Fireworks, incandescent lightbulbs, and now...the 2012 Olympic Torch. The environmentalists at the Commission for a Sustainable London are worried that the 2012 Olympic Torch isn't low carbon. An article in The Australian highlights the benefits of the new design, such as it's being lighter and 'less likely to maim it's bearer'. But the Commission remains unsatisfied.
The gold, baton-shaped torch is 80cm long and weighs 800g, so it is light enough for the youngest runner taking part in the 70-day relay. Each bearer will start with a fresh torch lit from the Olympic flame and will be able to buy it as a souvenir. Mr Playfoot still has his torch which, he said, burnt like a blowtorch powered by naphtha.
The relay will begin at Land's End on May 19 and the torch will be carried to every corner of Britain, including the Channel Islands, Northern Ireland and the Outer Hebrides.
However, the failure of designers Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby to produce a low-carbon torch was criticised. "We tried really hard to do that. We were very close, but we just ran out of time," Mr Barber said.
The Commission for a Sustainable London 2012 said that was a poor excuse. "The promise of a low-carbon torch was made in 2007 and so the excuse of 'we ran out of time' is not acceptable," chairman Shaun McCarthy said.