2014 Winter Olympics: Sochi, Russia
Only a year and a half has passed since Vladimir Putin skied down the slopes of Sochi in a publicity stunt to help the resort, nicknamed the "Russian Riviera," win the 2014 games. Russian leaders hope the Olympics will help make Sochi a European ski destination.

But at the moment, Sochi is underdeveloped. Jean-Claude Killy, who leads the IOC's Sochi commission, said the Russian resort must build 70 to 80 percent of its venues from scratch. Not only that, but the Black Sea resort is bounded by two nature preserves, and Russia has already had to move the luge and bobsled sites after complaints about their proximity to the Western Caucasus UNESCO World Heritage Site, one of the last wildernesses in Europe still largely untouched by humans.

However, the biggest roadblock on the path to the Olympics might be political, not environmental. Sochi sits in the Caucasus Mountains, only a 15-minute drive from the Russian border with Georgia, the former Soviet republic where fighting has raged this month.


Will the Games Ever Be Truly Green?
Despite all the planning to make future Olympics as green as can be, London planners concede that "some aspects of staging the Games will involve unavoidable emissions"—especially the energy used in construction projects and athletes and fans (and that dang torch) traveling the world. Britain plans to use carbon offsets to make its games carbon neutral.

But the fact remains that a worldwide event like the Olympics can only be so environmentally friendly. "You can't assemble that many people in one place in the world without it being energy intensive," Lash said.

So maybe a truly green Olympiad is a fantasy, but that doesn't mean the games can't leave a green legacy. For instance, Lash said Beijing's Olympic venues are much better and more energy-efficient buildings than they would've been if they hadn't been built for the games. With some careful planning, he said, a "suddenly created city" doesn't have to be a pollution factory or a water glutton. And with the world's attention on green issues, the Olympics could ignite another kind of competition—to build the greenest buildings ever.