By Matthew Campelli, The Sustainability Report

Since the turn of the year, MLS club Seattle Sounders and Real Betis of Spain have joined Forest Green Rovers to become the first batch of professional sports clubs to pledge climate neutrality.

It?s been a barnstorming start to the 2019 MLS season for Seattle Sounders. Four wins out of five ? with a 0-0 draw against Pacific northwest rival Vancouver Whitecaps the team?s only blemish ? represents its best start to a campaign since joining the league as an expansion franchise in 2009. Only Los Angeles FC, having played a game more, sits above the Sounders in the Western Conference rankings.

There?ll be a realistic expectation among the club?s supporters (widely recognised as one of the most fanatical sets of fans in the MLS) that the team can add more silverware to the MLS Cup victory it achieved in 2016.

But away from the field, the Sounders will be taking on a challenge that goes way beyond the winning of football matches and trophies ? becoming totally carbon neutral by the end of the year.

A month before the new season started, the club announced that it was going to measure and reduce the greenhouse gas emissions cause by its operations and travel, and offset its unavoidable emissions by investing in conservation and tree planting projects in the region.

Indeed, the club offset all of its unavoidable emissions from 2018 (1,847 tonnes) by inviting fans and players to plant 370 trees along the Dumawish River with the help of its new partner Forterra, an environmental sustainability-focused non-profit from the Pacific northwest region (see image below).

The Sounders have also pledged to compensate for all fan travel as well as player travel in 2019. And getting supporters involved in the tree-planting offsetting project is part of the strategy for securing their buy-in when it comes to embedding sustainability and environmental consciousness firmly in the club?s core values.

?Step one is inviting fans to be part of the actual physical removal of the 2018 emissions,? says Taylor Graham, vice-president of business operations. ?Step two is to get every fan to know they have choices when it comes to engaging with us. Method of transportation, for example, is an important part of that.

?We?ve done research to understand what percentage of our fans walk to games, what percentage of our fans ride bicycles, what percentage drive, what percentage are driving with carpool, and what percentage use public transit like light rail, bus and metro. We have a barometer for evaluating change and we need to celebrate some of our more environmentally-friendly options.?

To promote low-carbon transportation options to fans, the team regularly highlights transit options that won?t make them have to ?park and sit in traffic?. A bike valet, who takes responsibility for the parking and security of fan bikes, has also been employed at CenturyLink Field, the team?s home stadium.

Driven by culture

Changing fan behaviour will certainly contribute to the organisation?s overall carbon footprint. And engaging the public on this topic gives the Sounders an opportunity to attract more spectators and deepen relationships with existing supporters. However, the majority of the reductions required to achieve climate neutrality will have to come from internal operations.

According to statistics published by the Sounders, almost a third (29%) of its carbon emissions come from CenturyLink Field, despite it being one of the most sustainable sports venues in the US (it has installed LED lighting, 15% of energy comes from solar panels and 95% of its waste is diverted away from landfill).

Sustainable Business Consulting ? a Seattle-based firm whose chief executive, Kevin Wilhelm, is an ?avid Sounders fan? ? has been employed by the Sounders to calculate the club?s greenhouse gas emissions and suggest reduction strategies. Initial work on in-house reduction started 18 months ago, with the quest towards carbon neutrality framed as a gradual process.

?It literally started with a group of people in our office and it was 100% driven by culture. We live in a region of the US that is very sustainability-driven. The people in our office compost and recycle, so we formed a ?Green Team? to address the frustrations we had with business practices that were inconsistent with how we live from day to day,? says Graham.

?So, we put a flag in the ground and chose a couple of simple things ? some low-hanging fruit ? that we could change in the way we operate our business. Simple things like setting printer settings to print double-sided so, right off the bat, you?re saving 50% of paper consumption.?

Those quick wins escalated into a company-wide strategy to reduce emissions wherever possible. Offsetting last year?s emissions will now be followed by an analysis of energy consumption and where products and materials are sourced to see where further reductions can be made.

?We have three key words that we operate under,? adds Bart Wiley, the Seattle Sounders chief operating officer. ?We want to be innovative, collaborative and ambitious.

?The ownership team allows us to be those three things and gives us freedom to explore new ideas. We live in a city that is environmentally conscious, and we want to make sure that as part of the community we?re mindful of our impact and how we can balance it out.?

Pioneers

Organisation on the road to climate neutrality and taking a holistic approach to sustainability can usually thank an owner or ownership team that are acutely aware of the perils of climate change, that have an understanding of their company?s negative impact, and that have the drive and resources to minimise that negative impact.

Forest Green Rovers, the English football club owned by renewable energy entrepreneur Dale Vince, became the first professional sports team to become climate neutral when it was certified by the UNFCCC?s Climate Neutral Now programme last summer. The team was also among the first batch of signatories to the UNFCCC?s Sport for Climate Action Framework that was revealed at COP24 in Katowice last December.

To achieve climate neutrality, Vince focused on three areas: energy, food and transport.

The club?s stadium is powered by renewable energy through Vince?s company, Ecotricity, all food is vegan and the pitch is organic. In terms of transport, Vince?s ambition is to secure an electric or hybrid team bus, while the club is working on a lift-share app for fans for the start of next season.

?It was very straight forward for us to systematically create a green football club,? he tells The Sustainability Report. ?When we got involved in the club in 2010 it was like a rescue mission and we thought that we should bring the work we do at Ecotricity into the world of football and speak to a new audience.

?We knew we needed to make changes around energy, transport and food. It?s like a universal slide rule; you can hold it up to the life of an individual person, a sports club, an organisation of any size ? energy, transport and food are probably responsible for about 80% of their carbon emissions.?

After making carbon reductions in all three areas, the club offset its remaining footprint of 200 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions by acquiring UN-certified carbon credits for sustainable development projects.

Impact like ?no other sector?

Since Forest Green made the commitment to both UNFCCC programmes, two further professional sports teams have pledged support for the each of the project.

Footballers playing for Spanish Primera División team Real Betis will run out for their league match against Valencia in two weeks in kits made from recycled material from the stadium ? and embossed with the UNFCCC logo ? after the club signed up to its Climate Neutral Now initiative.

The two-time Copa del Rey winner is currently in the process of selecting a company to measure the carbon footprint generated by its Estadio Benito Villamarín stadium and its training ground before reducing and compensating unavoidable emissions through carbon credits.

A new sports city being built by Real Betis close to its home city of Seville will be built with solar power for energy and a sustainable water treatment system to reduce its environmental impact further.

And Major League Baseball franchise New York Yankees ? one of the most famous and valuable sports teams in the world ? has recently become the latest sports entity to sign up to the Sport and Climate Action Framework, pledging to measure, reduce and compensate its carbon emissions going forward.

However, the team has so far stopped short of making the commitment to become totally climate neutral.

?I don?t think there is a sector that is on a par with what sport is capable of,? Vince explains. ?If sport pursued climate neutrality it could have an impact like no other sector because it can engage with billions of people who are ultimately making decisions every day of their lives and about where to spend their money.

