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Summer Olympics 2012 (pg. 4)
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| I_Am_Vince |
| quote: | Originally posted by Dior Homme
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I remember my professor in Scotland said that the logo looks like Lisa Simpson giving Bart Simpson head lol. See it? |
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| I_Am_Vince |
| quote: | Originally posted by spitty
Just booked my tickets to England. Will be in London for the last two days of the Olympics. I am looking for a Canadian party somewhere
So excited! |
I remember there's a Maple Leaf Pub about 2 blocks away from Covent Garden, they serve Moosehead and Canadian too! |
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| mahalliner |
| quote: | Originally posted by bluntBoy
I think the big problem for us here is we do not get the luxury of actually getting to choose what events to watch (unless you have satellite then that's a completely different ball game). Emphasis seems to only be placed on events with North American competitors or events that are popular within the region.
I was disappointed to shambles back in 2008 with the absurd limited selection that was being aired by North American channels. Like that alone wasn't enough, channels like NBC were interrupting events early because it was time for America’s Got Talent or something equally mindless to kick in to entertain the sheep of the population.
I remember back when I was growing up in Egypt, there were at least 2 to 3 dedicated channels that just aired events around the clock in a round-robin fashion (and that was in the 90s). Sports like handball, volleyball, football, rugby, water polo, ground hockey, cycling, sailing, table tennis, taekwondo and many more were all there regardless of who was competing. If there was a conflict with a more important event, it was recorded then aired in the 12AM-8AM time slot. Here, apparently we prefer to watch s playing poker. :rolleyes: |
In 2008 when CBC had the broadcast rights they were streaming almost every event online with the official English feed sans commentary. I usually watched most events on there. Not sure what CTV is going to do for this one. |
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| Dior Homme |
| quote: | Originally posted by ChemEnhanced
I can't imagine the Summer Olympics actually making money. ...
... I do have a feeling that these Olympics are going to be an epic failure though. |
1. The unsustainable games
London's bid for the Olympic Games revolved entirely around sustainability. Their concept, "Towards a One Planet Olympics", was based on the notion that if the entire world's population lived a typical British lifestyle, people would require the resources of three planets.
London's Olympic plan included green building measures like water recycling, halving the carbon footprint of all construction projects, and sourcing 25% of each project's materials from recycled sources. Unfortunately, as the games have drawn closer officials have been noticeably distancing themselves from their original targets and have been focusing on "reducing" and "mitigating" the carbon footprint of the games.
2. 3.4 million tons of CO2
Energy company EDF has announced plans to sponsor the olympics by providing 24 MW of energy produced through renewable sources such as wind power. The Olympic park will also feature on-site combined heating and cooling in addition to a power plant with biomass boilers. It will have the capacity to switch from natural gas to other low-carbon and renewable fuel sources.
The problem is that no one knows exactly how much energy the games will actually use – conservative estimates have stated that the games will probably produce 3.4 million tons of CO2. By comparison, the UK’s total annual emissions are around 550 million tons. The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (Locog) has been vague about cutting emissions, saying: “Our first objective is to get a handle on our climate impact and then work out how to avoid our emissions.”
3. The failure of carbon offsets
One major environmental issue with hosting the Olympic Games is the sheer amount of construction projects that are needed. Despite plans to reuse or recycle 90% of construction waste, more than half the CO2 emissions associated with the games comes from the construction process.
In order to make the entire operation as emission-free as possible, the Games have had to do a lot of carbon offsetting. This means that in exchange for creating large amounts of CO2, the Olympics are funding environmental projects to counteract the emissions from their operations. Unfortunately, this ‘pay-to-pollute’ scheme has drawn a lot of criticism – especially from those who see it as a ‘carte blanche’ for developed countries to pollute as much as they like without trying to cut their emissions.
Robin Webster of environmental lobby group Friends of the Earth has said that offsetting “is a false solution. The focus needs to be on emissions reduction, both in the UK and abroad, rather than playing one country off another.”
4. The embarrassing PR gaffes
The 2012 London Olympics have had several awkward PR gaffes on the environmental front so far – including the revelation that metals in the medals came from the Rio Tinto mine, which has caused life-threatening air and water pollution with mining endeavors around the globe. It has also been accused of mistreating workers and driving pay below a living-wage.
The alleged carbon neutral Olympic flame has also received criticism after being flown from Athens to the UK in a gold-painted private jet known as The Firefly.
