Archive for World Cup 2010
World Cup Vuvuzela debate – couldn’t they be green at least?
Posted by: | CommentsHopefully many of you have noticed that we are more than a week into the month long FIFA World Cup being held in South Africa. It’s the first time the event has been hosted anywhere in Africa which gives the tournament its own unique identity and if you’ve watched even a few minutes you’ve surely noticed South Africa’s World Cup will also be remembered for the noise in the stadiums. Instead of the usual singing and 
chanting associated with football all you hears is a constant buzz – or drone. The noise never relents and has been compared to swarming bees, hornets and angry mosquitoes and dominates the audio transmission from kick off until the referee blows the final whistle. The noise is (at times) 50% or more of the amassed crowds in the stadium blowing their Vuvuzelas and as the game warms up so does the noise.
The hum of the vuvuzela is driving me crazy I must confess, I want to hear singing, chanting and applause, I want to hear the electricity in the stadium spark in volume as a winger goes on a tricky run or the roar of the crowd when the ball hits the back of the net. Instead all we hear is buzzzzzzzzzzz for 90 minutes, now as we’re obviously stuck with the vuvuzela for the duration of the tournament lets look at them. They are a long (about 2.5-3 feet) trumpet type noisemaker and are a proud feature of the football atmosphere in South Africa. Sales of the vuvuzelas are going through the roof as everyone seeks to be part of the atmosphere and entertainment both inside and outside the stadium, the primary manufacturer in China estimates that sales will exceed 1 million pieces before the tournament concludes.
Now I think the vuvuzela as a celebratory instrument as a cultural tradition is excellent and as recently as ten years ago the instruments were hand made from tin. The bad news for the environment and this World Cup craze is all of the Vuvuzelas mass produced are made from plastic. I’d also be fairly confident that many of the plastic horns will be thrown away once the football ends ra
ther than being kept as a memento from the trip to South Africa. It’s another example where affordability takes the pole position over environmental considerations. However I think many of the hundreds of thousands of fans who are spending thousands of dollars to visit South Africa in the first place, would be very likely to consider one of the alternative options available. Though a little more expensive, probably something far more likely to be packed in your suitcase and brought home as a memory of the experience. We have to stop rushing to plastics as the answer for a cheap affordable option when the cost is so high.
A wonderful alternative is available but the age old argument of product promotion steps into play. K.E.L.P makes a beautiful option, Kelp horns are made from dried kelp. The kelp pieces are painted using designs that are suited to the various shapes of the horns and to the customer’s requirements. The horns consist of two distinct sections. The head and the body. The head is the bulbous area often including the dried fronds and the body is the extended length of the horn. The head is the main feature and the body is painted with a matching design. Not only are they environmentally friendly but they are really rather beautiful (pictured to the right).
I don’t really like the vuvuzelas impacting the World Cup but would prefer if they were green. The video below examines the noise further.
Eco-cinema provides green venue to view 2010 World Cup
Posted by: | CommentsIn just 21 days the most watched broadcast event on earth kicks off in South Africa. The 2010 FIFA World Cup anticipates exceeding the viewing figures for the tournament to exceed the 2006 event which numbered some 30 billion for the entire tournament (about 470 million per match) 
including an estimate of 715 million who viewed the final between Italy and France. Every four years the top nations take part in the footballing party which will be hosted over 30 days in South Africa beginning on June 11. This is the first time the tournament has ever been hosted by an African nation and FIFA are confident that the tournament record for total viewers will be shattered this Summer.
These figures represent ‘televisions’ in use per match but if you’ve ever been in a country where Football/Soccer is the national sport you’ll know that audiences are far larger as groups of hundreds often watch in pubs, parks and various other ‘viewing parties’ which add to the atmosphere. Its safe to say you can watch the matches outdoors in a large gathering in most major cities there is one broadcast scheduled to take place in London that is laying claim to be the first ‘Green World Cup Broadcast’. As part of the annual Haringey Green Fair which takes place in the North London borough of Haringey the event has announced plans to construct an eco-cinema in a park during the fair. The yearly fair showcases green suppliers and highlights the district’s commitment to addressing environmental issues with a series of informational sessions/booths and stalls which sell eco-friendly items. To celebrate the Green Week and related events the borough is using the timing of the festival coinciding with the World Cup to attract perhaps a broader audience than normal.
