Comments on Crunchy Chicken: Greening the Olympic Games

Jan (sarcastically) said... "Becaus...

2010-02-22T13:13:29.068-08:00
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.

It's kind of interesting that they're usin...

2010-02-16T19:40:01.625-08:00
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/

I like watching Apollo Anton Ohno- I hope he wins ...

2010-02-16T17:24:55.135-08:00
I like watching Apollo Anton Ohno- I hope he wins more medals!

Yay,Canadians! i am ambivalent about the massive ...

2010-02-16T16:05:57.384-08:00
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.

Wow! Thank you for posting this. I had not heard...

2010-02-16T09:51:24.361-08:00
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!

My feeling on things like the Olympics, football, ...

2010-02-16T09:26:10.915-08:00
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.

"....the garbage that will be produced."...

2010-02-16T09:07:24.614-08:00
"....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.

Julie- Athletes of that caliber travel constantly,...

2010-02-16T08:23:37.745-08:00
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.

I hate that the games are in Canada and I am horri...

2010-02-16T08:22:45.599-08:00
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.

It all comes back to the travel for me. How many a...

2010-02-16T08:10:15.509-08:00
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!

My sister-in-law trained as a speed skater for man...

2010-02-16T06:24:57.427-08:00
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 :)

I still think the games are a huge waste of time, ...

2010-02-16T05:47:56.130-08:00
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...)

I'm conflicted about the games. I like watchin...

2010-02-16T04:09:25.355-08:00
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.