?That kind of grassroots pull will make the entire supply chain of the world start to provide the sustainable options that we need.?

Read the full article here.

The post Climate Neutrality: Meet Sport?s Early Adopters appeared first on Green Sports Alliance.

By Fang Block, Penta

Launched in late 2015, The Lonely Whale Foundation focuses on initiatives that individuals can easily understand and participate in. LASZLO SZIRTESI/GETTY IMAGES

The foundation that has created several successful global campaigns?including Strawless In Seattle and Ocean Heroes Bootcamp?to address the ocean sustainability issues, is planning to launch an initiative to eliminate single-use plastic water bottles.

The Lonely Whale Foundation, officially launched in December 2015 by actor Adrian Grenier and producer Lucy Sumner, focuses on initiatives that individuals can easily understand and participate in, and collectively, make a huge difference.

A good example is Strawless In Seattle, part of the foundation?s global initiative to remove 500 million plastic straws from the U.S. waste stream. The campaign led to Seattle?s ban on single-use plastic straws and utensils in July 2018. According to  estimates, in September alone, 2.3 million single-use plastic straws were permanently removed from the city.

The campaign to tackle single-use plastic water bottles is expected to be announced within the next couple of months.

?Every year, we estimate between 8 million and 12 million metric tons of plastic enter the ocean,? says Dune Ives, the foundation’s executive director. ?We need to act now.?

Ives, who was also a co-founder of The Green Sports Alliance, an inaugural member of Al Gore?s The Climate Project, and the former head of Paul Allen?s Vulcan Philanthropy, spoke with Penta about the foundation?s mission, programs, and impact.

PENTA: Where did the inspiration for Lonely Whale Foundation come from?

Dune Ives: Lonely Whale was founded by Adrian Grenier and Lucy Sumner. They created the foundation as a result of the overwhelming responses that they received from people all over the world when they did a Kickstarter campaign for a documentary about finding a whale that sings at a frequency that no other whales have been known to sing before and ever since.

It?s a great story about how creatures in the ocean are increasingly facing very difficult conditions. We are warming the ocean, making it more acidic, and polluting it with plastics.

The foundation was established to bring people closer to the ocean, helping them create connections with each other, so collectively we can have much more positive impact on the state of the ocean health.

Executive director Dune Ives COURTESY OF LONELY WHALE

Why did you focus on single-use plastic straws?

When we took a look at our mission, we realized that without there being a defining issue, it?s hard to galvanize people. There is no shortage of ocean initiatives, but for the most part, the goals are unattainable.

We landed at the single-use plastic straw, because it can provide individuals an opportunity to engage a big, challenging issue.

In addition to Strawless In Seattle, we are also working in Shanghai and London with Bacardi Limited on a campaign called The Future Doesn?t Suck. Primarily, we focus on bartenders/mixologists who can talk and impact customers, restaurants, and the hospitality sector.

We presented a hard-to-understand issue in a funny way, giving people the opportunity to say no to single-use plastic straws.

What is your impact so far?

We are very specific about our impact, what we try to accomplish. All of our work is data driven.

The foundation is aiming to eliminate 15 billion single-use plastic straws across the globe by the end of 2020. We are well over halfway there. We are continuing to push.

In terms of total volume, we expect to permanently remove 25,000 metric tons of plastic?a drop in the bucket compared to how much goes into the ocean. But that?s the challenge we?re facing, the enormity of the issue the world is desperately in need of tackling.

Our Ocean Heroes Bootcamp empowers existing and emerging youth leaders to create their own campaigns to take action against ocean plastic pollution. The inaugural 2018 Bootcamp took place in New Orleans. This summer, it will be hosted by Vancouver. We are accepting 300 youths from 29 countries, and 24 states from the United States.

They just need to get there, we pay everything else for the three-day camp. Our philosophy is that someone?s finances should not prevent them from saving the world.

What?s next?

We will continue to work collaboratively with private corporations and nonprofit organizations to tackle plastic pollution in the ocean.

From 2015 to 2022, each of those years, between 8 million and 12 million metric tons of plastic have been and will be dumped into the ocean. We have to make much more progress not only around this issue, but also around illegal fishing, climate change, and other ocean sustainability issues.

Read the full article here.

The post Lonely Whale?s Mission to Save the Ocean appeared first on Green Sports Alliance.

By The Business Debate, Reuters

The post AEG: Shaping The Future Through Power Of Sports And Live Entertainment appeared first on Green Sports Alliance.

By GEO Foundation

The 2018 U.S. Kids Golf Venice Open has been officially recognized as a GEO Certified® Tournament for its inspiring leadership to advance sustainability in and through golf.

The initiative was led by the voluntary leadership of the U.S. Kids Golf Foundation and Golf della Montecchia, with strong support from the other two host venues ? Golf Club Frassanelle and Galzignano Terme Spa & Golf Resort. The event is also backed by the PGAs of Europe.

Dan Van Horn, Founder and Chief Executive of the U.S. Kids Golf Foundation said: ?We are thrilled to have achieved this world first. Innovation is ingrained in our DNA, as demonstrated by the approach we take at our home base in Longleaf, so it made absolute sense for us to push the boundaries on environmental sustainability and community value at our events. The GEO Foundation has been a credible and knowledgeable partner, providing support and now recognition that enables us to promote this important message more widely. We?d encourage all golf venues and tournaments to get involved.?

Paolo Casati, President of Golf della Montecchia and of PlayGolf54 Group said: ?Together with all my family we are honoured by this result. It was a long journey, based on a commitment to environmental values that started many years ago. Thanks to a valued collaboration with the U.S. Kids Golf Foundation, we are very proud to spread this important message to the new generation.?

Coordination and delivery were overseen by sustainable golf expert, Stefano Boni ? who used guidance and resources provided by the GEO OnCourse® Tournaments program to liaise closely with the organizers, venues, hotels, transport companies, caterers and also the children and their families. The award has been made following a robust third-party verification, which was based on all the evidence that Stefano gathered and reported.

Jonathan Smith, Founder and Executive Director of GEO Foundation added: ?We are delighted to extend this well-deserved recognition to the U.S. Kids Golf Foundation and the team that stages the Venice Open. Perhaps the most inspiring part is seeing the children and their families getting engaged and expressing such a clear desire to see the sport they love embrace environmental stewardship and social responsibility. We congratulate all the partners on leading the way, and expressing what golf can do to foster nature, conserve resources and build inclusive, healthy and sustainable communities.?

Susie Tomson, the independent, expert verifier said: ?The organizers used the international certification criteria to guide all their planning, and then broke it down into very specific and practical tasks, spanning a wide range of actions and issues. In a relatively short time, and without huge capacity or resources, they have managed to engage a lot of different stakeholders, and the players themselves, to generate real results. They are a model example of a smaller, non-professional tournament that can make a big difference?.

