London Sets Green Bar High for Olympics

The 2012 Summer Olympics have been promised by organizers to be the greenest Olympics in the event's history. But can they live up to that standard?

1 minute read

June 8, 2010, 10:00 AM PDT

By Nate Berg


Some of the games' green goals have already been altered or eliminated altogether, bringing to question whether organizers were too ambitious in their goals.

"The Commission for a Sustainable London 2012 released a report last week applauding the Games's progress on environmental issues at the same time that it expressed serious reservations. With few exceptions, there is "no comprehensive plan" for new waste management in east London or for Olympic Park's so-called "blueprint for sustainable living," the report says -- which were big selling points for London in the first place. "Having an Olympics is an inherently unsustainable thing to do. To build all this stuff to watch some people run around – what's sustainable about that?" commission head Shaun McCarthy told the UK Guardian."

Friday, June 4, 2010 in Fast Company

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