Olympics go Green
Margie Brand
Hadlock, WA, Green Enterprise Workshop ... correction of geographic
area from earlier posting.)
now even the head of IOC is in this green camp, for next year's GAME
in China.....
Olympics must go for green as well as gold
By Jacques Rogge
Published: October 25 2007 18:35 | Last updated: October 25 2007 18:35
The recent award of the Nobel Peace Prize for environmental
accomplishments makes it a good time to consider what sport has to do
with the environment. Today, sport involves a great deal more than
fans cheering on their favourite athletes. It is responsible for more
so-called "mega events" than just about any other organised activity.
The Olympic Games and the football World Cup are two of the biggest.
Add in all the other sporting events around the world each year and
the result is a considerable movement of people and demand for
resources. It has a measurable effect on the environment and carries a
serious obligation for organisers.
The Nobel awarded to Al Gore and the United Nations Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change sent a strong message that a sustainable
environment is critical to everything, from regional peace to healthy
economies. Every nation is part of the problem as well as the solution
and 205 of them participate in the Olympic Games. As such, the games
offer a rare forum for learning and co-operation.
The wake-up call for the Olympic movement came just before the 1994
Lillehammer games, when the Norwegian organising committee requested
that the environment be added to sport and culture as a third pillar
of the Olympic movement. That year, the International Olympic
Committee signed a co-operative agreement with the United Nations
Environment Programme to consider closely how the games could reduce
their impact on the environment. A year later, the IOC established its
Sport and Environment Commission including representation from the UN
programme.
Since then, the IOC has become increasingly aware that the
responsibility lies with the Olympic movement to provide concrete
practical solutions for candidate and host cities. Organisation of
each Olympic Games now includes nearly 150 criteria for measuring
their consequences to host cities - from environmental to social and
economic aspects. For the environment, organising committees assess as
many as 34 distinct factors over time. They include air quality, land
usage trends and greenhouse gas emissions.
For Beijing 2008, cutting-edge energy, lighting and water treatment
solutions are being implemented based on new technologies. They
include advanced, membrane-filtered wastewater treatment systems,
solar-powered, high-efficiency lighting and natural gas combined-cycle
turbines that will deliver power, heating and cooling. Some of these
technologies will be refined based on experience gained in Beijing.
Air quality poses considerable challenges that Beijing authorities are
well aware of as they prepare for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.
Between August 17 and 20, the Beijing organising committee conducted
studies of air quality during test events. During four days of traffic
restrictions, 1.3m fewer cars were on city streets. The concentration
of nitrogen dioxide in Beijing's air was reduced by an average of 20
per cent. Naturally, fuel consumption also dropped by an equivalent
percentage.
Beijing intends to require similar or greater traffic reductions
during the games. Weather conditions may vary, however, and there is
no guarantee it will have the same beneficial effect on air quality.
Some events may need to be delayed if that is the only way to protect
athletes. The Beijing Municipal Environment Protection Bureau stated
that the test will become a "meaningful reference for long-term
environmental protection management".
The Olympic movement can do more to see such examples applied to other
cities. The IOC can expand its knowledge-sharing efforts to include
more municipal leaders from around the world, who can attend the games
not just to marvel at athletic achievement but also to study and learn
from how host cities have improved environmental sustainability. A
vast amount of innovation and urban improvement is realised in the
seven years it generally takes to organise a games. Much of it will
have benefits beyond the 16-day games period. Host cities can be
incubators for innovative environmental technologies. They also offer
a proving ground to help avoid missteps in other cities that face
similar issues.
IOC evaluation commissions will continue to consider carefully the
ability of potential host cities to conduct games in a way that is
compatible with protecting the environment. The Olympic movement is
about more than awarding gold, silver and bronze medals. If we can
visualise a permanent place for green on the podium, we will all be
winners.
The writer is president of the Inter national Olympic Committee
--
Stanley Tsang
www.ourglobo.com