Venues:

• Golf della Montecchia GEO Certified® for 7 years and winner of IAGTO Sustainability Award
• Golf Club Frassanelle and Galzignano Terme are in OnCourse® sustainability programme and working towards GEO Certified®
• All courses are pioneering organic management of new, warm-season grasses; and studying sustainable turf, biodiversity and water conservation, and reduced carbon footprint in partnership with NGOs and universities.

Event:

• Players, caddies and families completed an environmental questionnaire and environmental information family orientation packs
• Sustainability-themed signage across all venues and hotels
• Hotels and restaurants committed to the tournament?s sustainability policy
• Recovery of all recyclable materials and water refill stations
• Forty bicycles were provided to families by the JSH Group hotels
• Local sourcing with wine, meat, dairy and most of the vegetables from local farmlands (supplier Nautilus Fish and Wine has very comprehensive sustainability policy, more on their website)
• Local schools helped organize and stage the tournament, cooperation with local museums to promote the area?s history and culture, and fundraising for local charity, ?Team for Children?.

Read the full article here.

The post U.S. Kids Golf Venice Open is Leader in Connecting Golf, Sustainability and the Next Generation appeared first on Green Sports Alliance.

By Lew Blaustein, GreenSportsBlog

Kunal Merchant, co-founder of Lotus Advisory (Photo credit: Lotus Advisory)

Kunal Merchant occupies a fascinating perch in the Green-Sports world. A member of the Green Sports Alliance board, the Bay Area-based Merchant has a background in business, politics, and social enterprise. And as co-founder of Lotus Advisory with his sister Monisha, Merchant has guided the sustainability efforts on state-of-the-art green stadium and arena projects, from Sacramento?s Golden1 Center ? the first LEED Platinum indoor arena in the world ? to the nascent Oakland A?s ballpark project.

GreenSportsBlog spoke with Merchant about his work on Green-Sports projects, with the Alliance, and where he sees the movement heading.

GreenSportsBlog: Kunal, I can?t wait to dig into your story which takes place at the intersection of sports, politics, and sustainability. Nothing juicy there?

Kunal Merchant: It has been a fascinating ride to this point, Lew. I came to the sports world from the political side, working as Chief of Staff for then Sacramento Mayor and ex-NBA All Star Kevin Johnson. I served in that role during his first term, between December 2008 and June 2012, which was a dramatic time. The Mayor took office right as the national economy was entering the Great Recession. Sacramento was particularly hard hit by double-digit unemployment and a foreclosure crisis. Morale was low, and right when the town thought it couldn?t get any worse, we found out that our beloved Sacramento Kings? the one and only pro sports team in town ? wanted to leave town.

The team had been struggling both on and off the court for years, including several failed attempts to build a new arena to replace what had by then become the oldest and smallest arena in the NBA. The Kings? ownership felt that their best shot was to start over in a new city, with Seattle being the most likely destination. It was a punch to the gut for Sacramento, and in the Mayor?s office, we knew that how Sacramento responded to this challenge would have implications far beyond sports for the city?s economic and civic identity.

GSB: So how did you go about dealing with the significant headwinds?

Kunal: That?s a topic for a much longer conversation! But, oversimplified, there were three key checkboxes on our ?to-do list? to save the team: (1) prove that Sacramento was a viable NBA market; (2) recruit a new ownership group willing to buy the team and keep it in Sacramento; and (3) develop a plan to build and finance a new arena. The arena was arguably the most critical ? and difficult item ? particularly since, for a market the size of Sacramento, some form of public investment was going to be needed.

Taxpayers were understandably skeptical about putting public money towards a basketball arena. But after studying similar situations around the country, we in the Mayor?s Office concluded that, under the right terms and structure, we could deliver a public-private partnership for a new arena that would be a win for the Kings and for Sacramento. To get there, we needed to generate transformative economic and community benefits, something that was only possible if we used the arena to anchor the broader revitalization of our blighted and long-underperforming downtown core.

In that respect, Sacramento really reminded me of the Denver of my childhood in the 1980s. At that time, Denver was perceived as a classic ?flyover city? by people on the coasts. But over several years, the community and city leaders pushed through smart and strategic investments that led to a positive change in the city?s economic and cultural trajectory. Things really took off in the 1990s, in part due to the energy generated by Coors Field, the downtown ballpark built to be the home of our new Major League Baseball team, the Colorado Rockies.

GSB: I remember visiting Denver during the late 1990s and saw how Coors Field had seemingly changed a whole neighborhood. Was the ballpark built by the team, the city or some combination? The reason I ask is that there are many studies showing that public investments in sports venues are not efficient uses of the public?s money. Where do you come down on that question?

Kunal: Great question. Like a stodgy and aging arena, I think the rhetoric around public financing for sports venues is in serious need of an upgrade. There?s way too much dogma on a topic filled with nuance.

In the case of Coors Field, the project was a public-private partnership, where taxpayers made a significant investment. As a local resident who saw that area before and after Coors Field, I would argue that the taxpayers? investment paid off handsomely in catalyzing a true economic and cultural renaissance that continues to this day.

But the success of Coors Field doesn?t vindicate all forms of public financing. The reality is that every situation is different, and plenty of sports facilities ? too many I would argue ? receive public funding in amounts and terms that are truly terrible deals for the public. When we were developing the Kings arena deal, we studied up on the good, bad and ugly of prior public subsidy deals. And we were determined that any arena deal we cut with the Kings would protect taxpayers and generate strong economic and community benefits.

That process in Sacramento began by fighting to locate the new arena downtown, and resist temptations by some in town to ?play small? and simply refurbish or rebuild at the old arena?s suburban location.

GSB: The old Arco Arena is north of the city, kind of by itself off of I-5.

Kunal: Yes. At the time it was built in the mid-1980s, that building size and location made sense. But by the 2010s, we had different civic imperatives around sustainability and urban planning. Beyond the economic appeal of a downtown location ? analysts forecasted $150 million in new annual economic activity each year ? we wanted the arena project to reflect the values of a community that cared deeply about the environment. So we set ? and ultimately met ? incredibly ambitious goals for green design, air quality, water efficiency, energy efficiency, transit, food, waste diversion, and so on.

GSB: What was your role in the project?

Kunal: My role evolved over the course of the project. At the start, I was the Mayor?s Chief of Staff, representing the Mayor and City in almost every facet of our work with the NBA, Kings, City and community to save the team and develop the arena plan. When the NBA voted to keep the team in Sacramento in May 2013, and approve the sale of the Kings to a new ownership group, I moved over to the team side as an executive focused on making sure we followed through on our promises to the community on the arena.

That meant finalizing the public process to approve the deal, negotiating key labor and community benefit agreements, and continuing to engage the community in this truly once-in-a-generation project. It also meant championing what became the most ambitious sustainability agenda of an NBA arena to that date, anchored around achieving status as the first-ever LEED Platinum indoor sports arena.

GSB: That?s quite a transition. How did working for a sports team differ from working in municipal government?

