionados know how important winning the World Cup is; but there are a lot more people who are neither athletes nor cross-country skiers but know who Bill McKibben is. And there are plenty of people who don’t know Jessie Diggins, could care less about the World Cup, but do read The New Yorker.
McKibben founded 350.org because he believes strongly that the risks of climate-related catastrophe increase as atmospheric Carbon exceeds 350 parts per million (we’re already at 400 and counting). He’s also an avid cross-country skier and writes for The New Yorker, usually on things having to do with climate.
But this weekend he used some bits to write up a shout-out to Jessie Diggins for clinching the title as this year’s overall World Cup winner, only the second time an American has done so, and the first for an American woman.
So here I sit in a Venn diagram intersection where interest in XC skiing, environmentalism, and readers of a hoity-toity magazine all overlap, cheering for Jessie Diggins, overall winner of the 2020-21 Cross-Country Ski World Cup.
Across the Snow Line 