So what exactly is the sustainability gap?

It is pretty strange to be starting a blog at this moment. I never thought I would be one of those people, who thought themselves too bright and important to go quietly through life without sharing their experience with others. But as the blogosphere grows by the day, so does the subject matter, and the way that we use blogs to communicate with one another. I started this blog with many intentions in mind, but I would first like to introduce myself and the project I will be working on for the next five months.

A native Oregonian, pastry baker, and amateur photographer, I am also a graduate student at the University of Oregon on the verge of graduating with my MS in Historic Preservation. Yes, you read it right, and no, it isn't restoring paintings. I study architectural history, learn how to restore historic structures, and teach others how heritage conservation is a cornerstone to healthy communities. As a part of this education, I am writing my thesis, "The Sustainability Gap: A Case Study of Olympic Development in Sydney, Australia and Beijing, China."

I promise you, it is not going to be as dry as it sounds. I am going to be traveling to Sydney in a couple of days to research the site of the 2000 Summer Olympic Games, and will at the end of September be researching the site of the upcoming 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing in order to document how each host city has or has not incorporated heritage conservation into their sustainability agendas. I will then use this information in order to take a hard look at the International Olympic Committee's sustainability agenda, Agenda 21, and determine if it is doing enough to protect heritage resources from destruction in the wake of frantic development which leads up to each and every summer OGs.

I started this blog because along the way I will be partaking in some interesting travel, so I would like to not only share my thoughts on the developing thesis with anyone who is interested and would like to give feedback, but also share experiences and photos from my travels with friends and family so they can see that yes, I am alive, and also doing well while far away from home.