Kunal: Well, it?s safe to say that spending a Tuesday night at an NBA game is a bit more fun than at a City Council meeting! And I used to joke with friends ? only half-kidding ? that I could get more done chatting with various folks at a Kings game than I could ever do in one month at City Hall. There were obvious advantages to working in a private sector context in terms of speed, agility, and efficiency. But this deal was a true public-private partnership where both bodies were integral. What?s most powerful to me is that my spirit and purpose on this project never changed regardless of what my business card said; from beginning to end, this endeavor was always about doing something really big and historic and transformative for the people of Sacramento. And both the City and Kings wholly embraced that mindset.

GSB: What did you do after the arena took shape?

Kunal: As Opening Day for the Golden 1 Center got closer, I started getting calls from other folks in sports who were impressed by what we?d done in Sacramento and wanted to see if I could help out elsewhere. To his credit, then-Team President Chris Granger was extremely supportive, and I was able to transition from being a full-time employee to a consultant able to take on other work. As part of that transition, I launched Lotus Advisory with my sister Monisha as a strategy and management consulting firm focused on driving positive change at the intersection of business, government and community. Because of my background, I ended up specializing quickly on sports-related projects, while my MIT-educated sister took on high tech clients like Airbnb. In the years since, we?ve been lucky to work with an amazing range of clients in a variety of industries and sectors.

Kunal Merchant touring construction of the Golden 1 Center and the Downtown Commons in 2015 during his time as a Sacramento Kings executive. The $1.5 billion dollar project includes a LEED Platinum NBA arena, hotel, and retail and entertainment district that has been the primary catalyst behind the new economic and cultural renaissance unfolding in Sacramento?s long-struggling downtown core (Photo credit: Lotus Advisory)

GSB: What are some the sports projects on which Lotus Advisory has worked?

In recent years, we?ve done a lot of work in soccer and baseball. I was the Chief Strategist for Nashville?s successful 2017 bid to join Major League Soccer, where we went from being on no one?s radar as a viable soccer city to finishing first in a twelve city race for the next expansion slot. A huge part of our success was powered by the people of Nashville ? whose pride in their city is as strong as I?ve ever seen anywhere.

Similarly, I helped lead and advise Sacramento?s bid to join MLS for several years, particularly in shepherding their downtown stadium development plan through the planning, predevelopment and approval processes. The heart and soul of that bid are the supporters of Sacramento Republic, the United Soccer League (USL) Championship¹ club that took the city by storm when it launched in 2014 and has woven itself deeply into the cultural fabric of Sacramento with remarkable speed.

Currently, I?m working closely with the Oakland Athletics on their plans to revitalize the Oakland waterfront with a new privately-financed ballpark district near the Jack London Square area. It?s a really gorgeous project with a strong spirit of sustainability and environmental justice.

GSB: Very cool! What?s the status of Sacramento?s MLS bid? I know they?re looking to get to 28 teams by 2021 or 2022. Cincinnati United began play this month as the league?s 24th club, with Miami and Nashville set to join next year and Austin in ?21. So that means there?s one more slot left in the near term.

Kunal: Sacramento is one of two cities considered to be favorites for the 28^th slot. I know that I?m biased, but I don?t think the competition is remotely close. Sacramento?s MLS bid stands alone as arguably the most resilient, mature, and comprehensive MLS bid in league history. Since embarking on the MLS journey in 2014, Republic FC has checked all the boxes time and again: a die-hard fan base, committed corporate support, a fully-approved and transformational downtown stadium plan; and a credible and committed ownership led by a formidable combination of Pittsburgh Penguins owner Ron Burkle and several local business leaders. MLS will be lucky to have Sacramento join its ranks and I?m cautiously optimistic that it will happen soon.

GSB: Good luck! When will the new stadium be ready and what are some of its green features? 

Kunal: Obviously the MLS stadium is contingent on entry into the league, but the stadium could likely be ready by either the 2021 or 2022 MLS season. As impactful as the Golden 1 Center is for Sacramento, the MLS stadium for Republic FC will be a game-changer in its own right.

The stadium will be built few blocks away from the Kings arena at a huge 240 acre site called the Sacramento Railyards that, when fully built out, will double the size of downtown Sacramento. The MLS stadium represents one of the first and largest major private investments in the Railyards in several decades, and will catalyze a historic wave of economic and community development. In terms of green features, the stadium will be another model of transit-oriented development, located a block from light rail, and a short distance by foot, bike, scooter, or rideshare from the rest of downtown. Republic FC has a terrific culture around local food and beer, so I?d expect some innovative sourcing strategies there as well.

Artist rendering of proposed Major League Soccer stadium in downtown Sacramento. The project will anchor an estimated $5B economic revitalization effort at Sacramento?s historic Railyards district (Credit: Sacramento Republic FC)

GSB: Turning to another long-running new stadium project, let?s talk about the Oakland A?s.

Kunal: The A?s have a truly visionary plan to revitalize the waterfront near Jack London Square through a new Major League Baseball ballpark. The project will be LEED Gold Certified and reflect a ?ballpark within a park? theme, with an intimate 34,000 seat stadium nestled carefully into its urban surroundings. The ballpark is privately-financed and will anchor a new, vibrant waterfront district that will feature a mix of housing, including affordable housing, offices, restaurants, retail, small business space, parks and public gathering spaces. And the team is also showing tremendous leadership by leveraging the ballpark project to address longstanding environmental justice reform issues around air, soil and water quality faced by West Oakland residents for years.

Preliminary artist rendering for the proposed Oakland A?s ballpark near Jack London Square in Oakland. The project will be LEED Gold and reflect the A?s strong commitment to sustainable development and environmental justice (Credit: Oaklandballpark.com)

GSB: Add the A?s new ballpark to my sports bucket list. OK, before we go, let?s talk a bit about your work as a board member of the Green Sports Alliance. How did that come about?

Kunal: I?ve known and been a fan of the Green Sports Alliance since its earliest days, when Alliance leaders reached out to invite Mayor Johnson to the inaugural summit in Portland. The Alliance was hugely helpful in guiding my thinking on the Golden 1 Center, and I worked with the Alliance to help bring the Summit to Sacramento during the Golden1 Center?s inaugural season in 2017. I?ve continued to work closely with the Alliance since then, and at some point it just made sense to take on a more formal role. So, I joined the board last fall with a pretty important first project: co-leading the search for a new Executive Director. It was a fascinating process that yielded a terrific hire: Roger McClendon.

GSB: McClendon comes to the Alliance?s executive director role at a key inflection point in the Green-Sports movement. I like to say Green-Sports 1.0 ? the greening of the games ? is now almost if not quite a given. It was a necessary and obvious first step. But Green-Sports 2.0 ? engaging fans, players and more to take positive environmental action, specifically on climate change ? which is where I think is starting now, is a more complicated, heavier lift. What do you think?

