Oy vey. A “vacation” (read: four-state, four-family, Midwestern extravaganza) has left me decidedly off the ball. Prepare for heavy linkiness, and my apologies that much of this is not terribly current.
There’s a Dead Meat Olympics? Who knew?
Steve Nash (heart!) is opening an environmental gym in Vancouver.
London Olympics 2012 update: Amphibians are being relocated and organizers are clearing sport venues of arsenic, asbestos, lead, ammonia, and coal tar. How thoughtful. In related news, Milwaukee Public Schools closed 25 playing fields after realizing that application of sewage-sludge fertilizer on the fields could have been, you know, toxic.
Beijing Olympics 2008 update: China will breed hormone-free pigs to keep pork-eating athletes from failing drug tests. International teams are employing “top secret” strategies and equipment to avoid the city’s pollution as much as possible, and the Games has not ruled out postponing competitions based on air quality. This story doesn’t have much new to say about the environmental angle of the Olympics, but the profile of 8-year-old ultramarathoner Zhang Huimin, which the article opens and closes with, is pretty insane.
It’s, like, totally old news that Formula One racing is looking to curb its emissions. But I’m happy to bring up the subject again, simply because Reuters reporter Erik Kirschbaum began his article with, “Talking about climate change at a Formula One race might at first glance seem like praising celibacy in a brothel.” Saucy!
Speaking of pithy quotes, here’s one from a Tour de France analyst: “Yes, there will be a Tour of America race … just as soon as we run out of gasoline.”
Can football (soccer) save the planet? Do tell. Are winter sports ruining mountain ecosystems? Sho nuff.
And I’m spent.
