Despite falling short of gold in some areas, the David Suzuki Foundation has awarded VANOC with a bronze medal for their green efforts at the 2010 Olympics. They are being applauded for their efforts in reducing their carbon footprint. Steps they have taken in making these games a little greener include: promoting public transportation (and in some cases making it mandatory), using clean energy sources, making buildings energy efficient and offsetting carbon emissions from the event. And most of these initiatives are permanent, meaning the citizens of Vancouver can still appreciate them after the games are over.
The Vancouver Olympics came in just ahead of the Sydney games 10 years ago for their environmental initiatives. And with climate change fast on it's way to becoming the defining issue of our generation it seems like more people are getting on board with the idea of addressing it and taking action to fight it.
But it really only seems this way, as public involvement in helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions was the low point of VANOC's scorecard, despite their efforts. So all of those self-proclaimed environmentally friendly folks out there aren't really living up to their end of the deal.
But overall, such a big event is difficult to make greener especially while the whole world is watching. But VANOC has put in the effort and at least David Suzuki recognized it.
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