Kunal: I totally agree. There are fundamental questions facing the green sports movement and the broader environmentalist community at the moment. The science around climate change grows more dire by the day, with the recent IPCC report advising that humanity has really just a handful of years left to aggressively decarbonize or face catastrophic consequences. So the cost of inaction is escalating. With that as backdrop, the Alliance is asking ourselves: what are we going to do? Our ethos has been to meet people where they are. Which means that if a league, an event, a team is aggressive on climate, we?ll support them. If they?re going slowly?

GSB: ?Or not even talking climate at all?

Kunal: ?we?re not going to push them too far beyond their comfort zone.

GSB: But doesn?t that imply that it?s ok for sports not to go fast enough? That seems risky at best.

Kunal: Well, it?s tricky. But here is a reason to be optimistic: things are impossible until they?re not. Looking at history, there are many social movements that looked bleak for years, or even decades, right until a period of rapid change that completely upended the status quo. I?m heartened by the younger generations ? Millennials and Gen Zers ? who will increasingly hold all institutions, including sports teams, accountable for the issue of climate change. The Alliance needs to be ready, and I think we?re taking important steps in that direction. If there?s one thing that I?ve come to appreciate deeply in my career, it?s that, with vision and leadership, sports can be an extraordinary platform for positive change. And on issues of climate, we can?t afford for sports teams, leagues, or fans to sit on the sidelines anymore.

GSB: With some well-timed and positive pushing from organizations like the Alliance, I?ll say. To be continued, Kunal!

Read the full article here.

The post The GSB Interview: Kunal Merchant of Lotus Advisory, Bringing Green-Sports to Sacramento, Oakland and Beyond appeared first on Green Sports Alliance.

By Brent Suter, Outrider

A Major League Baseball clubhouse probably isn?t the first place you?d think that environmental debate happens but trust me, at least with the Brewers, it goes down! While we don?t always come to a consensus on the issue of climate change, I?ve found I?ve had some success by talking to my teammates about why this is an important issue to discuss, and through leading by example.

I share the Outrider Foundation?s philosophy that as good stewards of the environment, it?s important that we do more than preach to the choir. To make any significant progress, we also need to increase the size of our congregation. Sports is a great way to reach new audience members, and that?s one reason I?m so excited to team up with Outrider to expand our collective voice.

But more important than tactics, I share Outrider?s mission ? preserving the long-term viability of our planet for future generations. I?m pleased to join the group as a sports ambassador, and you?ll be hearing from me throughout 2019 as we collaborate on a host of environmental initiatives.

Professional athletes have a unique platform to help drive this conversation, and I plan to use mine both as a role model for kids and an example for adults. I recently launched a ?Strikeout Waste Campaign,?encouraging fans to use reusable bottles instead of single-use plastic bottles or paper cup. You can follow those efforts on Twitter at #StrikeoutWaste, and at my handle, @bruter24, where you?ll see my teammates joining me in this campaign. And I?ll be looking to have an impact in the Brewers dugout too ? it?s not a great image for our sport to have paper cups and plastic bottles littered on the dugout floor.

Brent Suter talking about #StrikeoutWaste on Twitter

I?ve had many spirited conversations with my teammates on climate change, and the debates are always respectful. However, I?ve found that having a doomsday approach turns guys off. It?s better to take a hopeful tone and urge my teammates to think about helping build a brighter future for their kids and grandkids. Also, like in any situation, I find it effective to communicate by action and not just words.

In my case, that means taking shorter showers, using reusable Tupperware and water bottles, composting everything I can, planting milkweed and trees, using reusable grocery bags, and putting solar panels on our house in Cincinnati. It also means making healthy and environmentally friendly changes to my diet ? cutting out beef entirely, trying to eat vegan one or two meals a day, and making frequent visits to my favorite vegan restaurant near my home. Fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains are so delicious, healthy, and planet-friendly! When I do eat meat, I try to make sure it?s organic and locally sourced.

I was really happy at the response I got at spring training this year, where I was able to get dozens of my teammates and team employees and broadcasters to publicly commit to reduce plastics. Check out Orlando Arcia and Jesus Aguilar giving the BOOT to plastic waste through reusable water bottles. And I was pleased to partner with Zulu Athletic to distribute reusable bottles to the team.

There are other guys on the ball club who share my passion, such as Ryan Braun and our manager, Craig Counsell, as well as passionate organizations I?ve been involved with such as Players for the Planet ? which I was pleased to recently join ? the Urban Ecology Center in Milwaukee, Eco-City Milwaukee, and the Green Sports Alliance.

Concern for the environment came naturally to me, even before I had heard of climate change. I?ve always loved the plants and animals that we are blessed to share the planet with. But it wasn?t until I saw Al Gore?s ?An Inconvenient Truth? in high school that my eyes were open to the danger that global warming poses. I went on to get a college degree in Environmental Science and Public Policy. Gore has been an environmental inspiration to me, as have the many scientists, activists, innovators, and politicians pushing for a green revolution! I?ve also been impressed with Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger?s leadership on this effort.

As someone who was raised Catholic, my faith is also a huge basis of why I?m environmentally active. God gave us this beautiful world, and it?s our job to take care of it. Recently, combatting climate change became more personal for me, following the birth of our son Liam last October. I want him to have a hopeful future with a beautiful Earth, and I want to do everything I can to make sure he has it.

In recent years, more professional and college sports teams are adopting the ?green sports? philosophy, recognizing the contribution that stadiums and arenas can make through steps such as using renewable energy, reducing the waste stream through recycling and reuse, and offering more vegetarian food to fans. The green sports movement is also about athletes lending their voices to the cause, and I?m excited about amplifying my message by collaborating with the Outrider Foundation.

And I?ll keep trying to win over my teammates.

Read the full article here.

The post Winning Over My Baseball Teammates to Strikeout Waste appeared first on Green Sports Alliance.

By Lew Blaustein, GreenSportsBlog

Lauren Tracy, Director of Strategic Initiatives at the US Tennis Association (Photo credit: USTA)

The US Open, New York City?s two-week late summer tennis fest that draws over 800,000 people, has been at the forefront of sustainable mega-sports events for over a decade. Lauren Tracy, the US Tennis Association?s (USTA?s) Director of Strategic Initiatives, has been involved with their greening efforts since its early years. GreenSportsBlog chatted with Tracy about the USTA?s sustainability history, how the US Open made out from a green perspective in 2018, and what to watch for going forward.

GreenSportsBlog: Lauren, as a mediocre but avid tennis player, I have a particular fondness for the USTA?s greening efforts, especially at the US Open. So I?m excited to talk with you about all of this. How did you get involved?

Lauren Tracy: I?m not a tennis junkie. From New York City?s northern suburbs, Dutchess County to be exact, and an MBA from Marist College in Poughkeepsie, I was excited to get a job at the USTA as a paralegal in nearby White Plains working on the pro tennis side. Back in 2010, the USTA executive director asked me to transition into the Executive Office in a project management role. It included overseeing some of the USTA?s organizational priorities, including our US Open environmental program, as well as to help develop what is now our ?SafePlay? athlete safety program.

