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Friday, November 28, 2008
In spring 2007, the EU Council announced a commitment to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020
 By increasing greenhouse gas emissions with the addition of the new Youth Olympic Games mega-event, the International
Olympic Committee (IOC) and YOG host cities are acting unreasonably and recklessly. The two European
cities shortlisted to host the 2012 Youth Olympic Games (Innsbruck, Austria and Kuopio, Finland), have compelling reason
to turn down the IOC for environmental concerns. These cities would be viewed as global heros in the fight
against climate change. They would not be the first host cities to say "no, thank you" to the IOC. The
city of Denver, Colorado USA was awarded the 1976 Olympics by the IOC, but voters rejected spending resources
on the Olympic Games due to environmental and financial concerns.
Monday, November 24, 2008
When will the International Olympic Committee announce the Youth Olympic Games to United States youth?
The United States public has been left without awareness of the International
Olympic Committee's (IOC) plan to fight youth obesity while teams from other countries make plans to send youth
to the IOC's first 2010 Youth Olympic Games.
As one example, the Australian Olympic Committee reports
that it will spend close to a million dollars towards sending 100 youth athletes to the first Youth Olympic Games
(YOG) staged by the IOC in Singapore in 2010. The introduction of YOG by the IOC has prompted the AOC to hold its Australian
Youth Olympic Festival (AYOF) every four years instead of bi-annually. "Like the AYOF the YOG brings together the
best young athletes from around the globe. There is no need for us to compete with the YOG particularly as many of our
core sports are struggling to cope with so many events on the junior calendar” said former Australian Olympic Committee
chef de mission John Coates.
link: http://www.olympics.com.au/news.cfm?ArticleID=9834
Friday, November 21, 2008
Who will grab this international leadership opportunity to reduce carbon emissions?
The
time is right. A host city, an environmental organization, a youth group or a country can easily become a
global hero.
Just stand up and and announce: "Now is a negligent time for the International
Olympic Committee to launch a new global sporting event."
The Youth Olympic Games can be more reasonably
launched in global celebration once we resolve the risk of climate change.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Why is the International Olympic Committee rushing to launch the inaugrual Youth Olympic Games?
 In February 2008, the IOC annnounced Singapore as host city of the first-ever Summer (2010) Youth Olympic Games. This
means that Singapore has just a little over two years to prepare, although traditional Olympic Games host cities get
seven years to prepare. Why has the IOC given Singapore such a short time-frame to get the first-ever Youth Olympic Games
off the ground?
An inconvenient result from the Youth Olympic Games will be the addition of over ten thousand
international airline roundtrips every year. Does the International Olympic Committee have an unlimited right to
create unnecessary additional carbon emissions?
Now is not the time to launch the Youth Olympic Games. Once we resolve the risk of climate
change, the IOC's new mega-event can sensibly be launched in global celebration.
Friday, November 14, 2008
The Climate for Change
By Al Gore
THE
NEW YORK TIMES
November 9, 2008
Brief: The inspiring and transformative choice by the American people to elect Barack Obama
as our 44th president lays the foundation for another fateful choice that he -- and we -- must make this January to begin
an emergency rescue of human civilization from the imminent and rapidly growing threat posed by the climate crisis. The world authority on the climate crisis,
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, after 20 years of detailed study and four unanimous reports, now says that
the evidence is "unequivocal." To those who are still tempted to dismiss the increasingly urgent alarms from scientists
around the world, ignore the melting of the north polar ice cap and all of the other apocalyptic warnings from the planet
itself, and who roll their eyes at the very mention of this existential threat to the future of the human species, please
wake up. Our children and grandchildren need you to hear and recognize the truth of our situation, before it is too late.
The United States should lead the way by putting a price on
carbon here at home, and by leading the world's efforts to replace the Kyoto treaty next year in Copenhagen with a more
effective treaty that caps global carbon dioxide emissions and encourages nations to invest together in efficient ways to
reduce global warming pollution quickly.
Of course,
the best way -- indeed the only way -- to secure a global agreement to safeguard our future is by re-establishing the United
States as the country with the moral and political authority to lead the world toward a solution.
Looking ahead, I have great hope that we will have the courage to embrace
the changes necessary to save our economy, our planet and ultimately ourselves.
This year similarly saw the rise of young Americans, whose enthusiasm electrified
Barack Obama's campaign. There is little doubt that this same group of energized youth will play an essential role in
this project to secure our national future, once again turning seemingly impossible goals into inspiring success.
Full
editorial: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/opinion/09gore.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
Monday, November 10, 2008
Why do Austria and Finland get a pass on adding unnecessary CO2 emissions while humanity strives to reduce CO2 emissions?
The International Olympic Committee has decided that either a city in Austria or Finland will
be host city for the second installment of the IOC's new mega sporting event - the 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games
- following the first 2010 Summer Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.
This means that aside from the current
Olympic Games, the IOC gives its blessing to additional CO2 emissions of up to 10,000 international roundtrips per year
for the new biannual Youth Olympic Games.
These additional CO2 emissions pose measureable risk
to youth that is unnecessary and dangerous until humanity has better understanding of the climate crisis.
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Olympic Committee of any country, or federation of any Olympic sport.
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Please contribute to help with costs in getting this message across to Jacques Rogge, President
of the International Olympic Committee. Carbon footprint calculator
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