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The Olympic Torch Comes To San Francisco
April 9, 2008
In San Francisco, the procession carrying the Olympic torch for the 2008 Beijing games kept its route secret. [SF Chronicle]
Over 700 cops jogging, on bicycles and on motorcycles were “posted along the route, with a big assist from the California Highway Patrol, the Sheriff’s Department, the U.S. State Department and the FBI.”
The reason? Keep the torch lit and the parade under control in the wake of protests that have dogged the torch from Athens to London to Paris.
Remind yourself why they’re protesting here: [MicCheck]
Good ol’ San Francisco values keepin’ ‘em honest.
The Torch’s Carbon Footprint
The 2008 Olympic Torch has been the star of international headlines lately. Protests in France! Demonstrations in San Francisco! This story, though, doesn’t include picket signs and chants. Instead, we’d like to take a look at the torch’s… carbon footprint. [Wired]
Yes, that’s right. Its carbon footprint. Or, one more reason to be mad at China. As Wired reports: “By the time this pyro parade is over, it will have produced about 11 million pounds of carbon emissions.”
The torch is visiting 23 cities during a global sweep that includes stops in London, Paris, San Francisco, Bangkok, Islamabad and Almaty, Kazakhstan, among other cuties. The Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee says the journey will cover more than 85,000 miles.
How does that equal so many emissions? We’re glad you asked. See, when the torch isn’t traveling on streets, it’s traveling by plane. An Air China A330 custom painted with the Olympic logo and color scheme, to be exact.
The A330 burns 5.4 gallons of fuel per mile. That translates into 462,400 gallons for the entire trip.
It’s estimated that every gallon of jet fuel burned produces 23.88 pounds of CO2. If that’s correct, the Olympic Torch Relay is adding about 11 million pounds of carbon to the atmosphere. That’s 5,500 tons.
Something tells us they weren’t anticipating this at Olympus.
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