GSB: These are very important and high profile?

Lauren: Yes! I was in the right place at the right time for sure.

GSB: When did the environmental programs come into the mix?

Lauren: It really started in 2007. When we dedicated the National Tennis Center to Billie Jean King she wanted to know what we were doing to lessen the US Open?s environmental footprint. The venue was named for her.

GSB: Billie Jean King: Women?s rights and gay rights pioneer ? that we knew ? but eco-warrior?

Lauren: That?s right! Our board was asking the same thing. We had only taken baby steps, green-wise, before then. We engaged industry experts to help us develop a comprehensive environmental program for the US Open. Those experts included Bina Indelicato, founder and CEO of eco evolutions, who now serves as a sustainability consultant for the USTA, as well as Allen Hershkowitz, who really pioneered the green sports movement.

GSB: What were some of the first sustainability initiatives under the Tracy Administration?

Lauren: It was an exciting time because the USTA gave us the direction to try new things. So that?s what we did. We would identify an opportunity to improve the environmental efficiency of an element of our operations at our site and start by conducting a pilot during that year?s US Open.

After the conclusion of that year?s tournament, we?d evaluate to see what worked well and what did not. If it worked, we?d roll it out the next year across the entire USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

A good example of that was composting. We piloted it in 2011 in the back-of-house operations with our concessionaire, Levy Restaurants. That was the easy part, as their chefs bought in from the beginning. We went big the first year, starting with the kitchens at Arthur Ashe Stadium, the largest venue on our campus?

GSB: ?And, at 23,700+, the largest seating capacity of any tennis stadium in the world?

Lauren: Yes. Over the years, composting was eventually rolled out to the other kitchens on the site. We partnered with Levy, as well as the waste hauler and did a lot of training with kitchen staff. Understandably, there were some growing pains but now we have a program with a lot of buy-in and had a very successful New York City Department of Sanitation inspection. In fact, so much so that, by 2017, our overall waste diversion rate was greater than 90 percent!

GSB: WOW! That?s a quick turnaround the way I look at it. And it qualifies the US Open as a zero-waste event but you knew that already?

Lauren: You bet! We did even better last year, getting to 97 percent diversion. What got us closer to 100 percent, in addition to recycling and composting, was bringing much of our un-recycled, un-compostable material to Covanta?s waste-to-energy site out on Long Island.

GSB: How does it work?

Lauren: First of all, the facility is the cleanest place I?ve ever seen ? and it?s a place where garbage is hauled! It is then burned in a safe way, with the resulting heat being used to cleanly power swaths of Long Island. Amazing.

GSB: I?ll have to check out that facility someday. Congratulations on 97 percent diversion. That?s terrific. Now I know that the USTA undertook a major construction initiative at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center a few years ago. Where did sustainability fit in?

Lauren: Well, in 2013, we started a five-year plan to strategically transform the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Those renovations and new builds would be done in an environmentally-friendly and -forward way. The first structure to earn LEED certification was our Transportation Building ? which serves as the headquarters for our transportation operation, as well as the credential office during the three weeks of the qualifying tournament and the main draw. Then, in 2016 our new Grandstand stadium opened?

GSB: ?I love the Grandstand. The third-largest playing venue on campus, with a capacity of 8,000, is stunning, architecturally speaking.

Lauren: I agree. It became our first LEED certified playing venue. And, as anyone who has been to the Open the last couple years knows, we tore down our second largest playing venue, Louis Armstrong Stadium, and built the new, 14,000 seat Louis Armstrong, opening it last year.

Louis Armstrong Stadium, the new, LEED Silver certified 14,000-seat venue that opened in 2018. It is the second largest venue at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center (Photo credit: Lewis Blaustein)

GSB: ?Another winner. It is a beautiful place to watch tennis. Did new Louis Armstrong become LEED certified?

Lauren: It did, earning LEED Silver status ? the highest certification level on campus. Its natural ventilation system is a significant advance in terms of green outdoor venue construction is concerned. Overall, we?re very proud of the new Louis Armstrong Stadium, including from a sustainability perspective, as it represented the completion of the five-year strategic transformation of our campus that I mentioned earlier. And that we were able to finish on time in 2018, on the 50th anniversary of the US Open, made it extra special.

GSB: Great timing indeed. With the major construction complete in Flushing Meadow, what other environmental advances are you and the team working on? Is on-site solar going to be part of the mix?

Lauren: On-site solar is a question we get a lot. It?s tricky for us. While the facility is open all year, our attendance and electricity usage spikes for the three weeks of the tournament in late August-early September. And while we own the venues, the City of New York owns the land and so the solar conversation involves several parties. This doesn?t mean solar won?t happen, it just means it will take awhile. As for what else is next, I wanted to mention that our location is a plus, sustainability-wise. The New York City subway and Long Island Railroad have a station just outside the tennis center, which allows over 50 percent of all attendees to take mass transit, which a great number.

GSB: That sounds about right?

Lauren: Also, in addition to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, we also built our USTA National Campus in Orlando. The Welcome Center, which includes our staff offices, is LEED certified. Back to the Open, we?ve got some cool initiatives around recycling. In 2018, we started working with Ronald McDonald House up in the Hudson Valley of New York State. We sent them 9,000 metal tabs from tennis ball can tops. The metal tops are pure aluminum and they are able to earn some money from recycling it.

The LEED certified Welcome Center at the USTA?s National Campus in Orlando (Photo credit: USTA)

GSB: What a great idea? Can the USTA broaden that out beyond the Open to other tournaments and to the thousands of recreational tennis centers around the country with which you have relationships?

Lauren: This is something we?re exploring, Lew. Our sections across the country know about it; we hope they are able to bring it to their regions as well. As far as the used tennis ball cans from the Open are concerned, we send them to TerraCycle in Trenton, New Jersey?

GSB: ?TerraCycle is an incredible company that specializes in a ?zero-waste economy,? with state-of-the-art recycling and upcycling.

Lauren: That?s right. We send them our tennis ball cans and they break them down and recycle them. I also want to mention Imperfectly Delicious Produce. I love this program! We take imperfect-looking fruit and vegetables and use them in sauces and dips to eliminate unnecessary food waste. Finally, in 2018, we eliminated plastic straws, replacing them with paper straws.

GSB: Very cool. Now this would not be a GSB Interview if I didn?t ask about how the USTA goes about communicating its green initiatives to fans?So how do you do that?

Lauren: We do some marketing of our greening efforts, from content in our program magazine to our website. But we need to do more from a fan engagement perspective and are committed to doing that this year and in 2020.

GSB: I plan to be out at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center this summer and look forward to seeing what you and the team have done, fan engagement-wise.

Read the full article here.

The post The GSB Interview: Lauren Tracy, Leading the USTA Efforts to Green the US Open appeared first on Green Sports Alliance.

