Chicago Promises Greenest Olympics in Bid for 2016 Games

Chicago has promised to make the 2016 Summer Olympics the Greenest games ever if they win their bid to host. "We've got a real opportunity to take the best aspects of our city, the parks, the lakefront, and the environmentalism and bring a real asset to the table," Chicago 2016 spokesman Patrick Sandusky told the AP. "It's certainly one of the great strengths of the city of Chicago that we have to offer."

In a city where plants currently cool 3 million square feet of rooftops throughout the city, and wind, hydropower, and biofuels provide one-fifth of its energy, the Olympic Games would provide a tremendous opportunity for Chicago to continue to be at the forefront of Green city-planning. Organizers of Chicago's Olympic bid say vehicles provided by the games would run on low-carbon fuels or electricity and event sites would be powered by renewable energy. Storm water would be collected and reused, and the venues would use recyclable or reusable products.

The other three bid cities -- Madrid, Rio De Janeiro, and Tokyo -- are also touting environment-friendly plans to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which will decide on the host city in October. Madrid vows to promote bicycle use, while Rio De Janeiro says 3 million trees would be planted in nearby rain forests to offset carbon emissions. Tokyo is promoting a "zero-waste Olympics."

One obstacle Chicago faces in its 2016 Olympic bid is its deteriorating public transportation system, which the IOC has said needs extensive work. The city of Chicago wants this Olympic bid BADLY. It will take extraordinary efforts and resources from now until October for Chicago to win the 2016 games. But the benefits of hosting the games -- from the international exposure to the economic stimulation -- would be a huge boost to the city of Chicago and surrounding areas.