Archive for the ‘Spotlight’ Category
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The FIFA World Cup: Politics and Climate
By Astrit Muzliukaj
What with the world cup final near us and the hype nearly reaching an end, can it be that this year’s biggest sport tournament is a big climate polluter?
Is this even a big deal? Surely, countries can get along for the biggest sporting event of the year without worrying about politics; surely it cannot be ruined by some CO2 figures. It can be argued that the world cup is perhaps the only time when the whole country comes together in celebrations and excitement. Many people around England saw a great unification as they proudly hung up the St. George’s flag so why are we worrying about the environment on this special occasion. Well, get this:
The estimated amount of CO2 emitted in this year’s world cup is 2,753,251 tons. That’s roughly the same as the amount released by 1 million cars throughout the course of one year. And this year’s world cup is 6 times worse in terms of emissions than the last world cup because of the influx of international visitors flying in rather than using trains and cars like in Berlin 2006. Added to that, South Africa needed to build more stadiums and it did so at a cost to the environment because for every 1 ton of cement manufactured there was 1 ton of CO2 emitted to the atmosphere. As a way of trying to offset this heavy pollution, South Africa built an efficient rail network to transport visitors and planted many trees in suburban areas. The Guardian gave a visual idea of just how much CO2 has been emitted throughout this year’s world cup – the equivalent of 6000 space shuttle missions or the production of 1 billion cheeseburgers!
But out of all the factors to affect the amount of CO2 from this year’s world cup it was the spectators who caused the most amounts. Figures show that China is the world’s largest polluter and, even though their team did not attend the world cup games, may have contributed to vast amounts of air miles pollution. How, I hear you ask? Well, the North Korean fans waving about in the stadiums, it turns out, were Chinese actors assigned to cheer the country on. This political restraint on its own citizens means that hardly anyone from North Korea is able to obtain a visa to leave the country and it has raised questions on whether the world cup has taken on a political rather than global role. North Korea’s participation in the world cup is welcomed but are its citizens are being treated fairly and should North Korea leave the future world cup participations all together?
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Walking trees
A parade of 50 trees is crawling through the city of London, singing, dancing and celebrating nature and the environment.
If you’re quick you can go out into the streets and see if you can spot them. Find out more at the Barbican website.
The parade will end up in the Barbican, where at 6.30pm there will be a final performance followed by a live debate with many environmental personalities who will bring the ‘Tree Radical’ event to a close.
Hurry up, you can’t be slower than a plant!
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Friday is Green Britain Day!
Friday 10 July is the very first Green Britain Day and it’s going to be the first of many in the years to come.
The idea is that as hosts of the 2012 Olympics we have an opportunity to show the rest of the world what a great example we can set as leaders in the fight against climate change.
We can all get together to achieve this. The Team Green Britain website has loads of ideas on how to get involved or to just get you thinking about what you could be doing.
And there’s masses of things happening on the day itself. Over 600 schools will be joining in Green Feet Pledge events. And at the Eden Project in Cornwall, Paul Weller and Florence and the Machine are playing a charity gig.
In fact there are loads of events to choose from right across the country. From swap shops and bike surgeries, opportunities to learn more about buying local goods, to advice on how to shrink your carbon footprint.
But it doesn’t all end when the sun sets on Friday. The Team Green Britain website has lots more information about how you and your friends could join up to do more. It’s definitely worth a look.
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