If you are like me, you've been watching the Olympic Games and enjoying the competition. I always look forward to the games, winter or summer, because it's inspiring to see how dedicated these athletes are to their sports.One thing to think about, anytime there are large events like these, is what is the environmental impact? Along the lines of global climate change, these games have been impacted by the effects of a warm winter. With Vancouver being within a few hours of Seattle, it's something I think about, particularly knowing that they have been having the same warmer than usual temperatures which has been affecting their snow pack this year.
I know the East Coast has been bombarded with a lot of snow this year, but on our end of the country, we have been experiencing the opposite. It makes me wonder whether or not future winter games will be held in temperate areas given the volatility of the cold weather. I'm thinking Siberia is where it will be held from now on.
Anyway, I was happy to read that one of the goals of the 2010 Olympic Games was to be the greenest / most environmentally friendly games ever. According to the BC Tourism site here are some of the things that have been done to make it green:
Green building: The sports and housing facilities being built for the games are LEED Gold Certified.
Richmond Oval's roof: The huge roof (the size of four football fields) at the Richmond Oval was made from wood that had been killed by pine beetles. At one time, the wood was thought unusable.
Sliding Centre: If you were wondering why the track at the sliding centre is painted white, it isn't to look like snow, it's to minimize the amount of heat absorbed.
Medals: 2.8 million tons of metal from recycled circuit boards that were headed for the landfill went into making the gold, silver and bronze medals.
Rain Capture: Many of the new venues in Vancouver collect rainwater and reuse it for flushing water-efficient toilets, irrigating plants, heating and even making ice at the skating venues.
Whistler Olympic Park: The majority of wood waste generated from the construction of the Whistler Olympic Park was reused to build temporary structures, or to revegetate the area.
Sustainable Clothing: Boardroom Eco Apparel is the exclusive provider of apparel for Hudson's Bay Company, who is outfitting all of the Game's sponsors and partners. Proforma is providing jackets, snowboards, fleece woven throws and floor mats made out of used Coke bottle for purchase.
Beverages: All the Coke and Dasani water bottles sold at the games contain 30% plant material in the plastic bottles. The beverages sold at the Games will be packaged in PlantBottles, made partly from sugar cane and molasses, which can be processed through existing manufacturing and recycling facilities. Coca-Cola will deliver and store drinks in hybrid trucks, electric carts and coolers that reduce energy usage by about 40 percent and also give off fewer hydrofluorocarbons than standard coolers.
Other: The organizers of the games are implementing recycling and composting programs to cut waste. Finally, for emissions that can't be cut, they are planning to purchase carbon offsets.
All this doesn't come close to ameliorating the environmental impact of the games, but this helps set the trend. Hopefully future events will look to some of the innovations that went into the Vancouver Games.
What do you think about the games? Do you like them, or do you think it's a huge waste? Do you think the efforts to green the games is useful or is it just a bunch of green-washing?
13 Crunchy Thoughts:
I'm conflicted about the games. I like watching anyone who can do amazing feats with their body, it just reminds me of what an extraordinary machine we are and can be, but yeah, I pretty much think it's a waste. When I think of what could be done to foster "international good feelings" and etc. with all that money, that might include actually, you know, feeding, housing and educating, I feel a little sick. Also, for some countries, I think it's an enormous strain on their budget and infrastructure for years to come. As for any effort to green something as huge and environmentally damaging as the Olympics, I think it's a good thing.
I still think the games are a huge waste of time, money, energy, and even interest (people seem to lose interest for any other event during this time...). But I'm glad to read they at least THOUGHT about their impact on environment. I hope it will get better for the next years, and maybe set the idea of environment awareness in many minds (I dream, Iknow...)
My sister-in-law trained as a speed skater for many years, and she has trained with some of the folks in the Olympics this year (including Apollo). One thing that I really like about the Olympics is that they build these gigantic arenas, and they continue to use them for training for years afterwards. I remember visiting Kate when she was training in Salt Lake City, and seeing how the Olympic village was still actively in use, even in the summer months. It was really cool and I thought also a good use of resources.
Kate's retired now, never made it to the Olympics but did come close. So the Olympics are a pretty big deal in my husband's family. Personally, I prefer the summer games :)
It all comes back to the travel for me. How many airplane rides does it take to get all those athletes and attendant functionaries to Vancouver? The carbon footprint for the flights alone must be horrifying. And don't even get me started on flying and trucking snow in from the BC interior!
I hate that the games are in Canada and I am horrified by the huge amount of money that has been spent on them instead of being proud to be Canadian. Vancouver has a HUGE homeless problem in the downtown area not to mention the worse drug problem of any big city in North America. Vancouver cannot afford to spend the money to olympics are costing and all the residents of Vancouver are going to suffer because of it. Environmentally, I guess it's a good thing that any "greening" is taking place but there are so many problems starting with all the olympic wear, even out here in the east that stuff is everywhere, moving on to the huge amount of travel and then to the garbage that will be produced.
Sigh, I used to love watching the olympics now I mostly don't anymore. just one opinion from a conflicted canadian.
Julie- Athletes of that caliber travel constantly, for training and competitions, all over the world. The Olympics is probably only a small fraction of their travel. When my SIL was training we hardly ever saw her and she was all over the world.
I agree that a big event like the Olympics probably has a lot more people traveling to go see them, though.
"....the garbage that will be produced."
Because if there were no games, all those people would stay home where they don't produce any garbage.
My feeling on things like the Olympics, football, etc... is they aren't going away, and shouldn't we don't want everything we enjoy to be gone. So we should be encouraging the greening of these things, it's far from perfect but it's a step.
Wow! Thank you for posting this. I had not heard of the green efforts.
Not sure how I feel about the Olympics. If it were up to me, I would be awarding everyone Gold!
Yay,Canadians! i am ambivalent about the massive hoopla of Olympic competition but it ain't goin' away.
Knittingwoman, in my experience, Vancouver takes pretty good care of homeless folk and the climate is relatively mild. Could be why there are lots of homeless folks there. And where do you get your info on the drug problem? Kvetch, kvetch, kvetch.
I like watching Apollo Anton Ohno- I hope he wins more medals!
It's kind of interesting that they're using wood that was damaged by the pin beetle for the olympic podiums.I'm not sure if there's irony here somewhere. Or maybe it's symbolism. I'm not sure. http://www.wfndc.ca/2010olympicwintergames.html/
Jan (sarcastically) said...
"Because if there were no games, all those people would stay home where they don't produce any garbage."
Statistically most people produce less garbage when at home than they do when out; particularly when they're buying things like take-out and fast food. ;)
equa yona(Big Bear) said...
"...in my experience, Vancouver takes pretty good care of homeless folk..."
You really have no idea, hey? Wow. Ok, see here:
http://no2010.com/node/18
Look at 4 and 5 in particular to see the impact the Vancouver Olympics is having on the homeless.
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