The International Olympic Committee claims that environmental protection is a fundamental part of the Olympic Games, along with sports and culture. But only one-tenth of 1 percent of the budget for the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics will be spent on the environment, says Diane Conrad, who is overseeing environmental programs for the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. She said the committee couldn’t “fix all existing environmental problems,” but would spearhead a project to plant 3 million trees and set in place strong composting and recycling programs, so that the games produced zero waste. The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance said the planned environmental efforts were not much more than window dressing.
