Vancouver’s Olympic village aims for green, runs into problems 4

Comments View as Flat

1. 

   Coner Posted 8:18 am
   21 Jul 2009

   Hmm Olympics and sustainability- an oxymoron if there ever was one, no? When you really think about it, there is not one thing that the Olympics does that is sustainable, except by their own warped definition of that concept. Just another exercise in green-washing, brought to you by the titans of global industry and commerce and paid for by you.
   If you want to write an article at what the Olympics in Vancouver/Whistler is really doing, focus your efforts on their lack of greenness, because that is where the truth lies. Investigate the valley where the cross country and ski jumping events are being held, where a formerly logged but returning to a vibrant and healthy ecosystem (in the early 2000's even supporting a growing family of grizzly bears, a clear signal of the areas vitality) was invaded by the Olympic developers. The cross country centre (can't call it by it's name, Whistler Olympic Park, because it is so far removed from what a park should be) was built 17 kilometres up the valley, close to the headwaters of Callaghan Creek, and right on some of the areas that the recovering grizzly population (the southernmost extent of coastal grizzlies in North America) were using. Pretty green, hey?
   The sliding centre, on the side of Blackcomb Mountain, is another massive scar on the environment, and not just because of its physical footprint. It uses as much energy as the rest of Whistler Village, almost doubling the resort's already hefty energy footprint.
   Even the ski race venue, on the south side of Whistler Mountain, had to be "renovated" to accommodate the Olympics, and a BC blue listed (threatened) coastal tailed frog population (somehow missed during one of British Columbia's famously inept Environmental Assessments but noticed during the construction) was moved, which anyone who knows amphibians knows is impossible to do successfully.
   Then there is the Sea To Sky Highway renovation (closing in on 1 Billion dollars and counting), and...and... Green? Not even close. Sustainable? Nope. The 2010 Olympics will be one of the first and biggest blights on the environment for that year. All funded by the Canadian taxpayer too, just to make us feel extra positive about it in this current global economic depression.

   Permalink