Touring the Olympic 2012 Site

from TreeHugger.com
by Bonnie Alter, London

The spotlight turned on East London for the second weekend in the London Festival of Architecture. That's where the London 2012 Olympics will be held, as will the last 6km of the London Olympic Marathon. In keeping with the East London theme, there was a tour of the Olympic site and the new developments.

The Olympics are being held in Stratford--a derelict part of the east end of London. It was chosen so that the new buildings and infrastructure will give the area a real boost into the 21st century in terms of social and physical renewal.

Stratford, nothing to do with Shakespeare, has long been a miserable and polluted part of town with a history of dirty industry that has gone bad. So bad that 80% of the soil in the Olympic area was removed, washed with chemicals and then replaced. Even the fish in the canal running through the area were removed and replaced with new ones.

Transport was a key part of the winning of the Olympic bid. Organisers have to bring 280,000 people a day to the area. The new trains from St. Pancras will take 7 minutes to get them there--if it works. The London Tubes presently are not known for their reliability. Supposedly, there will be no private parking spaces, everyone will have to come by public transport. Critics have questioned whether this will be the case with special lane closures for athletes and VIP's and 3000 BMW's on call.

The buildings are rising out of the ground, almost perfectly on time for the great event. The stadium is the most prominent. It will have a capacity of 80,000 during the Games: 25,000 permanent seats will remain afterwards. Designed by Populous and HOK, the light innovative design has a canvas roof covering two thirds of it. It is possible to dismantle it after the Games. On the ground and below the stadium will be 700 changing rooms and facilities for the athletes. Food will be served from temporary pods beside the building... read more story at TreeHugger.com

Sportscience

www.sportsci.org/index.html

Professor Will Hopkins of AUT University in Auckland has been working in the world of sport science for decades, and his website is a crucial resource for people interested in such matters.

The Sportscience website features a peer-reviewed journal, information about sport science research methodologies, and thematic areas on sports medicine, sport nutrition, and statistics.

On the right-hand side of the site's homepage, visitors can look over the "Articles/Slideshows" area for helpful pieces on controlled trials, assessing athletes, and sample-size estimation.

Moving back to the journal, visitors have access to all of the past issues, and they can take advantage of the sophisticated search engine to look for specific materials. Finally, visitors to the site will also want to sign up to join the email list. [KMG]

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2010.
scout.wisc.edu

Want to Feel More Alive? Study Shows You Need to Go Outside

from TreeHugger.com
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California

We kind of already know this - if not intuitively then through past studies - but a new study has shown that when you spend more time out in nature, you feel more alive. Published in this month's issue of the Journal of Environmental Psychology, the study shows that getting out and communing with nature is better for feeling rejuvenated than reaching for the ever-so-urban cup of coffee. "Nature is fuel for the soul, " says Richard Ryan, lead author and a professor of psychology at the University of Rochester. Both physically and mentally, we're zippier when we step into the wild.

Science Daily writes, "The findings, adds Ryan, are important for both mental and physical health. 'Research has shown that people with a greater sense of vitality don't just have more energy for things they want to do, they are also more resilient to physical illnesses. One of the pathways to health may be to spend more time in natural settings,' says Ryan."

The idea of getting out in nature to improve our spirits and therefore our physical health goes hand in hand with nature deficit disorder - the diminished use of the senses, difficulty with attention and higher rates of illness associated with an estrangement from nature, from the real world. Past studies have even shown that we're kinder, more gentle folks when we feel in-touch with the natural world.

It really should come as no surprise that as we pull ourselves away from the world in which we evolved, that sustains us and keeps us ticking, we're going to function less efficiently. Think about it - how often have we witnessed animals living in captivity just wither away from depression or unexplained illness? Well, humans are animals. We need our green scene...read more story at TreeHugger.com

Every City Needs This: The Parkbus, Direct From City To Park

from TreeHugger.com
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto

150 miles north of Toronto is the most extraordinary wilderness, Algonquin Provincial Park. If you own a car, it is an easy drive on good highways. If you don't it is not so easy; a bus or train to Huntsville, an expensive taxi ride or hitchhike in; for camping, just like anything else, the system is easy and convenient for cars and difficult for the rest. If we are going to get people out of cars, this has to change.

And it is changing; this year a new non-profit called Parkbus will pick you up at a number of convenient urban locations and three hours later, drop you off at an outfitter or campground right in the park.

