We keep hearing about how the 2014 Olympics are supposed to be the greenest sporting event in history, yet more and more evidence keeps mounting that supports the exact opposite. I’ve always maintained that the Olympics are one of the most wasteful events on Earth (and I’m definitely not alone in these beliefs), and it turns out that 2014, which has been foretold as being the “Greenest” Olympics Ever!, is already resulting in plenty of environmental destruction—so much, in fact, that Greenpeace Russia and World Wildlife Fund Russia are refusing to endorse their country’s claims of greenery.
Here are just a few environmental maladies that have been recorded so far…
-The logging of thousands hectares of trees, which were supposedly protected—and which included at least two red listed species
-The cutting of an actual national park (seriously, as big as Russia is, does a national park need to be gutted to host one event?) and a pipeline running through said national park
-A pipeline is or will be running through five protected areas of land
-Several more issues have been reported or are rumored to occur prior to the event
So much for all of the hoopla. Perhaps we should call Russia’s hosting of the 2014 Olympics the most green washed Olympics ever?
I think a protocol for the Olympics should be established, especially when they offer so much environmental damage, human rights abuses, and other concerns. Here are just a few things that should be considered:
-Olympic events should either all be held at one place, or one location on each continent could be selected for the event to rotate from. No more of this crazy “Let’s construct a whole new set!” every four years. That reminds me of The Hunger Games a bit.
-A strict environmental code should be had when constructing these areas, including no cutting of old growth forests or national parks, no harming of animals (especially protected species), and sure as hell no dumping, polluting, and other nonsense that’s happening in Russia—and has happened in many Olympic locations in the past
-A strict human rights code that doesn’t allow the displacement of any people for the Olympics, that doesn’t support fascist regimes that control other countries (such as Tibet), and doesn’t fund genocide or other abuses of human rights
- A code used during the Olympics to not allow water bottles and other wasteful materials, to call for renewable energy use throughout the event, and other environmental protocols (hey, if they can do it at a Jack Johnson concert, they can do it at the Olympics)