A green sport event is a sporting event that stresses utilizing "greener" resources.

Fans can do their part by riding public transportation to the event. Environmental consciousness has led many organizers to use "earth friendly" paper products, fertilizer or degradable pesticides.[1]

Olympic Games

The first time that environmental concerns were raised by the public was at the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics in France, which led to the first 'green Games' in Lillehammer, Norway, in 1994. The Lillehammer Olympic Organizing Committee received the UNEP Global 500 Award[2] for setting environmental standards which were absent from previous Olympic games.

One week after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded the XVII Olympic Winter Games to Lillehammer, national, local and regional governments decided to make the Lillehammer Games a showcase for GREEN mega-events. More than 200 different projects with environmental aspects were carried out. And at IOC's 100 years celebration in Paris in 1994, environment was added as the Third Dimension to the Olympics in addition to Sport and Culture.

The legacy from Lillehammer has, in a global perspective, followed two paths:

  1. World Conferences on sport and environment, the first in Lillehammer in 1996
  2. Environmental requirements which have to be met by future bidders and organisers of Olympic Games.

The Centennial Olympic Congress, Congress of Unity, held in Paris in 1994, recognised the importance of the environment and sustainable development, which led to the inclusion of a paragraph in Rule 2 of the Olympic Charter. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has acknowledged its particular responsibility in terms of promoting sustainable development, and regards the environment as the third dimension of Olympism, alongside sport and culture. This led to its decision in 1995 to create an IOC Sport and Environment Commission.[3]

Environmental Guidelines for the Summer Olympics were developed to guide Olympic hosts to ensure that facilities are constructed in a more environmentally friendly manner. The Guidelines were successfully used in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. As a result, the organizers of the Sydney Games were honoured with the Global 500 Award in 2001 for organizing the greenest games ever. Since then, other major sports events have also considered their environmental impact.

A major aspect of UNEP's work is with the IOC.[4] A cooperative agreement was signed in 1994 with IOC and an Agenda 21 for Sport and Environment developed. Since 2002, UNEP has participated in a task force of the UN Secretary-General on the use of sport for the implementation of the United Nations Development Goals. UNEP also supports the IOC in organizing world conferences and regional seminars on sport and the environment.[5]

Tokyo 2016 Olympics bid

Tokyo was a candidate host for the 2016 olympics. Their intention had been to have the first carbon-minus games. A man-made island called Sea Forest off the Tokyo was going to be the place for the Olympic Cross-Country, Rowing, Canoe, Kayak and mountain bike and BMX competitions. Also they were going to have half a million trees planted on this island by 2016. U2's lead singer Bono was one of the first people to plant a tree on this island. During this major planning stage was also the Vice Governor of Tokyo, Hideo Sugawara, Beijing 2008 swimming medallist, Junichi Miyashita, and thousands of Tokyo 2016 green supporters. Tokyo's carbon-minus plan was to install the use of solar, wind and other renewable energy sources. They were going to have faculty helping where ever they could all over the stadium. Low or zero-emission vehicles are also includes in Tokyo 2016's plan.[6]

FIFA

During the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, Green Goal was launched, which was also implemented in South Africa for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The Host City Cape Town Green Goal programme[7] had been awarded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Sport and Environment Award. Nominated by FIFA,[8] the award recognised the efforts of the Host City Cape Town to mitigate negative environmental impacts of the FIFA World Cup and to maximise a positive environmental and social legacy.[9]

Green sports venues

Target Center

The Target Center home of the Minnesota Timberwolves (NBA) has the 5th largest green roof, and if the first arena to have a green roof. It collects rain water and regulates temperatures in both the summer and the winter. It has collected nearly 1 million gallons of rain water and it has diverted it into the Mississippi River. Also on the top of the roof there are different kinds of plants such as prairie coreopsis, wild strawberry, dotted blazing-star, and lupine.[10]

American Airlines Center

The American Airlines Center home of the Miami Heat (NBA) has been awarded LEED Certification for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), being one of two the first two to receive this award. The center received the award on the same day as the Philips Arena in Atlanta. This center has committed to saving energy and water savings. They wish that they could be a lead to other sports venues becoming more "green" too.

"Green" features at the American Airline Center:

Roofing materials: The arena’s solar reflective index is high enough that it reflects heat and reduces the energy needed to cool the building.
Energy consumption: The arena was built without a chilled water plant, which requires a lot of energy, therefore, there is much less energy consumption as the arena’s chilled water comes from an off-site source.
Water-efficient landscaping: All plants are high to medium drought resistant, and a “drip and soak” irrigation system (micro irrigation) runs under the surface delivering water directly to the roots and minimizing the amount of water evaporated by the sun.
Underground parking: Reduces heat-trapping asphalt to trap heat, which is known to cause a “heat-island effect” which releases heat back into the atmosphere.
Walk-off carpets: Trap dirt and contamination of arena guests to improve overall indoor air quality.[11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Zeller, Tom, Jr. (9 August 2009). "Getting Sports Events to Go Green". New York Times. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ↑ "UNEP – UN Environment Programme".
  3. ↑ International Olympic Committee, Sport and Environment Commission, http://www.olympic.org/sport-environment-commission
  4. ↑ http://www.unep.org/sport_env/
  5. ↑ UNEP, Sport and Environment, http://www.unep.org/sport_env/
  6. ↑ "Tokyo pitches carbon-minus Olympics for 2016 | News". greensportsvenues.com. Archived from the original on 2012-07-23. Retrieved 2014-04-24.
  7. ↑ "Archived copy". www.capetown.gov.za. Archived from the original on 8 June 2010. Retrieved 20 October 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. ↑ "Archived copy". www.fifa.com. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 20 October 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. ↑ City of Cape Town, Green Goal Programme, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-06-08. Retrieved 2010-06-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. ↑ "First arena green roof unveiled at Target Center | News". greensportsvenues.com. Archived from the original on 2012-07-23. Retrieved 2014-04-24.
  11. ↑ "Joining the LEED lineup: American Airlines Arena | News". greensportsvenues.com. Archived from the original on 2012-07-23. Retrieved 2014-04-24.
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