London
officials are hoping for a very green Olympics this summer. Many measures are
being taken in London to make the games as “green” as possible. A new 100
hectare city park around the River Lea is at the center of the efforts. The
area is a formal industrial park, and was in great need of environmental
clean-up. A soil washer, installed on site, removed heavy metals, hydrocarbons,
arsenic and cyanide from the soil. Water from nearby aquifers is being pumped
out, purified and pumped back in. The river bed has also been widened,
reversing the narrowing that occurred when concrete banks were put in.
Officials are hoping to attract wildlife to the area and have installed
artificial habitats for otters, a kingfisher wall and nesting boxes for birds
and bats.
The London Olympic Committee has
wider green initiatives too, which span from renewable energy to using swimming
pool and sewage water to flush toilets. The committee had plans to build a wind
turbine, but the project was canceled in 2010. The hope is that the Olympic
Games will leave a positive legacy. Cleaning up the River Lea park area will
certainly leave a positive impact—and the project would likely have not been
tackled without the impetus of the Games. The park will also create a habitat
corridor that links to other large parks. Removing the concrete river banks has
also decreased the risk of flooding for 40,000 homes.
The reading we had on Carver Terrace
told the story of another urban clean-up, but those homeowners had to fight for
environmental justice. This article doesn’t mention how residents have been affected by the pollution in the River Lea Park. I would assume if the
soil and aquifers are just being cleaned after decades of pollution (this area
of east London has been the home of undesirable industry for over a century),
the waste has been negatively affecting residents for quite some time. In that
respect, it is disappointing that the area was not cleaned up before the
international attention of the Olympics provided incentive.
The
idea of the Olympics being green also speaks to a larger trend of being
environmentally friendly. The city of London wants to be seen in a positive light, and having clean parks with wildlife has potential to help their image. When I think of things that hurt the environment,
“the Olympics” is not on the list, but after reading the article I have begun
to consider how many resources the Games use. The "footprint" of
all the thousands of people must be very high. So, in all, it is commendable
that the London Olympics Committee is being proactive. I would hope that London’s
efforts raise the bar for Olympic Games and large events in general.
It's a shame that cities haste their way to become "green" only when their reputation is on the line. The 2012 Olympics will physically bring thousands of people from around the world to London. The publicity and worldwide television broadcasting of London during the Olympics is even more daunting for those greening up the 2012 Olympic venue. But London is not the first Olympic venue that tackled this idea. Beijing, China - where the 2008 Olympics were held - pledged $13 billion to clean up the city six years before the Olympic games started there. And then, before the 2008 games, Beijing had their coal-burning factories shut down and even sharply limited traffic.
ReplyDeleteOf course, efforts like these seem drastic and largely for the sake of reputation, but they do the environment good. Yes, London is starting a bit late in cleaning up its grey, industrialized, chemical-filled venue..but it's better than never.
This project has a lot of interesting implications both at the local scale and on the global stage. For the wildlife in the area, I wonder if the wildlife corridor will actually be a wholly beneficial addition to the area. Given that they've been separated for 100 years, the populations may have adapted more than we realize to fill different niches, so reconnecting them may just disrupt these populations again. Globally, carrying out these sorts of projects may introduce a new kind of role for the olympics. It strikes me as something akin to a World's Fair type demonstration of green technology and the possibilities of restoring urban areas. Perhaps this visibility will motivate other cities to take on similar projects regardless of whether or not they are hosting the olympics, or perhaps these projects will become something that cities do in order to be considered for the olympics rather than after they are already the hosts.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it is disappointing that London did not take the initiative to clean up the soil and recover the river banks of the Lea before the innovations motivated by the Olympics, I think that London’s efforts should obviously now be greatly commended. The effects of “greening” the Olympics, if started now (I’m unaware of past efforts to “green” the Olympics), could potentially have amazing international effects. Seeing as environmental laws vary greatly from country to country, setting a precedent of a “green” Olympics could potentially have a positive impact on the sustainability of any subsequent city that is chosen to host the Olympics, assuming that they would follow the precedent set by London in 2012.
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