environmental SCI EN TI ST November 2009 THE GREENEST OLYMPICS? Journal of the Institution of Environmental Sciences 2 environmenta lSCIENTIST • November 2009 LONDON 2012 – A SUSTAINABLE ODYSSEY? This publicaTion conTains The ondon 2012: iT was one of environmental mosT comprehensive series of Those ‘You will always ThoughTful and informed arTicles remember where you were’ abouT a susTainable Olympics I have SCI EN TI ST momenTs, sadly mosT ofTen ever seen. The wide varieTy of sub - associaTed wiTh a sudden Journal of jecT maTTer reflecTs The complexiTy LdeaTh. I remember my shock aT The the Institution of of delivering Europe’s largesT con - news of John Lennon’s deaTh. A Environmental Sciences sTrucTion programme and The quarTer of a cenTury laTer, I was biggesT peace-Time movemenT of ISSN: 0966 8411 driving To BrighTon, wiTh The radio people To sTage The world’s greaTesT Vol 18 No 3 on in The car waiTing for news of The sporTing specTacle. EsTablished 1971 Olympic decision, so I heard abouT London’s vicTory live on The M23. Dr Claire Holman, a valuable The EnvironmenTal ScienTisT This is a memory Tinged wiTh member of my Commission, gives provides a forum for members’ Tragedy Too: we all remember where us a perspecTive on air qualiTy from conTribuTions, views, inTeresTs, we were when we heard abouT The her own personal experience in Bei - acTiviTies and news, as well as Topical 7/7 aTrociTy in London. I had been jing. The challenges faced by The feaTure arTicles. ArTicles should be Chinese auThoriTies were huge, and submiTTed To The EdiTor, slighTly involved in The Olympic bid Through my conTribuTion To The Things we Take for granTed like caT - EnvironmenTal ScienTisT, alyTic converTers on vehicles proved 34 Grosvenor Gardens, London SusTainable DevelopmenT To be an immense Technical chal - London SW1W 0DH or emailed To Commission, buT I had no idea ThaT [email protected] Jaques Rogge’s announcemenT lenge. In The final analysis The would change my life. weaTher, The indulgence of The IOC Views expressed in The journal are I now spend half of my Time as To move The sTarT daTe by Two weeks Those of The auThors and do noT Chair of The Commission for a Sus - and a massive efforT by The auThori - necessarily reflecT IES views or Tainable London 2012, which pro - Ties saved The day. My own experi - policy. While efforTs have been made vides independenT assurance and ence of The Beijing air qualiTy To ensure The accuracy of all commenTary To senior poliTicians during The games was quiTe good. IT sTaTemenTs, ongoing developmenTs is disappoinTing, buT probably noT wiTh The Olympics mean ThaT There and The public on The susTainabiliTy surprising, To see ThaT Claire reporTs may be some changes. of The London 2012 programme. This is a new and (so far) unique a deTerioraTion of sTandards since Guest Editors: Shaun McCarThy, organisaTion which, wiTh hindsighT, The Games. Bea Ayling and Adam Donnan was a very courageous poliTical From ATTilia Peano and Grazia move. The London 2012 bid con - BruneTTa, we have a view of The use Published by The InsTiTuTion of Tained a commiTmenT To seT up such of STraTegic EnvironmenTal Assess - EnvironmenTal Sciences, an independenT body. Never before menT for The winTer Games in Turin 34 Grosvenor Gardens, has There been a body wiTh unlimiTed in 2006. This shows a holisTic London SW1W 0DH approach being Taken To susTainabil - Tel: 020 7730 5516 access To inTernal informaTion from iTy wiTh reviews aT key sTages. All of Fax: 020 7730 5519 The delivery bodies, and a free rein To Email: [email protected] reporT direcTly To The members of The The environmenTal impacTs have Web siTe: www.ies-uk.org.uk Olympic Board 1 and direcTly To The been Taken inTo accounT along wiTh public Through our independenT social and economic issues such as Design and origination by websiTe and relaTionship wiTh The accessibiliTy, mobiliTy and sporTs Davies CommunicaTions, parTicipaTion. The arTicle reflecTs London NW5 1LX media. This has enabled us To make a Tel: 020 7482 8844 number of Things happen, such as The huge challenge of quanTifying ground-breaking carbon fooTprinT The legacy impacT of a ‘mega-evenT’ Printed by Diversified Global work, inspiring The markeT To devel - which The IOC is Trying To address Graphics Group, op a more susTainable PVC, reduc - Through The Olympic Games London E14 9TE ing use of HFC in air condiTioning ImpacT (OGI) work wiTh currenT and working Towards a Truly susTain - and fuTure hosT ciTies. able legacy. Gary GranT’s arTicle on biodiver - 1 Comprising The Olympics MinisTer, Tessa Jowell, The Mayor Boris Johnson, and chairs of The London Organising CommiTTee of The Olympic Games (LOCOG), Seb Coe and BriTish Olympic AssociaTion (BOA), Colin Moynahan. November 2009 • environmenta lSCIENTIST 3 siTy reminds us ThaT The low grade, public TransporT