Oslo WSC 2012

”Miljøteltet” actually means ”The environment tent”. During WSC 2012 this will be a fun hang-out in the arena, available for our spectators!

There will be lots of activities and competitions related to how to preserve a sustainable environment. Some of these activities will only be available at The Environment tent in the Wyller arena, but there will be lots of fun in The Environment tent in the Holmenkollen arena as well.

• You are welcome to join us in making our very own fingerboard park out of waste items! This is a way of showing how to think creatively about reuse of potential waste. And of course you are welcome to try out this awesome park!

• You can get your face painted!

• You can make your very own button!

• You are welcome to taste organic food

• You can join in on a photo shoot – documenting your wishes for a better climate.

• You can warm up by the fire while watching the snowboard competitions and enjoying organic “Bread-on-a-stick” and hot organic tea!

• The problem of food waste will be visualised through an exhibition of a representative amount of food thrown away by an average Norwegian family each year. This exhibition is accompanied by interesting and educating information.

And guess what! It’s all for free!

Views on environmental issues – a minister versus a snowboarder!

Erik Solheim, the Norwegian Minister of Environment and International Development, will visit The Environment tent; Thursday the 16th at 4.00 PM. Together with Terje Håkonsen, the world record holder of quarterpipe, he will be interviewed by youths concerned about the environment.

WSC 2012 is proud to present our main supporters when it comes to exposing environmental initiative:

Oikos – Organic Norway is the national movement of organic producers and consumers in Norway. WSC 2012 is grateful for Oikos’ extensive consultancy when it comes to serving organic food during the event.

ForMat is a project initiated by the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise. The main goal of this project is a 25 per cent reduction of food wastage within the year 2015. Matvett.no makes this initiative visible for private consumers in Norway.

Framfylkingen is The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions’ Association for Children, Youth and Families. Their primary concern is children’s rights, outdoor life and environment.

Miljøagentene (Eco-agents) is a volunteer based environmental organisation for children. Our aim is to stimulate the children’s interest and love for nature, and to make them realize that the way we live our lives have influence on the environment. Eco-agents always focus on possibilities, and our goal is to make the voices of the children heard.

Natur og Ungdom, Young Friends of the Earth Norway, is the largest organization for youth. Its main concern is limit climate change and stop the loss of nature's diversity.


 

Organic production has less impact on the environment than conventional production. Organic farming is less damaging for the following reasons:

Organic farms do not consume or release synthetic pesticides into the environment – some of which have the potential to harm soil, water and local terrestrial and aquatic wildlife. Organic farms are better than conventional farms at sustaining diverse ecosystems, populations of plants and insects, as well as animals. When calculated per unit area, organic farms use less energy and produce less waste, waste such as packaging materials for chemicals

Organic food seems to be beneficial to health in relation to nutrient content among other things. Scientific results have showed that organic food production methods resulted in:

• higher levels of nutritionally desirable compounds (vitamins/antioxidants and poly-unsaturated fat)level of nitrates in organic vegetables is approx.
• 50% lower – high levels of nitrates is connected to diabetes, Alzheimers and cancer
• content of dry matter and thereby nutrition is higher in organic crops
• higher levels of fatty acids such as omega-3 and CLA, and lower levels of nutritionally undesirable compounds such as heavy metals, mycotoxins, pesticide residues and glyco-alkaloids in a range of crops and/or milk
• lower risk of faecal Salmonella shedding in organic pigs

These nutritional benefits are linked to specific agronomic practices that are prescribed by organic farming standards.

WSC 2012 has a strict environmental strategy, and therefore offers organic food to all its visitors, athletes and crew! By doing this, WSC 2012 contributes to preservation of the environment by increasing the demand for organic foods, and by exposing tasty organic foods to a large audience.

ICA Eco is one of our main sponsors, providing us with 500 000 NOK worth in organic food, and thereby making it all possible.

The ForMat-project was initiated by the Federations of the Norwegian Food and drink producers in 2009, the purpose being to reduce the amount of food waste in Norway. The overall goal is a 25 % reduction of food waste within the year 2015, measured along the value chain from the food producer to, and including the consumer.

