> Live Earth monitoring reveals extent of carbon footprints
Live Earth monitoring reveals extent of carbon footprints
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October 24, 2007
Cities hosting the recent Live Earth concerts to raise awareness of global warming left their own carbon footprints – China registered the lowest while London generated the highest, according to an analysis of globally collected data presented via a new online tool.
Software called see-it, developed by Vancouver-based Visible Strategies, produced score cards detailing the environmental performance of each of the eight participating cities. Data was collected and analyzed in areas of energy, transportation and waste.
Other results of the detailed analysis reveal:
•Audience travel was the prime source of carbon use,
•Artists traveling to distant locations also resulted in significantly higher carbon use,
•Tokyo and Johannesburg diverted more than 95 per cent of their waste from entering landfills through efficient recycling and reuse programs.
Boyd Cohen, an SFU assistant business professor and president of Visible Strategies, Live Earth’s only Canadian partner, expects the interactive see-it site to be viewed by millions of visitors via Live Earth’s website (liveearth.visiblestrategies.com).
He says using see-it, each city’s event results can be easily compared against other cities in terms of carbon used and waste generated during the event. “In terms of reducing the environmental impact of large events, adequate pre-event planning is critical to ensuring high environmental standards are maintained.
“For example, selecting population-dense cities that have exceptional public transportation and easy-to-access music venues is key, because attendees will be able to walk or take transit rather than commute in a non-green way by car or airplane.”
Cohen, who is also involved with the creation of SFU’s own sustainability plan, adds that entertainers should be encouraged to further minimize the impact of their own travel. “If an artist like Madonna is already in London, organizers can reduce travel emissions by arranging for her to perform in London, rather than travel a long distance to New York.”
Live Earth organizers say the work of the see-it online tool could play a role in helping to implement improved sustainable models for future events, and serve as a template for other global events such as the World Cup and the Olympics.
Visible Strategy’s see-it software is already being used by several North American cities to meet key strategic green goals.
Software called see-it, developed by Vancouver-based Visible Strategies, produced score cards detailing the environmental performance of each of the eight participating cities. Data was collected and analyzed in areas of energy, transportation and waste.
Other results of the detailed analysis reveal:
•Audience travel was the prime source of carbon use,
•Artists traveling to distant locations also resulted in significantly higher carbon use,
•Tokyo and Johannesburg diverted more than 95 per cent of their waste from entering landfills through efficient recycling and reuse programs.
Boyd Cohen, an SFU assistant business professor and president of Visible Strategies, Live Earth’s only Canadian partner, expects the interactive see-it site to be viewed by millions of visitors via Live Earth’s website (liveearth.visiblestrategies.com).
He says using see-it, each city’s event results can be easily compared against other cities in terms of carbon used and waste generated during the event. “In terms of reducing the environmental impact of large events, adequate pre-event planning is critical to ensuring high environmental standards are maintained.
“For example, selecting population-dense cities that have exceptional public transportation and easy-to-access music venues is key, because attendees will be able to walk or take transit rather than commute in a non-green way by car or airplane.”
Cohen, who is also involved with the creation of SFU’s own sustainability plan, adds that entertainers should be encouraged to further minimize the impact of their own travel. “If an artist like Madonna is already in London, organizers can reduce travel emissions by arranging for her to perform in London, rather than travel a long distance to New York.”
Live Earth organizers say the work of the see-it online tool could play a role in helping to implement improved sustainable models for future events, and serve as a template for other global events such as the World Cup and the Olympics.
Visible Strategy’s see-it software is already being used by several North American cities to meet key strategic green goals.