Yao Ming, the 7′6″ tall Chinese basketball player who plays for the Houston Rockets, has been named “Environment Champion” by the United Nations.

The Daily Green article goes on to say that Ming has pledged to “work with young people around the world to raise awareness about green issues and to try to inspire them to plant trees, use energy-efficient light bulbs, harvest rain water and personally advocate for a healthier environment.”

As he represents his home country in the Beijing Olympic Games, Ming said “as the world celebrates the Beijing Olympic Games, I would also like to call upon the organizers of all major sports events in the world to make sure they use public transport facilities, build proper waste management systems and use greener forms of energy.”

Attention to the environment has been a key part of the 2008 Beijing games.

The 2008 Summer Olympic Games has started in China, and with a very impressive ceremony both in terms of scale and execution. But as well as the opening ceremony, the sporting events and the inevitable political commentary that will surround the games, this year there is also a focus on the environment.

Earth2Tech has a list of ten companies who have provided some eco-friendly equipment for the games. Everybody from LED lighting experts Cree, who provided LED displays for the swimming cube and the bird’s nest National Stadium, to companies like GE who are involved in all kinds of projects at the games, including wind turbines, solar lighting and even rainwater recycling.

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