The Beijing 2008 Olympic Games are considered the most spectacular sporting events ever held in the history of sports. This is because of the luxurious and amazing ceremonies together with the elevated standards of competition that ranged from marathon and javelin to yachting. It is considered the competition that hosted most sporting activities in the history or sports. One may ask how the environment in Beijing where the sports took place was. In Olympics, the three pillars are sports, culture, and environment. The environment fared well in terms of the sustainability and also contributed positively to the green legacy of Beijing, China (Zhou, 2010). The organizers of the event ensured the sustainability of the environment to ensure its effectiveness. Green Olympics was among the three major notions that drove the Beijing Olympic Games of 2008. It is also thought to be the chief leader of the Great Olympics. The other two pillars of the New Beijing Olympics are ‘High-tech and ‘People’s Olympics. For the organizers to achieve their plan on the sustainability of the environment, they create a Construction and Environment Department which acted as an overseer of several sustainability projects. Since the department was established, it has supervised environmental features of the games connected actions (Wang, 2010). What it has been involved in include the construction of the Olympic venues, procurement, marketing, catering, and accommodation and transport of those participating in the games activities. In order to make effective of its mandate to coordinate the sustainability projects, the BOCOG department began an Environmental Management System (EMS) which complied with the global standards ISO 14001. The main conception of ISO 14001was to assist organizations reduces their depressing effects on the environment (Zhu, 2009).
The President of the Organizing Committee penned down the environmental plan which outlined the BOCOG’s general strategies within the area. In 2003 and 2004, BOCOG executed the environmental strategies and methods which were supposed to run the important impacts. The policies also educated the employees on the environmental aspect of the Olympic Games. The EMS had a number of responsibilities within the Games. For instance, it was involved in securing venues, selecting Games partners, planning and constructions, communication, transportation, among other roles (Beyer, 2006). The board approved the ISO 14001 certification audit in 2005 and the year afterward it was certified according to the 2004 standards. Beijing had considered constructing 31 venues for the Games, which included 12 new constructed venues, 8 temporary venues and11 renovated venues. The construction which was to begin in 2003 was to be completed in 2007 (Streets, 2007). In collaboration with the 2008 Project Construction Headquarters Office of Beijing, BOCOG created three important documents which served to guarantee sustainability of the plan and building phase. They were: Environmental Protection Guidelines for the Olympics Projects; Environmental Protection Guidelines for the Temporary Projects and Environmental Protection Guidelines for the Renovated or Expanded Olympic Projects. The strategies were focused on energy management in the buildings, ensuring that ecological resources are used in the venues, ensured protection of water resources, noise pollution, and ensured proper disposal of waste management (Mol, 2010). The plan was also used in the calls for tenders for the blueprint contracts and also directed the venues’ projects design procedure. The guidelines also stressed the issue of environmental administration of the Olympic venues.
In the planning of the sports event, addressing the poor quality of air in Beijing was the top priority. It was one of the issues that BOCOG and Beijing metropolitan establishments could manage. The health concerns of the players and the fans were something addressed before and after the game. There was enough need for the organizers to address the air quality which attracted much international media coverage. The government came up with a number of measures which controlled the levels of the air released to the environment. First, it ensured a reduction and control of the industrial pollution. Secondly, the organizers improved the dust control at constructions and the agricultural sector. In addition, the government prohibited open air incineration and encouraged people to use outdoor waste control (Chappelet, 2008). The organizers also worked hard to reduce and control vehicles emissions while at the same time improving the Beijing’s transport system. The organizers also had a strong commitment to solve traffic and related pollutions problems which were rampant in Beijing. Because the city was congested and there were more people who were to join the Chinese during the Olympics, the organizers sought to address the issue of congestion and transport within the city. The main goal of Beijing was to control the public sector and related infrastructure which were poor in the city prior to the Olympics. The organizers improved the transport sector by constructing more roads which linked the city and other cities and event venues. They also promoted public transport by generating new Olympic Transport structures. In order to meet the emission standards it had created, Beijing was committed to improving the fuel quality. It did so by improving the suphur levels in the fuel (Zhang, 2010). Beijing also introduced the Vehicle Environmental Labeling System where green tags were given for cars that net the emission standards.
Energy was the other significant constituent in Beijing’s quest of the Green Olympics. When Chinas was offered the chance to host the games in 2001, its skyline was comprised of coal-fired industries while a lot of families depended on stores that depended on the coal. In order for the country to reduce its dependence on coal and adopt other efficient energies, it had to enact a number of measures. To achieve this, Beijing first erected a second Shan-Jing gas pipeline which had the transportation capability of 4-5billion m3 each year. The use of clean fuel was also adopted for the transport sector. It also shut down companies that seemed to be the highest polluters of the environment. Hosting the Olympics and Paralympics Games by Beijing put more pressure on Beijing’s inadequate water sources. Beijing was forced to advance its water resources preparation and organization. To achieve that, it ensured that sufficient safe water was available for drinking during the games. It also made a bid to progress and defend the value of water and the city’s water reservoirs. The organizers also improved the city’s sewage network and wastewater treatment system (Minnaert, 2012). The most important part of the organizing for the games is to ensure the availability of clean water for drinking for the athletes and audience. Water is a basic need which people cannot survive without. Unsafe water could also lead to diseases; so Beijing had to very careful with the subject of water. Another big environmental challenge that faced BOCOG in preparing for the games was to control the quantity of carbon dioxide which was released into the environment as an effect of the games. Beijing introduced a number of policies which could control the carbon dioxide released. First, it ensured an increase in the energy efficiency. Secondly, it adopted safe technologies and energy in housing and transportation sector. Finally, Beijing adopted the green commuting policies and practices (Hayes, 2011).
References
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Wang, T., Nie, W., Gao, J., Xue, L.K., Gao, X.M., Wang, X., Qiu, J., Poon, C.N., Meinardi, S., Blake, D. and Wang, S.L., 2010. Air quality during the 2008 Beijing Olympics: secondary pollutants and regional impact. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 10(16), pp.7603-7615.
Wang, M., Zhu, T., Zheng, J., Zhang, R.Y., Zhang, S.Q., Xie, X.X., Han, Y.Q. and Li, Y., 2009. Use of a mobile laboratory to evaluate changes in on-road air pollutants during the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 9(21), pp.8247-8263.
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Beyer, S., 2006. The Green Olympic Movement: Beijing 2008. Chinese Journal of International Law, 5(2), pp.423-440.
Mol, A.P., 2010. Sustainability as global attractor: the greening of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Global Networks, 10(4), pp.510-528.
Chappelet, J.L., 2008. Olympic environmental concerns as a legacy of the Winter Games. The International Journal of the History of Sport, 25(14), pp.1884-1902.
Hayes, G. and Karamichas, J., 2011. Olympic games, mega-events, and civil societies: Globalisation, environment, resistance. Palgrave Macmillan.
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Minnaert, L., 2012. An Olympic legacy for all? The non-infrastructural outcomes of the Olympic Games for socially excluded groups (Atlanta 1996–Beijing 2008). Tourism Management, 33(2), pp.361-370.
