From Enlightenment to Implementation Using the Power of Sport to Help Protect the Environment
Itabashi Ichita
Chairman, JOC Sport and Environment Commission
Spreading the Word - Starting with the Sport and Environment Commission
Tree-planting ceremony for the Japan Association of Athletics Federations' Green Project at the 92nd National Championships.
Members of "Team Minus 6%" gather around their banner, which promotes environmental protection, at the 83rd Intercollege Swimming Tournament 2008 (Japan Swimming Federation).
Gold medalists planted commemorative trees at the Beijing Olympics.
Beijing Olympic medalists promote environmental protection at the Sports and Environment Green Action Forum.
The JOC established its Sport and Environment Commission in 2001 in cooperation with the national sports federations that are JOC member organizations. The Commission is involved in education about, and the implementation of, environmental protection activities.
The Commission started out by encouraging cooperation with small, everyday environmental efforts such as trash separation or cutting down on electricity and water usage. As a result, almost all of the national federations have become involved in some kind of environmental protection activity. Some have been particularly proactive, launching their own campaigns or conducting other programs such as tree-planting. A summary of these activities is published every year in the JOC Sport and Environment Commission Report.
A good environment is crucial for people to be able to play sport. Each federation is aware of this and directs their activities accordingly, which means that in recent years people have become more aware of the relationship between sports and the environment. This can be considered a significant step forward.
"If it stops snowing, we won't be able to ski anymore... " The concerns the sports world has regarding the environment contain messages that everyone can relate to. With the force that this carries with it, we are ready to move another step forward on our journey from "enlightenment" to "implementation."
Think Globally, Act Locally
The JOC is responsible for promoting the IOC's environmental activities within Japan. As part of this promotion, we translated the "IOC Guide on Sport, Environment and Sustainable Development" into Japanese. This guidebook outlines the IOC activities that are being conducted for each Olympic discipline.
In addition, we created our own manual summarizing the main ideas from the IOC's publication and established our slogan of "Think Globally, Act Locally."
As members of the sporting world, we must give more visibility to our stance on environmental protection, taking action based on our principles and promoting environmental protection around the globe.
Taking Action - Things We Can Do Ourselves
So, what exactly do we mean by "implementation"? The first step is to become aware of the amount of CO2 and other greenhouse gases we are responsible for emitting.
As long as we are alive, we are emitting various greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. One method of dealing with global warming is to promote carbon offsets. In order to do this, we must quantify the greenhouse gases that are being emitted in the sporting world and come up with strategies to compensate for them.
One method is to measure the amount of emissions for each sporting event and record the results in an "environmental accounting book," responding with an appropriate and specific action such as adjusting the air-conditioning or planting trees. Other methods could involve using part of the admission fees from sporting events to fund tree-planting or hydro-electric power generation.
However, there are some sports federations that lack the funds to carry out such activities. In these cases, we hope the federations will use the influence their athletes have to encourage a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the community.
Children are especially influenced by what their favorite athletes say and do. Our Olympic athletes are responsible for inspiring a great number of people and their behavior is likely to be imitated by children as well as the population at large.
The 2016 Tokyo Olympics - A Turning Point for Creating a Better Environment
"Sea Forest," a project to transform reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay into a beautiful forest. Plans exist to use one section of the area to accommodate the equestrian arena for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
http://www.uminomori.metro.tokyo.jp/ index_e.html
The keyword for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which Tokyo is bidding to host, is "the environment." The Olympic Games is the biggest sporting event in the world; having all of the people who gather for the Games thinking about the environment would exert a huge influence around the globe.
Tokyo's approach to its Olympic bid is closely linked to the Tokyo government project known as "Tokyo's Big Change - The 10-Year Plan." This project contains plans to use the Olympic and Paralympic Games as opportunities for improving the city's living environment through such means as tree-planting projects, increasing the amount of greenery in the city and making use of Tokyo's cutting-edge technology to install more processing equipment to treat VOC (volatile organic compound) emissions, a type of airborne toxin. Viewing the Olympic and Paralympic Games as something more than just sporting events - as an opportunity to improve our city - is a wonderful way of looking at things.
Air pollution, lack of snow due to global warming, the decrease in the size of sand banks due to shore erosion. The environment in which we play sports is being negatively affected year after year. If we do not take action now, our environmental problems will become even graver, and the burden will be passed on to our children and subsequent generations. The entire sports world must act now to restore the environment. As people involved in sports, if we can create a ripple effect from our actions - gathering others to cooperate with us - our activities will gain the attention of citizens throughout the country and further increase environmental-protection awareness and action. It is with this in mind that the JOC will make use of the power of sport to promote environmental protection through "enlightenment" and "implementation."
Link: Interview with Former Chairman Mizuno Masato, ("The Future of Sports and the Environment," article originally published in the JOC's official magazine, Olympian, 2006 spring edition) > Read