By Lew Blaustein, GreenSportsBlog

After the greatest weekend of Elite Eight games ever ? all four went down to the wire, with two going to overtime ? the Men?s Final Four is now set. This Saturday evening in Minneapolis, Auburn takes on the University of Virginia and then Texas Tech and Michigan State will go at it.

While the ESPN?s and SI.com?s of the world will analyze the on-court matchups in detail throughout the week, GreenSportsBlog digs into each school from a Green-Sports point of view.

And, we also take a look at Green-Sports goings on at Oregon, Baylor, Notre Dame and UConn ? the participants in the Women?s Final Four in Tampa.

AUBURN TIGERS

Charles Barkley, the greatest basketball player in Auburn history, was overcome by emotion after his alma mater?s thrilling 77-71 overtime victory over favored Kentucky sent the school to its first Final Four. He wiped back tears in the game?s immediate aftermath, calling the win ?the greatest day in Auburn basketball history? on the CBS Sports postgame show.

The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame member would likely need to have tissues at the ready if he were to read our January story about Auburn?s growing Green-Sports résumé. In ?Auburn Athletics: Green-Sports Grows in the SEC,? Barkley would learn that, per Mike Kensler, Auburn?s Director of the Office of Sustainability:

• • An energy efficiency campaign is underway at Auburn Arena, home of Tigers men?s and women?s basketball and women?s gymnastics.
  • The football team hosts an annual Green Game at 87,000 seat Jordan-Hare Stadium that features student ?Trash Talkers? roaming the tailgate areas, urging fans to recycle, a video on Auburn?s greening programs that runs in-game on the video board, and a Green-Sports focused column in the game program.
  • Energy-efficient LED lighting illuminates Plainsman Park, Auburn?s baseball stadium.
  • Auburn football players, coaches, and others traveled to the Dominican Republic in May 2017 where they built and distributed water filters and solar light packets to those in need.
  • Helen Ulrich, a sophomore journalism major on the women?s equestrian team, earned her eco-athlete stripes by writing a story on the anti-plastic straw movement.

Auburn football players Dontavius Russell and Daniel Carlson drain and assemble the filters before they are inserted into the buckets in the Dominican Republic in 2017 (Photo credit: Auburn University)

And while there?s no way of knowing if the Tigers (also, for some reason, known by the ?War EAGLE? battle cry) will qualify for the 2020 Men?s Final Four at in Atlanta, there will definitely be an Auburn flavor to the event from a green point of view. Per this 2018 GreenSportsBlog interview, Carlie Bullock-Jones, CEO of sustainability consulting firm Ecoworks Studio, and an Auburn grad (?War Damn EAGLE!?), played an important role in helping Mercedes-Benz Stadium achieve Platinum status.

UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA CAVALIERS

If you are a UVA fan, you still probably can?t get enough of seeing THIS:

It took that miraculous last millisecond bucket by Mamadi Diakite for Virginia, off of that amazing whip pass from Kihei Clark, to send its Midwest Region final against the gutty Purdue Boilermakers into overtime. The top seeded Cavaliers then took care of business in the extra frame, winning the ?Game of the Tournament? (so far) 80-75, earning the school its first Final Four berth since 1984.

Malcolm Brogdon, Virginia Class of ?16, only made it as far as the Sweet Sixteen during his four seasons in Charlottesville. But the Milwaukee Bucks guard is making UVA alums proud through his Hoops?O initiative. Brogdon and four other NBA players¹ are working to raise funds and awareness for clean water initiatives in East Africa. Fans donate to the program in the name of one of the players, with the players matching those contributions dollar-for-dollar. So far, Hoops?O has raised $164,000 towards its Year One goal of $225,000. Click here to contribute.

Malcolm Brogdon, founder of Hoops?o at a Waterboys well site in East Africa (Photo credit: Clay Cook Photography)

Brogdon was inspired by Waterboys, the program midwifed by former Virginia football star Chris Long. The two-time Super Bowl champ and 2018 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award winner, along with support from more than 20 current and retired NFL players, funds the digging of wells in the area and teaches the locals how to operate and maintain them.

Chris Long was the keynote speaker at the University of Virginia?s 2018 Commencement ceremony (Photo credit: Sanjay Suchak, University Communications)

Since its inception in 2013, Waterboys, now officially connected to Hoops?O, has raised more $2.6 million to fund 55 wells that will provide water to over 205,000 people.

TEXAS TECH RED RAIDERS

Run a Google search on ?Texas Tech University Athletics Sustainability? or something similar and you get several links to articles about?the University of Texas. This is to say that, so far, Red Raiders? Athletics has not yet embraced Green-Sports.

Yet the university is a leader when it comes to climate change communications despite being located in the politically and religiously conservative West Texas city of Lubbock.

That is thanks largely to climate scientist Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, Director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech and arguably the world?s most powerful climate change communicator. In fact, Time Magazine named her to its ?100 Most Influential People in the World? list in 2014.

Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, Director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University. (Photo credit: Artie Limmer, Texas Tech University)

Dr. Hayhoe spoke with us in 2016 for GreenSportsBlog?s ?Green Leaders Talk Green Sports? series. Here?s an excerpt that focuses on how sports can play an important role in the climate change fight (click hereto read the entire interview):

GSB: You emphasize the community-religious-economy boosting nature of climate change solutions in your must-watch web series, Global Weirding. That makes total sense.

Katharine: Science is the foundation but what connects with people, what binds them together ? shared values ? turns out to be bigger than the science! And the pathways in our brains that are used to solve issues respond more to the shared values approach than the scientific. And community and shared values, that?s what sports is all about. Sports is part of our collective shared identity. It builds community. And this goes back millennia to Roman times and chariot races.

GSB: So how do you think sports can play an important role in building awareness and action among fans? Many times, when I ask why more athletes don?t get involved, I hear that ?climate change is too complex!? But if what you?re saying is right ? and I think it is ? athletes don?t need to worry so much about the science. They need to emphasize the importance of the solutions to the communities where they play!

KH: Exactly. Now some sports are effected more directly and more in the present than others. Hey, I?m Canadian, so I get that hockey and other snow sports are deeply concerned about the effects of climate change on their sports in the here and now. That?s why it?s great that Protect Our Winters and the National Hockey League are leading the climate change fight. Hey, we?re a skiing family so we see a shorter ski season. I?m also a sailor and so the effects of increased ocean acidification are powerful as they are obvious?But athletes in sports that don?t have as direct a link as those we mentioned can certainly get involved. Look, I often talk about the Six America?s of Global Warming. Basically, Americans fall into six groups as it relates to global warming/climate change: From most engaged to least, it goes like this:

1. Alarmed
2. Concerned
3. Cautious
4. Dis-engaged
5. Doubtful
6. Dismissive

I think for now at least, we?ll leave the Dismissives ? they?ll be very hard to move. But I?ve found the way to communicate with the Cautious, Dis-engaged and Doubtfuls is to emphasize shared values and concerns, and then you can move them. Sports is as powerful, as passionate a platform as there is to move masses of people.