It is also the kind of good idea where you just put the right people together and make things happen:

Parkbus is a non-profit, private initiative started in 2010 with an ambitious goal of making most popular Ontario parks accessible by bus. We decided to start small with a pilot project, that would connect Toronto and Algonquin Provincial Park. Getting in touch first with Mountain Equipment Coop, then with Ontario Parks, and then with Algonquin Provincial Park, we created a plan that we presented to the bus operator that agreed to add Toronto - Algonquin service to their routes.


parkbus toronto algonquin park transport photo bus
Buses by Great Canadian Holidays

There are a million people in the Toronto area without cars, and of Mountain Equipment Coop customers (the Canadian REI) without cars, (a high percentage) a whacking 94.9% said that they would use the service. Surprisingly, 35.4% of MEC customers who DO have cars said " they would be interested in an environmentally-friendly alternative to the wasteful car travel."

And why not? A lot of MEC types who own cars have them just to get out of town to the parks. It's cheaper, too; the CAA calculates that a car costs $0.56 per kilometre to run, or $ 140 one way to the Park; the bus is $42.

This is more than just a bus. This is the kind of initiative we need to make it as or more convenient to NOT own a car as it is to own one. They also drop you right at the outfitter; like a Product Service System, you just hop on the bus at one end, into your canoe at the other. More at ParkBus, via BlogTO... read more story at TreeHugger.com

Brazil Emerges as Clear World Cup Favourite in New Mindshare Survey

LONDON, June 9, 2010 /Canada NewsWire/ - When it comes to the World Cup 2010, Brazil is by far the favourite team of digitally-savvy soccer fans around the world, according to a new study.

More than 40 percent of all fans analysed said they plan to root for Brazil in the upcoming tournament, scheduled to begin June 11 in host country South Africa. The next highest team was Argentina with 30 percent of respondents offering their support. So, while Spain are the bookies' favourite to lift the trophy on July 11th, Brazil are the popular favourite around the world.

In contrast, seven nations were tied for dead last with only 1 percent of respondents claiming support. They were Slovakia, Algeria, Slovenia, Honduras, Serbia, South Korea, and North Korea.

The results were revealed in a new online survey conducted by media and marketing services agency Mindshare as part of its "Mindreader" series. The new study covers 29 markets with a representative sample of 29,000 internet users.

"Mindreader is a really powerful way of looking at what is important to people across the globe." said Mindshare's Marco Rimini. "The World Cup is the most popular event in the sporting calendar. Mindreader helps us understand what it means to consumers."

Only four nations included in the analysis did not have teams set to play in the tournament, and each said they will support the Brazilians more than any other team. These included India, with 69 percent of the respondents indicating their support for Brazil; Singapore (65%); Poland (53%); and Canada (47%).

Additionally, Brazil easily came in second behind the home team among a wide majority of nations with tournament representation. These included France (37%), Germany (22%), Italy (36%), South Africa (53%), Spain (41%), the U.K. (29%), and the U.S.A. (33%).

Not only was the Brazil the overwhelming fan favourite of the 32 national teams scheduled to play in the quadrennial event, but it was also favoured more than any other team to play in the final. Fifty-seven percent of the respondents picked Brazil for the final contest while 28 percent chose Spain and 27 percent picked Argentina.

The survey also revealed the following:

- Overall levels of interest in following the World Cup ranged widely from 92 percent of respondents in Argentina indicating they planned to follow at least some of the tournament to 23 percent in the U.S.A.

- Twelve percent of all respondents said they would root for the host country, South Africa, in the tournament. Other levels of support ranged from Spain (29 percent; England (26 percent); and Germany (25 percent) on the high end, to Denmark, Paraguay and Japan with 2 percent each on the lower end.

- Fans in a handful of nations had the confidence to predict that their home team will make it all the way to the final match. They included Argentina, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the U.S.A. The team each group predicted as their opponent? Who else-Brazil.

To view the Multimedia News Release, please click:

http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/prne/mindshare/42439/

The Death Of The Ugly Golf Mug?

TheGiftOfGolf.ca Launches In Time for Father's Day

TORONTO, June 3, 2010 /Canada NewsWire/ - TheGiftOfGolf.ca announced that it has officially launched its website that allows consumers to purchase golf experiences from the comfort of their desk.

The online retailer aims to end the stream of terrible golf gadgets that golfers inevitably receive by offering a convenient alternative. Rounds of golf, golf lessons, and driving range packages are some of the experiences that are available.

"Every golfer has received a really bad golf related gift that sits in the back of a storage room somewhere, our mission is to eliminate this problem by offering a simple and convenient online solution" says Ray Wali, Managing Director at The Gift Of Golf.

The company is focused on the gift giving and corporate markets. There is an estimated 5 million golfers in Canada.

"What better gift to get a golfer than golf? We anticipate Father's Day to be one of our busiest periods" adds Wali.

The company has launched in Toronto and will be expanding across Canada in the coming months.

More information is available online at TheGiftOfGolf.ca