Olympic Gold and Olympic Green
As Bode Miller, Apolo Ohno and Lindsey Vonn descended on Vancouver, I wonder if they knew the 17-day event was planned with sustainability in mind. Thousands of athletes staying in the nine-block Olympic Village had green roofs over their heads and thousands of others were staying in buildings with rain harvesting roofs. While they were probably focusing on winning gold medals (and rightfully so!), the Vancouver Organizing Committee was behind the scenes overseeing environmentally-focused measures like the increased public transportation options and the tracking of carbon emissions.
True, Vancouver could have done more to green the Olympics. There will always be additional measures we can take to lessen our environmental footprint on the Earth. The airline emissions from athletes and spectators alone, even with carbon-offsetting, can never truly be environmentally-friendly. But since going green is a perpetually evolving process, the Vancouver Olympics was a good first step. Efforts to increase the awareness of sustainability throughout the games, sets a benchmark for both future Olympics and other major events around the world. Small steps that reach the ends of the Earth can be catalytic in their influence over environmental choices made in every country.