Matvett.no aims to make this initiative visible to all consumers in Norway. This website gives you tips and advice about how to take care of the food you buy or cook, along with recipes of how to make new and delicious dishes from leftovers.

WSC 2012 thinks that the problem of wasting food and the work ForMat is doing to help us prevent such waste, is worth communicating to our spectators! During our event, ForMat will visualize this problem by exhibiting a representative amount of food thrown away by an average Norwegian family each year. This exhibition is accompanied by interesting and educating information.

Arranging a sports event such as the World Snowboarding Championships 2012, calls for transportation of equipment and crew, athletes and trainers, spectators and press. And the list could go on. In other words – we have to admit that we make an unfortunate contribution to these destructive emissions.

However, we would like to point out that it is possible to take several measures to minimize emissions from these kinds of sports events.

• One should seek to work together with organizers of already existing public transportation. In that way one can make sure that the supply of public transportation is sufficient for the expected amount of spectators. One should also avoid arranging parking lots for spectators´ cars – given that there is a sufficient supply of public transportation
• Although some individuals are indispensable for the event itself, there is no such thing as a dispensable climate. A good way of signalising such an attitude is to make no exceptions for athletes, sponsors or other VIP’s when it comes to usage of public transportation.
• One should seek to use the most emission-efficient tools and equipment. Not only does such a choice reduce emissions compared to choices based solely on economic regards; it also gives a signal to producers and entrepreneurs that there is an existing demand for more sustainable alternatives.One should implement a thorough planning of transportation logistics within the organization itself, when it comes to transportation of commodities and equipment. Furthermore, one should seek to purchase local goods to avoid unnecessary transportation.
• One should encourage every partner and collaborator related to the event, to implement similar measures in their own line of work.

1. How is this product produced? Does it consist of any recycled material?
2. Where is this product produced? How much, and what kind of transportation is required?
3. Does this product have an official eco label? Does the producer have an environmental certification?
4. Can this product be used on a later occasion? Can it be donated or sold, and who could be interested?
5. Is this product recyclable? Does it end up as hazardous waste?

In short, one single purchase might have broad consequences as it can increase transportation costs, emissions and waste. Therefore, one might be able to make a considerable difference by carefully considering different alternatives of both goods and suppliers. In addition, an increased demand for sustainable alternatives might just have an effect on future manufacturing.

WSC 2012 seeks to consider all of these regards when purchasing goods, and encourages all of our supporters to do the same.

But why bother? Isn’t it all trash anyway? No! Residual waste contains heaps of unused resources, and by source separation it is possible to extract a lot of these resources.

An example speaks for itself, and is a good way of showing how source separation is important to preserve a sustainable environment: To produce one single kg of new plastic, it takes two kg of oil! Recycling plastic on the other hand, is much more energy effective. In addition, plastic takes a long time to decompose if it goes astray, and is potentially harmful to the local environment.

The resources latent in food waste are used to produce biogas. Using biogas as fuel means cleaner air and less noise.

Used paper and cardboard constitute resources in themselves. 100 % of paper and cardboard sent to recycling ends up as new material.

Wood from our arenas that cannot be reused in itself contains unused resources and are used to produce long-distance heating.

We hope that this is of inspiration to help us source separate every piece of garbage during our event. Thank you for contributing!

As we started planning this championship, we decided to make it a Green event and as environmental-friendly as possible. However, we think it’s important that terms like “Green event” and “enviromental-friendly” are not only words and empty phrases. To avoid diminishing these words, we feel that someone else should decide whether or not we are sufficiently Green and environmental-friendly. The Eco-Lighthouse Foundation  offers an environmental certification that helps us conduct environmental-friendly operations. To earn such a certification we need to meet several strict criteria regarding emission cuts, transportation, source separation of waste, safety, service, purchasing procedures, visibility of our efforts and much more.

We’d like to encourage every enterprise to be certified as an Eco-lighthouse. If we all make an effort to conduct our business as environmental-friendly as possible, we might make a difference for our local community and for this planet as a whole.