Summer Olympics go for the green as London prepares to host the world

As athletes from around the world compete for medals at the Summer Olympics in London, the city will be striving to meet Olympic-level sustainability goals. A fascinating first-person view of how these sustainability targets were developed and will be achieved is featured in Sustainability: The Journal of Record, a publication of Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers (www.liebertpub.com) The article is available free online at the Sustainability: The Journal of Record (www.liebertpub.com/sus) website.

The central location of the Summer 2012 Olympics is the East End neighborhood of Stratford, once known as an industrial wasteland. But it has been transformed into a model for sustainability, developed under the guidance of five key themes: climate change, waste, biodiversity, inclusion, and healthy living. The use of public transportation only on the Olympic grounds—no cars permitted and no parking lots—is just one example of the extent to which London has gone to reach its sustainability goals. Another example: no waste will flow directly to landfills, through a combined effort involving composting, recycling, and reduced packaging use.

Shaun McCarthy, Chair of the Commission for a Sustainable London, the independent watchdog group responsible for making sure sustainability goals for the Summer Games are tracked and met, discusses the challenges and the progress being made as the Games approach in the article entitled, "The Olympics Go for the Green: With the 2012 Games Looming, London Works to Raise Bar in Sustainability (http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/SUS.2012.9965)."

"The Olympic Games are the singular event of our time where the whole world will be watching, and to have sustainability be such a visible factor in the Games is invaluable to the sustainability movement," says Jamie Devereaux, Editor of Sustainability: The Journal of Record (www.liebertpub.com/sus).

Provided by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc