Stephanie Phillips: How will the Olympics impact London’s environment?

Stephanie Phillips takes a look at the impact of London’s Games. These Games are likely to set a precedent for decades to come, so that all Olympic Games after them will be as green and sustainable as possible. Even though London did not make the Games completely sustainable, they have certainly taken some huge leaps forward in that area, and these leaps could have consequences that reach far into the future with a positive environmental impact.

How Will the London Olympic Games Impact the Environment?

For the first time since, perhaps, the Olympic Games began, the 2012 London Olympic Games are going to be intentionally sustainable – at least, they’ll be as sustainable as possible. While the original planning committee set out in 2004 to create a completely sustainable Olympic facilities, some parts of the original plan have had to be scrapped. Even with these issues, though, this year’s Olympic Games will have a much smaller environmental impact than games that have gone before.

Not Completely Sustainable

While the London Olympic Games planning committee had originally hoped to use renewable energy resources to offset the huge carbon footprint of the buildings created for the games, this did not happen. The committee originally planned for wind tunnels to provide about 20% of the energy needed to keep the games site going after it has been used. This plan was overly ambitious, however, according to a BBC interview with Jonathon Porritt, former chairman of the Sustainable Development Commission.

Sustainability Measures Taken

Even though some of the sustainability measures meant to be taken by the London Games planning committee were not taken in 2012, many excellent measures have been taken to reduce the environmental impact of the games – and even to impact the environment positively in some areas. According to a report by the London Assembly Environment Committee, sustainability planning is really at the heart of the overall planning for the 2012 Olympics.

One of the major sustainability efforts has been in London’s Olympic Park, on which much of the £9.3 billion budget was spent on long-term infrastructure. Typically, the venue for the Olympic and Paralympic Games is used for only a short amount of time, but London’s Olympic Park will have much more to offer over the long-term, which will offset the environmental impact on the front end of the process.

Another major environmental aspect of Olympic Park is the restored landscape there. According to a BBC article, the park includes 250 hectares of land – making it the largest urban park in Europe for over 150 years. In the park 45 hectares of land are ecologically managed, meaning they have been restored to the wetlands and clean rivers that are native to the area and they will remain an area for naturally biodiverse populations to thrive.

The Olympic Park development efforts could also have long-term positive effects down the river, since the river banks have been re-profiled and turned into wetlands (rather than straight-banked rivers). This re-profiling could help reduce flood risks in the park and further down-river from it.

Overall Impact

One interesting piece of the planning for the 2012 Games is that the committee studied carbon emissions data for other Olympic games in an effort to understand the carbon footprint of the Games and how to offset that impact. One of the goals of the London Games is not just to reduce the carbon footprint generated directly by the games facilities, though, but also to make individuals aware of their own effects on the environment and to help them understand how to offset and reduce their own carbon footprints.

The overall impact of the London Games remains to be seen and will likely be long-term. However, the measures taken to reduce the direct environmental impact of Olympic Stadium and Olympic Park, as well as efforts to educate the masses about environmental issues during the highly-televised games speak to excellent efforts to reduce the environmental impact of this year’s Olympic Games.

How You Can Help

Whether you’ll be in London during the Games or not, you can have a positive impact on the environment in many ways. One option is definitely to use public transportation if you’ll be in or around the games. You can find out how much carbon public transportation saves. The fact of the matter is, though, that during the Games in London, public transportation will be even more efficient than usual because the crowded conditions of the city will only cause individual vehicles to burn inordinate amounts of fuel as they wait in traffic.

If you’re outside of the city and are driving in for the Games, drive as little as possible, and consider even taking public transportation for the trip into town, as well. If you must drive, you can save on gas with a gas credit card, which you can find out more about here: http://www.creditdonkey.com/gas/. Sometimes you can even donate part of your gas rebates to green organizations, offsetting some of your driving-related carbon footprint.

If you’ll be in London for the Games, you can also help reduce their overall environmental impact by reducing your consumption and recycling any waste that you generate while eating or shopping in London. Remember, every little bit counts, and by doing everything you can to reduce your own environmental impact, you’ll reduce the overall environmental impact of the games.

Stephanie Phillips is a blogger with http://www.creditdonkey.com/.