In 2003, when Vancouver was selected to host the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, VANOC made a promise: Vancouver would be the first sustainable Olympics in history.

Now with less than two weeks to go before 5000 athletes, 10,000 media members, 14,000 volunteers and 2.3 million attendees take part in the Games, the questions remain: Will Vancouver live up to its claim? Is there such a thing as a sustainable Olympics?

It is already known that 328,000 tonnes of carbon, or the equivalent of approximately 65,600 extra cars driving for a year, is expected to be emitted into the atmosphere during the Games. Air travel alone will contribute 226,000 tonnes of total emissions, according to a report published by the David Suzuki Foundation.
However, this environmental pollution is just the tip of the disappearing iceberg. While most people think about the environment when they think about sustainability, in the wake of a mega-sporting event such as the 2010 Olympics, this concept becomes more complex, explained Robert Sparks, director of UBC’s School of Kinetics and of the Centre for Support and Sustainability.

“Sustainability is not just economics and the environment,” Sparks said. “When we think about sustainability, we should also be thinking about development, health and physical activity.”

To lessen the environmental and social impact of the Games and help Vancouver live up to its sustainability promise, VANOC has solicited the help and advice of UBC.

UBC takes the reins

Since the bid’s inception in 2003, UBC, one of the top three sustainable universities in the world, according to a Cambridge Institute report, has been involved with a number of projects that assess the ecological impact and increase the overall sustainability of the Olympics.

One of these projects is the first comprehensive Olympic Games Impact (OGI) report, a series of two reports seeking to determine the social, environmental and economic impact of the Games.

These reports will track the number of people made homeless by the Games, environmental factors such as air quality and the number of tourists, and the businesses and jobs created or changed because of the Olympics, said Dr Rob VanWynsberghe, associate professor of Human Kinetics.

The UBC Centre for Sports and Sustainability will addresssustainability issues by creating long term jobs and opportunities for students and individuals in the community, added Sparks.

UBC’s Coaching and Sustainability Initiative will pair university student mentors with high school students in the local community, he said. More than 1000 students will take part over the Olympic break.

Is it enough?

While many professors and employees at the Office of Sustainability at UBC can’t say enough great things about the initiatives and research being developed at the university thanks to the Olympics, not everyone on campus is as enthusiastic.

Sarah Stevenson, a fifth-year Biochemistry student and board member of the Student Legal Fund Society, believes UBC-led projects will have little to no effect on the overall sustainability of the games. She especially was concerned that the research of the OGI reports would largely be “ignored” by VANOC and the city of Vancouver.

“The impact of UBC’s initiatives will be a minor contribution at best to the overall sustainability of the Games,” she said. “To believe that UBC’s Olympic Games Impact reports would be treated [seriously] is naïve.”

She also argued that while many Olympic venues, including UBC’s own Doug Mitchell Sports Centre, have LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, a certification that takes into consideration the carbon footprint of the venue and how it was built, this is only part of the Olympic “green washing” campaign. Green washing is when a company or organization spends more time and money claiming to be “green” through advertising and marketing than actually being green.

She explained that the Whistler Sliding Centre has LEED certification, which is supposed to mean that it is sustainable. However, she said that it uses the same amount of energy it takes to run all of the facilities at Whistler and Blackcomb combined.

“These types of sustainable claims are absurd, and a total falsification of the global consumption that occurs every year an Olympic Games is held,” explained Stevenson.

UBC Professor of Neuroscience Dr Chris Shaw agreed. “Sustainability at the Olympics is an oxymoron,” he said. “The focus is all directed at the party. When the party is over, when the bills are due, all these initiatives will vanish,” he warned.

From here

While not all students and staff at UBC agreed about whether or not the Olympics are sustainable, everyone did manage to agree on one point—that is, the need for sustainable initiatives after the Games are over.

“The Olympics alone cannot bear the burden of achieving sustainability,” said newly appointed UBC Director of Sustainability John Robinson.

“I think the best way to think of this is not so much whether what we do at and for the Olympics will ensure the continuance and reinforcement of sustainability, but instead how what we do at and for the Olympics will fit into a larger strategy of promoting and fostering sustainability at UBC and beyond,” he said.

Regardless of how much or little UBC contributes, or whether the Olympic targets are met, our society must continue to foster and promote sustainable initiatives, added Shaw.

“Sustainability is something we should do all the time, under all circumstances—not just for special events.”