I've just got back from a pretty dry Triodos-arranged event about the greening of the London 2012 Olympics. It was torpedoed because this very morning the Olympic Delivery Authority chap decided he wouldn't attend. However, Peter Melchett of Soil Assoication fame let out one interesting news tit-bit: the Association folk are working on an imminent report about what targets 2012 needs to hit to be considered 'sustainable'. The focus'll be on food and whether it's local, seasonal, organic, unprocessed. Sustain and NEF are helping out.
January 17, 2007
The "greening" of the London 2012 games is pathetic.
While there's much talk, there's increasingly little action. Check out Games Monitor - http://www.gamesmonitor.org.uk/ for more information.
But here's an unlucky 13 nice bits about how the Olympics aren't green at all...
1. Allotments that have been in use for 100 years set to be axed for concreted over path.
2. Commitment to make athlete housing 100 per cent renewables/zero net energy dropped when athlete housing moved to newly applied-for Stratford City development - with commitment to 2 per cent renewable energy. That's a 98 per cent drop in renewable energy commitment then!
3. Tree nurseries set to be bulldozed into, much marsh land, several SSIs affected in resculpting of park and move of traveller sites etc.
4. Most ironic of all, several key grassroots sporting facilities such as Eastway cycle circuit and East Marsh football pitches replaced by coach parking for duration.
5. Much "brownfield" sites - disused one storey buildings, old astroturf etc. set to be replaced by high-rise buildings in post-2012 land grab "redevelopment", changing the nature of the area, and providing nice payback for Olympic developers.
6. No protection for broader Lea Valley environment - developers already flooding in with 10+ storey buildings overlooking much of Lea.
7. Much talk of 98 per cent of spectators arriving by foot/cycle. Except that includes thousands of spaces for park-and-ride outside the M25. And no change for again literally thousands of IOC official "family" who all get their own car, even their own ring road looping the site - no provision for even officials or athletes cycling inside site etc. etc.
8. No protection for construction industry workers - widely expected to be minimum wage, or below, on rubbish contracts.
9. No real encouragement for use of local skilled workers. No real training for unskilled locals.
10. Increasing evasion over site clearance - heavily contaminated land areas, including radioactive waste.
11. "Green" electricity generators on site also pathetic. One wind turbine, sited in a valley, plus vague nod to lean-burn gas and/or biofuel in the future. No solar etc.
12. Active TfL/LDA/ODA resistance to cycling infrastructure - cycle parking near Olympic venues that are to stay, proper east-west links in "legacy" and proper route consultation with local cyclists. Plus, maximum retention of cycling routes during many years of construction.
13. Worst, for the Soil Association - the food sponsor is of course McDonalds. But frankly, that's the least of all our worries. The Soil Association focusing on food sustainability at the Olympics is like fiddling while Rome burns.
Si M
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