Some Say Olympic Green Efforts Fall Short

Organizers of next year's Winter Olympics in Vancouver are hoping to add a green sheen to the international event, but some critics say they aren't doing enough to offset the huge carbon footprint the Olympics will carry.

September 11, 2009, 12pm PDT | Nate Berg

The Olympics will be "pretty green", according to Linda Coady, the Vancouver Organising Committee (Vanoc) vice-president for sustainability.

"There had been a target of diverting all extra waste away from landfill, such as by recycling or composting. This has proved impossible, so now that target has been lowered to 85% of the waste. It is too early to say whether this can be achieved.

Ms Coady says they hope their programmes for reducing and offsetting carbon emissions will set a new standard for the Olympic movement.

Her team has been working with a forecast of about 330,000 extra tonnes of carbon.

They expect a third of that to come from their own operations, and two-thirds to be indirect emissions from air travel for the Games. They hope to revise the total forecast down to 300,000 extra tonnes."

But the organizers could be doing a lot more, according to Canadian scientist and environmental activist David Suzuki.

Full Story:

Vancouver 2010: Going for Green?

Published on Thursday, September 10, 2009 in BBC