Greenpeace

A city being granted the privilege of hosting the Olympics is a great honor. In my opinion, what matters equally is how these same cities choose to utilize their venues post games. I remember learning in one of my History of Urban Planning classes the huge burden cities are faced with in trying to find the best fit for Olympic villages once the Olympics have ended. Stadiums in general are sort of a bittersweet facility to maintain. They allow for remarkable architectural and planning achievements, but what people don't often consider is their permanence. Most stadiums are severely underutilized when you think about it. Sports facilities, especially in the past, are built to host major events, but how often to these events happen? I would say a majority of the time, these facilities remain vacant.

My thinking is that these facilities need to be designed to allow for smaller events to take place while the more crowd drawing events are not in play. This is especially true for Olympic facilities that are only used to their maximum potential for a few weeks. Going green with the facilities, as Vancouver has done is definitely a start. From the articles I have found so far, it seems like Vancouver already has adaptive reuse in mind.

 

 "While going after LEED Gold certification is ambitious, the most innovative plan is to convert the athlete’s village to mixed-use development after the Olympics are over. The architects believe that very little changes will need to be made to the complex to transform it into livable and workable space. As is the case in many mixed-use projects, ground level space that is being used for dining, medical use and training during the games will transition to restaurants and shops. Naturally, the athlete’s accommodations will morph into 737 private residences. The village will offer a mix of low-income, market rate and luxury accommodations for sale. Over 90 percent of the 300 units that were released to the public have been sold. The village will be turned over to the city in April 2010".

-http://winterolympicgames.suite101.com/article.cfm/vancouver_plans_sustainable_olympic_village

there are so many great incentives for going solar with your home or business, it seems almost silly not to. Many of the rumors of high upfront costs are simply not true, and the pay-off in the long run is well worth it.

Also looking forward to the city's plan for a solar plant in the Sunset neighborhood atop a reservoir.

Check out this awesome map I found of solar projects in San Francisco! 

http://sf.solarmap.org/

 

The financial insitution JP Morgan Chase (possibly your bank) is currently providing financial support to the horrendously destructive process of mountain top removal for the extraction of one of the oldest and dirties suppliers of energy- coal. Right here in the US, Appalachian mountain forests are being cut and cleared for a messy process by which coal is mined. The destruction goes beyond the removal of these forests however, the mountain tops are literally blown apart with explosives to allow companies easy access to the coal hidden in these ancient landscapes. Over 400 mountain tops have already been permanently destroyed. The subsequent rubble and debris are then carelessly dumped into nearby valleys and streams with consequences that should not be overlooked. This problem deserves immediate attention, and as you read on you will see why.

The destruction of natural habitat through mountain top removal is obvious, yet there are other impacts that may not present themselves immediately. Appalachia is an inhabited area and as such, there is a population that suffers the consequences of this coal mining technique directly. The foundations of their homes are being rocked by explosions only hundreds of feet away while their source of natural drinking water is being poisoned due to the carelessness dumping of waste. In fact, over 2,000 miles of river have been buried, while these towns become much more prone to flooding from the destructionn of natural landscape drainage and absorption by forests.The environment that has been the backdrop of these communities is being destroyed in a flash.There is even a visible dust present in the air that settles, covering houses and schools with a black coating. The dust is known to cause lung cancer, and chronic heart, lung and kidney disease. These communities are some of the poorest in the country, and are often misrepresented as benefitting econimically from the mining process, however the opposite is true. The truth is that these companies (backed up financial support from Chase) simply come in and destroy the environment, take what they want, and leave an empty wasteland behind. That is not a benefit to the communities by any means.

Chase bank is found to be giving hundreds of millions in finances annually to half the corporate producers of coal mining in this region. Think of what would be possible if that same money was being channeled toward alternative energy. These alternatives can be designed to help low-income smaller communities such as those described above, to prosper.

Obama and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have only promised to reduce the impacts of mountain top removal, not stopping them. This is very disheartening, especially since they have the power to end mountain top removal.

The Rainforest Action Network (RAN) is working to put this form of messy destruction to an end for good. They feel that logging ancient  forests and destroying ecosystems is outdated and unnecessary. RAN is demanding that Chase immediately stop financing these companies that are responsible for mountain top removal. Help bring awareness to this campaign by posting something about it. RAN is hosting a day of media action today, follow the link to get info on how to help. www.ran.org/chase.

Hey, just wanted to write a quick hello and let everyone know a little about myself.

I am the new San Francisco web intern, and will be trying my best to keep up with the activist blog... so keep the posts coming! So far it has been awesome reading your posts and comments; I look forward to keeping the conversations flowing. The reason I am here is to learn, grow and do everything I can for an organization that is really making a difference- Greenpeace. So thanks for reading and feel free to comment.

-Matt