Vancouver Olympics go for the green

[ FEBRUARY 15, 2010 - OKLAHOMA CITY, OK ] - Every four years, crowds gather from across the world to witness the greatest events in all of sports, the Olympic Games. The events are steeped in ceremony and awash with national pride, as athletes compete for their country and their colors. From the shiny medals of gold, silver, and bronze to the vibrant international flags and banners, it seems like the entire spectrum is represented. This year, the 2010 Winter Olympics have just begun in Vancouver, Canada, and there’s one color in particular that is on grand display: green.

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, known as VANOC, has led the charge for integrating sustainable and efficient practices into this year’s Winter Games. It’s a big task, considering that there are an estimated 1.8 million total event tickets available, on top of 5,000 athletes and officials and thousands of volunteers. Everyone in attendance is hoping his or her respective country makes an impact on the podium, and VANOC is hoping to reduce the environmental impact that is made as a result.

So while athletes compete for gold, silver and bronze, and while spectators see the landscape awash in winter white, the colorful story behind the scenes is genuinely green.

For starters, eight new venues built for these games were built to meet or exceed the standards of the Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, also known as LEED Silver. LEED certification is reserved for buildings designed to improve energy efficiency, environmental sustainability, and carbon emissions reduction. Waste heat from a municipal wastewater treatment system will also be rerouted to heat the Athletes’ Village, eliminating the need to generate heat in new ways.

VANOC has come up with some pretty innovative solutions to meet their sustainability goals as well. For one, the ceiling of the Olympic speed-skating facility, known as The Oval, is outfitted entirely with salvaged wood that was damaged by a pine-beetle infestation. All of the wood is local and comes directly from the forests of British Columbia. The Oval has also incorporated an innovative rainwater collection system that directs captured rainwater to supplement toilet flushing and irrigate the surrounding landscaping.

Even the iconic medals that will hang around the necks of champion athletes are also getting a sustainable overhaul. This year, all of the medals will include metal salvaged from recycled electronics parts, supplied by Teck Resources Ltd., Canada’s largest base-metals producer.

Innovation isn’t the only source of sustainability in Vancouver, however. VANOC has taken common-sense approaches, such as making all the sport venues at the games accessible by public transit and providing free, unlimited transit passes to every ticketed spectator. With 1.8 million tickets available, that adds up to a lot of people and cars off the roadways, which is good for the environment, good for easing congestion and especially good for the athletes’ lungs.

The green efforts of this year’s Winter Olympics are also being shared by some of the games’ most recognizable sponsors. For instance, Coca-Cola has made a commitment to ensure that 95 percent of the waste generated at the events is recycled and kept out of landfills. The company will also be packaging its products in bottles made from plant-based materials and delivering those bottles in hybrid and electric vehicles.

If you’re still not satisfied with Vancouver’s efforts to go green and reduce the carbon footprint of the games, you can get involved and participate, even from afar. VANOC has partnered with the British Columbia-based company Offsetters to reduce the carbon impact of the games through investments in new clean and green energy projects. You can visit www.offsetters.ca to learn more and even purchase some carbon offsets to help the Olympic Games meet their carbon-neutral goals. You may not be able to make it to Vancouver, but you can sit back in the warmth of your home and cheer on your fellow Americans, knowing you added to a worthwhile, environmentally conscious global effort.

Good luck to every athlete and supporter.

Jim Roth, a former Oklahoma corporation commissioner, is an attorney with Phillips Murrah P.C. in Oklahoma City, where his practice focuses on clean, green energy for Oklahoma.