Canadian Olympic skier Sara Renner depends on winter weather to do what she loves, but over the last 15 years, she’s seen more unpredictable ski seasons and more races being canceled due to lack of snow. “I am concerned about the future of the sports we love,” she says, “but also about the next generation of Canadians, who will be left to deal with even more serious climate change impacts if we don’t act now.”
Renner and more than 70 other Canadian athletes recently shared these concerns with the organizing committee in charge of the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, B.C. The snowboarders, speed skaters, kayakers, windsurfers, hockey players, and even a unicyclist signed their names to a letter urging the Vancouver Organizing Committee (Vanoc) to fulfill their promise to make the Games carbon neutral.
The letter was sent via the David Suzuki Foundation, a science-based organization Vanoc had previously consulted for an estimate of greenhouse-gas emissions that would be produced by the Games. The foundation came up with a figure equivalent to 65,000 cars on the road for one year—and said that nearly 70 percent of that would be due to indirect emissions from athletes, sponsors, media, and spectators flying in for the event.
Although the Olympic bid organizers have said since the beginning that they wanted to fully offset the impact of the Games—and in fact, make it the greenest ever—Vanoc now says they do not plan to account for that air travel. And this is the point with which the 70-some athletes take offense. Below, a snip from their letter:
As the 2010 Winter Games draw near, excitement is building among
Canadians across the country. At the same time, there is a shadow
hanging over the Games’ preparations—the very real possibility that the
future of winter sports itself is threatened by climate change.
We are all athletes who travel the world to compete in sports ranging
from skiing and bobsledding to kayaking and cycling. We have witnessed
firsthand the impacts of climate change—most vividly retreating
snowlines and shrinking glaciers. We know that not only will our sports
be affected by climate change, but so too will millions of people
around the world who will face extreme weather events, droughts, and
other serious impacts.
...
With this in mind, we respectfully urge you to make the 2010 Winter
Games carbon neutral by taking these critical and affordable actions to
ensure the integrity of VANOC’s climate legacy:1. Take responsibility for the full carbon footprint of the Games, as identified in the Meeting the Challenge by the David Suzuki Foundation. This includes reducing greenhouse-gas emissions where possible and purchasing high quality carbon offsets for remaining emissions, including at least 20 per cent Gold Standard carbon offsets.
2. Carry out an effective public outreach campaign to inspire Canadians to take action to address climate change during the Olympics, and in their daily lives.We encourage you to lead by example and use the inspirational
power of the Olympics to show the world that together we can put
effective climate change solutions into action.
The David Suzuki Foundation is also offering the opportunity for us non-athletes (and non-Canadians, for that matter) to sign the letter. Here’s a slideshow of the athletes who have already signed on:
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Comments
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Tasermons Partner Posted 10:56 am
06 Feb 2009
So, how would Vancouver Olympics offset their emmisions? What programs are thet payin' into in order to buy offsets?
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ClaudeB Posted 8:03 am
07 Feb 2009
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sindark Posted 1:08 pm
08 Feb 2009
a sibilant intake of breath
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Sarah van Schagen Posted 1:29 pm
08 Feb 2009
Go local with weekly news from Seattle's green scene.
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amazingdrx Posted 1:50 pm
08 Feb 2009
Will chinese plugin hybrids be allowed in by then? Detroit won't be offering appreciable numbers of them, if any. Toyota and Honda are stalling too.
Could we have some proper repect for chinese and german efforts on this front? Apparently not.
http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin
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kjellanderson Posted 2:58 pm
08 Feb 2009
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newnoah Posted 10:07 am
11 Feb 2009
"This article doesn't break down "participant-carbon" from "spectator-carbon". I researched this a bit for Turino winter olympics (the best data i could find). In that case my best estimate was the "participants-carbon" was about 10% and "spectator-carbon" around 90%.
"The Turino olympics claimed carbon neutral but only offset the participant 10%. "F" for effort. "A" for lying.
"I've been telling people in van politics for years that the true climate-killing footprint of olympics is gigantic because of spectators. And this has been ignored in the past...but was unlikely to escape notice this time. The danger to Van is that it is seen as BEGGING and INVITING people to join in one of the biggest climate damaging event on the planet. The all-out push to get global elite to bring their fat wallets to Van puts a lie to "we aren't responsible for it" So much for "greenest city on earth" unless millions are set aside to fully deal with carbon on this scale.
"Plus what a good lesson to our kids: you only have to be responsible for 10% of the damage you cause and you are a climate hero. If actually taking responsibility for the impact of your actions is too hard, just ignore almost all of it.
"Snow job."
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TimJFowler Posted 4:51 am
12 Feb 2009
- Sustainable. Practical. Local. EcoNewMexico.com -
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