Olympics

The Beijing Olympics are greener than you think

I can’t help but open this post with a scientific fact: the Opening Ceremony for the Olympic Games kicked some serious sit bone.

Beijing 2008 Opening Ceremony Video Links:

• United States coverage
  
• China coverage
  

With 5,000 years of rich culture to draw upon, the Opening Ceremony was thoughtful and mesmerizing.  I was transfixed, really, just STARING as the scroll opened and the dancers began a fiercely beautiful choreography of movement, stillness and artistry.  This was history drawn upon the canvas that is China: the invention of paper, compass, calligraphy, and the fabled Treasure Fleet.   Revealed is the Past, the mountains, the water, and the sun.

Then came the bright-eyed eager children.  At first led by their puffy-sleeved teachers, they are soon let loose upon the world, gleefully brandishing over-sized crayons.  We see them fill the sky with blue, imbue the earth with green, and give the sun a big bright smiley face.  Revealed is the Future, built by this new generation of designers, engineers, workers and artists.

Finally were the athletes, the people of the world.  Bound together not by language or custom, but by movement, skill, strategy and brazen energy. 204 nations walked across this canvas with laughter in their eyes and lightness in their step.  Revealed is the Present.  The Here.  The Now.  The 6 billion men and women, little boys and little girls, who all share this planet, this circle of blue and we all live and breath within.

I am here in Beijing at an incredible time, and my responsibility to you, the reader, is to ask the unasked questions, to find the unanswered answers here in Beijing.  I must dig deep to reveal to you a country of 1.3 billion people who are finding themselves on the cusp of both economic prosperity and environmental degeneration.

But I’m not afraid to admit I’m a bit caught up in it all.  Oh yes, I have definitely caught Olympic fever, and I will need to vaccinate myself soon.  The smiles, the cheers, the energy–it makes me happy.  I mean really happy.

No, smiles don’t shoo the smog away, which has been as thick as shark-fin soup.  No, clapping doesn’t convert greenhouse gases into unicorns and chocolate and watermelon, no matter how hard you clap.  But energy does make things happen.

• Energy builds 5 new subway lines to encourage public transportation and reduce emissions.
• Energy launches a fleet of 3,759 buses running on compressed natural gas and set new vehicle emissions to the very stringent EURO IV standard ahead of schedule.
• Energy converts 32,000 households from coal heating systems to electric ones, and improves waste-water, sewage, and water reuse systems in a city of 17 million.
• Energy builds Beijing’s first wind power generation station capable of 100 million kWh a year, and designs a state-of-the-art Olympic Village for athletes to stay in.

The greening of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games may not have been everything we would have hoped, but it has accomplished much more environmentally than many other Games.  Some of these accomplishments are incredible: 5 subway lines totaling more than 100km of track with 50 subway stations, all constructed within 7 years?  That’s near equivalent to the entire Chicago “El” system built in the same amount of time it took the Doha talks to completely collapse.

Yes, there are still many improvements that can be made, and we hope they happen sooner then later.  Still, the Beijing Olympics are greener than you think.  The Chinese government and its people deserve a round of applause, some of your respect, and at the very least, thoughtful constructive criticism.

In the meantime, I’ll try not to let the smiles and cheering get to me too much.  The energy here is so palpable you can taste it, even though you may end up with some grit in your mouth.

Read a full environmental report of the Olympics published by Greenpeace China.

July 28, 2008

In this report, Greenpeace recognizes Beijing’s increased use of energy efficiency technologies and renewable energy. Examples include the use of geothermal heating systems and the introduction of wind and solar power. Beijing has expanded its public transportation system by adding five new subway lines and raised its emission standard for new vehicles to EURO IV, one of the most stringent standards in the world. The report also identifies several missed opportunities that could have ensured a better short- and long-term legacy for the city.

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