Green Options

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Imagine you are Vancouver. Or Beijing. You have this obscure little event called the Olympics to host. There will be a short term high volume burst of people coming. Or you’re hosting a conference that regularly outstrips the available hotel capacity of the city you host it in, producing frustration, high costs, and long commutes for those having to stay out of town.

What do you do? Build more hotels? That’s one solution, but what about the rest of the year, when there is a lower, more typical demand, and you’re left with capacity far exceeding needs, and resources were used to build these hotels that could have been used elsewhere?

Abilmo, a French company, has a possible solution: They make foldable hotel rooms. Come again? Yes, they have been able to fabricate accommodations that can be set up, without a crane, as many as 25 erected in a day. And they’re not shabby, either.

Perhaps encouraged after their recent success in hosting the European Union and Latin American and Caribbean Summit, the office of Peru’s President, Alan Garcia Peréz, announced last week that Peru would bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. Never mind that the application deadline was in September of last year.

Critics of the plan emerged quickly, and Peru’s prime minister was equally fast to label the critics as “the same ones that some time ago said Peru couldn’t host the EU-LAC summit and were pessimistic when it was announced.” Peru’s current infrastructure does raise numerous doubts about how successful the Olympics could be in Peru. Lima would no doubt host the lion’s share of events, while Cuzco, Trujillo, Arequipa, and others cities might play a part as well. Traffic problems, environmental and social issues, and financial difficulties could all make the Olympics a disastrous and harmful event for Peru. But, also, despite what the critics might say, the move to bid for the Olympics might have been a brilliant and ingenious action thought up by President Alan Garcia’s staff.

And England aren’t even playing

“The lakeside of Zürich will be one big toilet during the month of June“, remarked my colleague as we discussed the forthcoming Euro 2008 football championship - the highlight for many European sport’s fans until the 2010 Football World Cup -  which is being hosted in Switzerland and Austria this year.

Having seen the aftermath last year’s World Cup hosted in Germany, I fully appreciated his warning on the amount of sick, urine and broken glass that is likely to be left in the wake of thousands of high (and sometimes low) spirited fans. Living in the epicentre of this event I’m looking forwards to some aspects of the revelry, although I’ll be closing the shutters on the windows and I’ve increased the insurance on the car should it be turned into a bonfire.

Choi Seung-kuk, the Secretary General of Green Korea, one of South Korea’s largest environmental organizations, has officially bowed out as an Olympic torch bearer. In a press interview this morning, Mr. Choi cited China’s aggression in Tibet as his main reason for refusing to carry the Olympic torch when it arrives in Seoul, the capital city, on April 27.

For China, having one of the leaders of Asia’s environmental movement refuse to carry the Beijing Olympic torch must sting. After all, China is jumping through hoops to carry out the Beijing Olympics as the Green Olympics. They are decreasing pollution by planting trees, recycling wastewater, paying car owners not to drive, and more. In addition, the games themselves will be carbon neutral.

Following are the top international environmental news for during the week of April 13 - 20. See an archive of top international environmental news here.

Asia

Two “Extinct” Species Discovered

First there was Swinshoe’s softshell turtle, and then the Javan Elephant. Is this more commonplace than we might believe?

Frankly, no. Despite the occasional hubbub over an animal science has lost track of– say, the Coelacanth– we’ve witnessed something extraordinary. Swinshoe’s turtle was previously believed to be extinct in the wild, with only three remaining in captivity, and therefore every one of these 300-pound turtles is a critical find.

Continue reading: Environmental Graffiti. Hot in media: Stumble Upon.

There has been talk recently of boycotting the 2008 Beijing Olympics for any number of valid reasons. Whether it is for the freedom of Tibet, the atrocities in Darfur, or China’s environmental policies.

However, what would be achieved by boycotting the Olympics? Is China going to step back and say, “Whoa… the United States is right. We are all messed up and need to change.” Probably not.

And who are we to tell another country that they aren’t perfect? If the Olympics were here, who would be boycotting our games?

As a child I was led to believe that the Olympics were a coming together of different cultures and nations for the sake of sport and international cooperation. And in fact that WAS part of the basis for reinventing the Olympics in the first place. As the father of modern Olympics, Baron Pierre de Coubertin once said,

“May joy and good fellowship reign, and in this manner, may the Olympic torch pursue its way through ages, increasing friendly understanding among nations, for the good of a humanity always more enthusiastic, more courageous and more pure.”

Of course, I grew up and found that most of my dreams and fantasies taught to me by society were pure poppycock. But do all of our childhood misconceptions about the world have to be disproved? I mean, Santa Claus is a given, but what about the concept of peace on earth and goodwill towards man?

The Chinese plan to use cloud seeding to prevent rain during the Beijing Summer Olympics opening ceremonies. The chances of rain on Aug. 8 are close to 50%.

Source: LA Times

The 2008 Olympic torch relay will cover more than 85,000 miles and visit 23 cities before reaching Beijing. Covering that kind of ground (and ocean) will require the help of Air China, burning an estimated 464,400 gallons of fuel and emitting 5,500 tons of carbon dioxide in the process.

See the story from Wired’s Autopia.

In case you missed them the first time around, here are the top 10 international environmental headlines that made news in the blogosphere for the week of March 31 - April 6.

1. Asia — United Nations Climate Change Talks: “Kyoto II” climate talks open in Bangkok

“The first formal talks in the long process of drawing up a replacement for the Kyoto climate change pact opened in Thailand on Monday with appeals to a common human purpose to defeat global warming.

‘The world is waiting for a solution that is long-term and economically viable,’ U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon said in a video address to the 1,000 delegates from 190 nations gathered in Bangkok.

The Olympic Games brings together nations and competitors from all corners of the world, binding all together in the ideals of sport. But however noble, an event as large as the Olympics has the potential for significant environmental impacts - thousands of people travelling from all over the world, combined with the heavy construction required to develop the games’ infrastructure can make quite an ecological dent.

Worse still, in many places heavy traffic and additional stress placed on local infrastructure threatens to exacerbate existing environmental concerns. With the possibility of some athletes wearing face masks to avoid inhaling excessive pollution, Beijing is working hard to improve its air quality ahead of the games, even going so far as to close 10% of the city’s petrol stations and fitting the remainder with devices to prevent escape of petrol fumes whilst motorists fill up.

The International Olympic Committee has warned that some events may even have to be postponed if Beijing’s notorious smog is deemed to thick, and similar concerns have been voiced over the London Olympics due to be held in 2012.

But what are the benefits, and do they outweigh the costs?

Image source: BusinessWeek.com

With Beijing getting all spic and span for the 2008 Olympic Games, a host of ideas are being considered for the Olympic Forest Park, a multimillion-dollar, 680-hectare green space planned for the northern portion of the city. Besides serving as the venue for Tennis, Archery, and Hockey, the area will also include a massive man-made mountain and a lake in the shape of a dragon. Since Beijing is not the type

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