During the first week of the World Cup (the same week of the fair) a giant Cinema screen will be constructed on Duckett’s Common. The screen will be powered completely by bio diesel generators and will feature the big match on the second day of the tournament (June 12) between England and the USA. Admission to see the game will be free and it will be the only open air venue to watch the
Van Persie hopes to lead Holland to World Cup success
game in Haringey – and the show will be entirely green. A novel idea that should see many hundreds of fans attend the fair and then the game that evening. Local councilor for Haringey Nilgun Canver added:
“This is a first and it is really exciting. Our annual Green Fair is taking place on the common earlier in the day and we wanted to link this to the excitement of England’s first game that evening. We are using the bio fuel screen as part of the Green Fair to promote sustainable living and decided we would love to use it to screen the World Cup game. Often you can only watch football on large screens in pubs and licensed premises. We thought it would be a good idea to enable whole families to come along for free to enjoy the game together in an environmentally friendly atmosphere. Haringey Council is committed to cutting carbon emissions and I hope this shows everyone that almost anything can be adapted to support those aims.”
As for the match, expect an England win by 3-1 although the tournament will be eventually be won by Spain or Argentina. That’s the Planet Forward forecast!
Tags: bio-diesel, eco-cinema, fifa world cup, haringey green festival, planet forward, World Cup 2010, world cup south africaGreen Gazette (Issue 18) South Park, Eco-TV, Al Gore and Safeway
Posted by: | CommentsGood Evening welcome back to sustainable stories, eco enlightenment and green gossip. It’s green gazette time and I barely have the energy to type having watched far too much World Cup qualification football so far today. Only one team I watched wore green and Ireland fell short 0-1 to France despite being at home in Dublin. Enough of that I’ve got a green gazette round up for you tonight.
I never anticipated being able to write about South Park in conjunction with our blog, so as unexpected as that is it’s also great to do so. The famous/infamous cartoon set in the mountains of Colorado now has a fully legitimate connection to positive environmental impact. The creators of the show Trey Parker and Matt Stone have built a very green mountain getaway (for writing?) just outside Steamboat Springs. The fully custom home will feature in a forthcoming edition of architectural digest but it’s the green aspects I wanted to focus on. The home features ceilings constructed from recovered railroad trestles that used to lay in the Great Salt Lake. In addition the home also features recycled carpeting and in floor radiant heating. The upmarket ski resort is primarily a holiday getaway for the rich and famous so it will be fun to think of these two comic mavericks having house parties up in the slopes. Kudos to the boys (wow…they are 40 and 38 respectively now…how did that happen?).
Although Phoenix has quietly become the 6th biggest city in the US it rarely makes national news but this week was a little different as the Green Build expo hit the desert. The 4 day event in the heart of the city featured over 1,000 vendors, dozens of prominent speakers and a keynote 
speech by former Vice-President Al Gora at Chase Field. Over 29,000 tickets were sold for the evening that featured Mr. Gore. Green Build has become one of the largest eco-focused conventions in North America. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend that evening but Al Gore spoke for over 40 minutes to an audience that contained many key figureheads in the eco-revolution that is taking the construction business by storm (at last!!). The growth in investment since 2005 is truly remarkable and leaves me with great hope that the upward curve will continue so that green build is considered the norm – and any tried and tested (wasteful) construction is gradually frowned upon and then ultimately not approved per city, state or federal code. Some key moments from Gore’s speech appear beneath.
Living in a house with children I was excited to read about this new television from Sony, an invention so simple, so obvious, so energy efficient and so subtle that I’m amazed it’s only just come on the market. The new Sony KDL-46VE5 brings you the quality you associate with a Sony with a neat little idea that’s been begged for by parents (and partners) for decades on end. What makes this TV so eco smart – it turns itself off if nobody is watching. The set has a motion detecting sensor which you can set for 5,30,or 60 minutes. If you leave the room (or sit completely still…I often feel motionless if Fox news is accidentally on…certainly brain dead) and then sensor determines nobody is watching it will turn itself of. If only it could do the same if the program is determined to be utter rubbish. Anyway, I can’t imagine the technology is that restrictive (to cost) so I hope other manufacturers will follow the lead of Sony and make all new televisions offer the same feature.
I’ll close with a quick story out of California (so often the epicenter for eco-ideas) as supermarket giant Safeway have opened their very first eco-Safeway in Santa Cruz. The store is 100% LEED compliant and when you stop to think the location is 60,000 square feet the green impact is truly measurable – being the equivalent of refitting 30-40 homes to the highest levels of green technology. Here’s hoping this becomes the norm for the giant chain that has over 1,740 locations throughout the US and western Canada.
Tags: Al Gore, Al Gore Speech, eco standards, ECO TV, Green Build Expo, Ireland versus France World Cup, LEED, Matt Stone, planet forward, Safeway, Sony Eco TV, Sony KDL-46VE5, South Park, South Park Eco Mansion, Steamboat Springs, Trey Parker, World Cup 2010