and describes how iT indusTrial, mosTly conTaminaTed land will be delivered. ThaT formed The foundaTion of The Dr HeaTher BarreTT-Mold’s arTicle new Olympic Park was, in facT, home reTurns To The subjecT of biodiversiTy. To many species and ThaT The area had HeaTher’s descripTion of The ecology ‘exTensive areas of wasTeland habiTaT’. of The parkland and public realm pro - The accounT of The deTailed Biodi - vides a greaT picTure of whaT The park versiTy AcTion Plan developed To will be like, from a relaTively rural enable The ODA To fulfil iTs objecTive environmenT To The norTh gradually of enhancing The biodiversiTy of The giving way To more urban green space park is a compelling and informaTive as we approach The main venues. She sTory. However, iT Tells only parT of highlighTs The imporTance of The The sTory. There are significanT biodi - Olympic Park Legacy Company in versiTy challenges aT oTher venues, in mainTaining and improving This parTicular, aT The sailing venue in maTuring green space and concludes WeymouTh, where The marine ecolo - ThaT The park ‘will become fiT for boTh gy of a world heriTage Jurassic coasT - wildlife and humans’. line presenTs a challenge. Shaun McCarthy Professor Sharon Beder looks in Dr Gregory Bourne offers a view more deTail aT The issue of conTami - of The developmenT of susTainabiliTy During The course of seTTing up naTed land aT The Sydney Games, Thinking around The Olympics in The and running The Commission, I have describing The siTe as ‘a meTer of dirT recenT pasT, from a focus on urban had numerous conversaTions wiTh and a mounTain of public relaTions’. renewal in The 1960s Through To a Darren Johnson in his role as Green The revelaTion ThaT The siTe once much more holisTic approach in ParTy leader for The GreaTer London conTained a facTory manufacTuring Sydney 2000. He argues ThaT, in Assembly and iT is a pleasure To see AgenT Orange for The VieTnam War some cases, The legacy from The his conTribuTion To This journal. brings The level of conTaminaTion on Games can acTually heighTen social Darren gives The projecT a cauTious This siTe inTo sharp perspecTive. She Tensions in The area TargeTed for Thumbs-up buT, noT surprisingly, calls conTends ThaT a ‘quicker, cheaper and regeneraTion. The Olympic Games for more efforT in some areas. I share less reliable’ opTion was chosen wiTh ImpacT projecT is, once again, high - Darren’s concerns abouT The fuTure an ‘inferior conTaminanT meThod’. lighTed as a way of undersTanding The freighT movemenTs, susTainabiliTy of For me, These arTicles emphasise True naTure of Olympic legacy. The Olympic Village, residual carbon The need To consider The long-Term Dr Mark Everard’s arTicle on PVC fooTprinT and The use of susTainable legacy impacT of everyThing we do is one very close To my agenda. The vehicles for officials. From our own and everyThing we say wiTh relaTion Commission has recommended for posiTions, we will boTh ensure ThaT To The Olympics. STaging The Games Two years ThaT The London 2012 These issues are addressed in The besT is an honour and a privilege, buT iT bodies have a common and robusT possible way as we progress To also comes wiTh a greaT responsibili - approach To The impacTs of This maTeri - Games Time and beyond. Ty: To seT an example and respecT The al; This has been discussed aT minisTeri - Dr Mike Sinclair-Williams is also needs of generaTions To come. My al level and I am pleased To see how well known To me and his work on sus - greaT objecTive for The Games is To much progress has been made. Mark Tainable TransporT infrasTrucTure for leave a legacy of knowledge, and I addresses This Technically complex and The ODA has been exemplary. He welcome The work of The InsTiTuTion highly conTroversial Topic by charTing highlighTs The five key Themes of sus - of EnvironmenTal Sciences, working The hisTory of PVC applicaTions from TainabiliTy chosen by The London 2012 wiTh The London Team, To analyse Sydney To The currenT posiTion. delivery bodies and explores Their and publish The lessons learned as we Kanan PurkayasTha addresses The applicaTion in delivery of The TransporT learn Them. g issue of conTaminaTed land. This was a infrasTrucTure necessary To enable N Shaun McCarThy is Chair of The significanT challenge for The ODA specTaTors To ‘geT To Their venue of Commission for a SusTainable given The large volume of maTerial To choice, on Time’. IT sounds simple buT, London 2012, an independenT be de-conTaminaTed and The TargeT seT when we consider ThaT This means 9 assurance body for The London To diverT 90% of wasTe from landfill. million specTaTors in a very shorT Olympics, and DirecTor of AcTion This has led To innovaTive on-siTe Tech - period of Time, we sTarT To undersTand SusTainabiliTy, a social enTerprise To niques being developed To de-conTami - The scale of The challenge.