5. Transportation chaos
Of course, before the Olympics can take place, everyone has to get there. This will mean thousands of people flying to London and, as a result, increased global fight emissions. In fact, the estimated total emissions that will be released into the atmosphere from spectators traveling to the Games are estimated to be seven hundred thousand tons – the equivalent of 143,173 return flights from New York to London. How are these emissions being countered? That’s right, more carbon offsetting.
Meanwhile, in London itself, the cars needed to get athletes and dignitaries to specific events are expected to greatly increase traffic congestion – Londoners have been told to ‘stay off the roads’ for at least a month!
6. The aftermath
In the aftermath of the Sydney, Athens and Beijing Olympics, the countries’ environmental records varied greatly. For the UK, 2012 will be the final year of Britain’s first carbon budget, which commits the UK to legally binding emissions cuts, so if London’s fails to stage a low-carbon Olympics, this would be highly embarrassing.
To quote Shaun McCarthy, chair of the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012: ”It’s an important year for the environment so London has a real opportunity to show the world what Britain is capable of achieving. Our recommendations are a matter of urgency now, because time is short. It would be a travesty if we couldn’t meet our 2012 goals.”
Yes it would Shaun. Yes, it would.
SOURCE |
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| mahalliner |
| quote: | Originally posted by Dior Homme
1. The unsustainable games
London's bid for the Olympic Games revolved entirely around sustainability. Their concept, "Towards a One Planet Olympics", was based on the notion that if the entire world's population lived a typical British lifestyle, people would require the resources of three planets.
London's Olympic plan included green building measures like water recycling, halving the carbon footprint of all construction projects, and sourcing 25% of each project's materials from recycled sources. Unfortunately, as the games have drawn closer officials have been noticeably distancing themselves from their original targets and have been focusing on "reducing" and "mitigating" the carbon footprint of the games.
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That was a good read. Pretty typical problems for mega projects like this unfortunately. Thanks for posting. |
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| Skipper |
| Random fact: All of the red cedar on the exterior of the velodrome was shipped in from BC. there are only several sources for this kind of wood, BC being one, and I think the other is Oregon. |
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| Euphorica |
super excited to watch some real sports and real athletes(for the most part) who dont get showered in millions of dollars and compete for the love of their sport.
tired of the same old bull hockey ,baseball,basketball and football. |
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| Euphorica |
| quote: | Pretty cool vid, I hope he cleans up. His story is pretty interesting considering how many medals he's won. Also from complete domination in beijing to getting bored and smoking up which led to him losing sponsors and then thinking of retiring only to have an epiphany moment and deciding to come back in london 2012.
Imagine having his aquaman ability and not wanting to use it because he's actually bored/sick of swimming. And then saying, ya I'll do it one more time and own it one more time. All before he's 27... wtf? LOL |
been there done that...anyone who lasts in the sport goes through the same thing. Obviously not everyone has that kind of medal haul and/or accomplishments but they ALL put in that kind of schedule,commitment and sacrifice. And when youve done it for so long its hard to have the drive to continue even after being so successful. Its a grueling lifestyle. |
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| mahalliner |
| quote: | Originally posted by Euphorica
super excited to watch some real sports and real athletes(for the most part) who dont get showered in millions of dollars and compete for the love of their sport.
tired of the same old bull hockey ,baseball,basketball and football. |
Just wait for Golf to make its return. I don't know how qualifying will work but I'm sure the top pros will be there. |
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| ChemEnhanced |
| quote: | Originally posted by mahalliner
Just wait for Golf to make its return. I don't know how qualifying will work but I'm sure the top pros will be there. |
The proposed qualifying is a field of 60 players for each of the men's and women's competitions, utilizing the Official World Golf Rankings as a method of determining eligibility. The top 15 world-ranked players would be eligible, regardless of the number of players from a given country. Beyond the top 15, players would be eligible based on world ranking, with a maximum of two eligible players from each country that does not already have two or more players among the top 15. |
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| exraver |
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| Skipper |
| quote: | Originally posted by exraver
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haha <3
I'm excited for it to begin, but I can see how Londoners are not. And if one more vancouverite tells me how they should be, I'm going to punch them in the throat. The summer games are a much bigger production than the winter, and London is a much more complicated city to manage a huge event in than Vancouver is. |
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