Play It Green

Like many people, I’ve been tuning in to coverage of the Olympic Games—from luge, to moguls, to figure skating—captivated by what feats of strength and grace the human body is capable of. With such worldwide attention and grand-scale showmanship, it seems almost inappropriate to calculate the emissions and “sustainability” of the Vancouver Olympics. Each Olympics aims to be the greenest, and Vancouver is no different. As E wrote in a recent feature “Are the Games Really Green?” there‘s a certain amount of greenhouse gas emissions—specifically 330,000 tons along with ecosystem and habitat damage—associated with creating and hosting the Games that’s just inevitable.

When organizers do build arenas, tracks and buildings, they aim to set a green example. That includes the highly efficient Olympic Village in Vancouver, the temporary home for more than 2,000 skiers, snowboarders, figure skaters, curlers and other competitors, that has been called one of the “greenest neighborhoods in north America” by organizers and the National Resources Defense Council. When the Games have ended, the mini-city’s buildings will be turned into mixed-income housing, and aim for Gold LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification. A 64-unit building called Southeast False Creek that will later become senior housing is actually net zero—meaning it produces as much energy as it consumes.

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The most exciting competition on television last night was not the dreary Academy Awards with its canned humor and Broadway-inspired musical acts. It was earlier in the day at the Jeep King of the Mountain snowboard and skiing events in Squaw Valley, California, where one of winter sports’ eco-defenders, Lindsey Jacobellis, led another assault in the snowboardcross competition. Jacobellis led easily in the fast downhill race, prompting U.S snowboarding coach Peter Foley to say, “In this race she crushed it and no one really posed a threat to her. It’s awesome that she has that kind of consistency.” In fact, Jacobellis has never been defeated in a King of the Mountain snowboardcross competition—this was her fifth consecutive win.

  And Jacobellis brings green credentials to her high-profile boarding. For the past five years she’s been sponsored by Paul Mitchell hair products, who’ve been using the Olympic silver medalist as a spokesperson for their “Head for Change” campaign. She talks about making lifestyle changes like turning off lights and reusing bags at the grocery store. “It irritates me to see people with plastic and paper bags that get thrown away,” Jacobellis told me in an earlier interview. She and the snowboardcross team are heading to Tamarack, ID, for this weekend’s Visa SBX Championship Series at the Chevy U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix. Mid-March they head to Sun Valley, Idaho for another King of the Mountain event. For those lucky enough to attend, global activist and cross-pollinating, uplifting, bass-booming musician Michael Franti & Spearhead will be headlining a show there March 15.

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Boston Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference is committed to turning the entire National Hockey League green. The 28-year-old who came to Boston by way of the Calgary Flames, spent a childhood playing on homemade outdoor rinks in Canada, the likes of which are hard to come by in the rapidly waning days of winter across the globe. He’s convinced that athletes, who spend a lot of their on-season days on emission-spewing airlines, have a role to play in keeping global warming from damaging the seasons that make their sports great. Ference talks green below.

Play It Green: In your years as a hockey player, have you noticed a difference in the amount of ice available for outdoor play?  Can you compare winters now to those of your childhood?

Andrew Ference: Well, I’ve noticed a difference in winters in general. When I was playing up in Canada, I just remember the huge amount of snowfall and building huge snow forts. When I’d go out to Banff to go skiing, there’d just be walls of snow as you drive up the mountain. Obviously, I’ve noticed a decrease in that, especially when I was living in Kenmore, which is just outside of Banff. Being around it everyday, you see a lot less than you remember. But, I think the big difference was, I can’t remember if it was last winter or two winters ago, when the Ottawa canal, which everybody skates on, was unskatable for a mass part of the winter just because it didn’t get cold enough.  So, I think that was a big turning point when a lot of people in the hockey community said, “Geez, you know, I can’t go skating in Ottawa in the winter,” which is such a great tradition.  And I’d go out there for Christmas and people couldn’t skate on it. So, if there’s a wake up call that was it. 

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