Amen, Dr. Hayhoe. AMEN!

MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS

Michigan State can lay claim to being the greenest school in this year?s Final Four on at least one metric: It is the only one of the four to have green as one of its school colors.

In addition, its Sustainability Office:

• Manages the Be Spartan Green team of student volunteers. They monitor waste stations at Men?s and Women?s Basketball, Football and Hockey games to help divert recyclable items from going to the landfill, as well as informing attendees about recycling options.
• Published a Green Your Tailgate page on its website

The East Lansing-based school, now just two wins shy of its third national championship, also boasts a faculty member whose research has centered on sustainability issues surrounding mega-events like Olympics, World Cup and, yes, Final Fours.

GreenSportsBlog interviewed Dr. Eva Kassens-Noor, Associate Professor in Michigan State?s Global Urban Studies Program, in 2015. In this excerpt, we discuss the sustainability legacies of the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Summer Olympics.

Dr. Eva Kassens-Noor of Michigan State University (Photo credit: Dr. Eva Kassens-Noor)

GSB: How did sustainability figure into London 2012?

Eva: Legacy and sustainability were central tenets of the London 2012 bid. The facilities that were built for the Games, for the most part, have found significant post Games use, often for the general public. The Olympic Stadium will become the home of West Ham United Football Club of the Premier League starting next season.

GSB: Now let?s look to Rio 2016. Plenty of media outlets have tackled the environmental problems related to the polluted waters of the sailing and rowing venues. But what about its legacy?

Eva: I?ve been very critical of Rio in terms of legacy?

GSB: Why? We wrote about the additional Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lines in Rio that are Olympics-related (links here and here). That should be a carbon footprint reducer, no?

EKN: You would think so but the Olympic Village and the BRT plowed through many Favelas, removing hundreds of families and businesses. The route of the BRT is also problematic ? one of the routes goes from the airport to a wealthy area without going through downtown. Very ineffective.

BRT will play a significant role in transporting fans to and from this weekend?s Final Four in Minneapolis. GreenSportsBlog is heading to the Twin Cities and will report on what, arguably, is the greenest stadium and arena inventory of any metropolitan area in North America.

As far as the basketball is concerned, I picked Michigan State to beat Virginia in the championship game before the tournament began and so will stick with that².

WHAT ABOUT THE WOMEN?S FINAL FOUR?

Friday night?s semifinal matchups for the 2019 Women?s Final Four in Tampa feature two-time national champion Baylor vs. Oregon, seeking its first title. The nightcap is a battle of true women?s hoops heavyweights:  Defending champion Notre Dame vs. 11-time winner UConn.

From a Green-Sports perspective, the University of Oregon looks to be the favorite, but all four schools have a story to tell.

The Eugene-based university is a member of the Green Sports Alliance, as is the PAC-12 Conference. It participates in the league?s Zero-Waste Challenge, a series of waste-reduction competitions that engage fans in sustainability, develop best practices, and provide an outlet for friendly environmental competitions. And Sabrina Ionescu, the Ducks? All America guard, took part in a PAC-12 Team Green promotional 15 second video.

Sabrina Ionescu, University of Oregon?s 1st team All American guard (Photo credit: Sabrina Ionescu)

Baylor University, located in Waco, Texas, has been recycling since 2015, at McLane Stadium, the 45,100-seat home of Bears football.

Notre Dame?s Green-Sports initiatives are mainly focused on waste generated at Notre Dame Stadium, the 80,795-seat cathedral of Fighting Irish football. The Go Irish. Be Green. program features teams of volunteer students circulating through the tailgate lots, distributing blue recycle bags to fans and answering questions about single stream recycling. And they also produced this sustainability-themed video for the 2018 season.

The big question is where has this video been shown: In stadium? On Notre Dame football broadcasts? To date it has received only 64 views on YouTube.

UConn, through its EcoHusky student group, has hosted women?s and men?s Basketball Green Game Days at Gampel Pavilion over the past several years. Starting in 2017, the university?s Office of Environmental Policy purchased carbon offsets to be able to make the claim that the games were carbon-free. P.A. announcements, video board mentions, and social media posts during the events promoted the greening initiative to fans.

Read the full article here.

The post Men?s and Women?s Final Four From a Green-Sports Perspective appeared first on Green Sports Alliance.

By Sports Destination Management

The Green Sports Alliance announced Roger McClendon as the new Executive Director for the organization. McClendon will lead the premier alliance of international sports and stadium executives, as well as sustainability experts, to use sports as a vehicle to promote healthy, sustainable communities throughout the world. McClendon?s hire is part of a broader infusion of new executive and board leadership announced.

?I am honored for the opportunity to lead the Green Sports Alliance.  I look forward to taking the Alliance to the next level and ensuring sports plays a key role in the global sustainability movement, focused on measurable impact,? McClendon said. ?Along with our Board, members and staff, we are poised to develop the Alliance?s vision, while leveraging global innovation and strategic partnerships, to improve the social and environmental well-being of future generations.?

McClendon joins Green Sports Alliance with extensive experience in sustainability, business and sports. McClendon was the first-ever Chief Sustainability Officer for Yum! Brands, whose holdings include Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC restaurants. He also led the development of Blueline, a sustainable design guide for restaurants built on the LEED certification program. Blueline was a global standard implemented in approximately 5,000 Yum! Brand restaurants globally.

?We are very excited to have Roger take on this leadership role,? said Scott Jenkins, who serves as Chair of the Board. ?His results-driven track record in sustainability and sports presents a unique opportunity for the Alliance to further innovate, influence and inspire the communities we serve.?

Due to McClendon?s efforts, Yum! was named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index in 2017 and 2018, as well as one of the 100 Best Corporate Citizens by Corporate Responsibility Magazine. Yum! Brands was also part of the inaugural class of the U.S. Food Loss and Waste 2030 Champions, U.S. businesses and organizations pledging concrete steps to reduce food loss and waste in their operations 50 percent by 2030.

Prior to Yum! McClendon worked with Champion Paper, now International Paper, to automate and improve operational and manufacturing efficiencies that included water treatment, power generation, and production systems. McClendon studied computer and electrical engineering at the University of Cincinnati while also becoming the school?s number two scorer all-time, second only to National Basketball Association Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson.

McClendon was chosen after a thorough and highly competitive national search led by Weinreb Group Sustainability Recruiting, a boutique executive search firm that specializes in placing sustainability leaders.

In addition to McClendon?s selection, the Alliance also welcomed the addition of six new board directors as part of an effort to bring new leadership, energy and diversity to the organization:

• Elaine Aye, Associate Regional Manager, RWDI
• Dune Ives, Executive Director, Lonely Whale
• Kunal Merchant, Managing Director, Lotus Advisory
• Jill Savery, Founder and CEO, Bristlecone Strategies
• Cyrus Wadia, former Vice President, Sustainable Business and Innovation, Nike
• Jamie Zaninovich, Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer, Pac-12 Conference

?The Green Sports Alliance is uniquely positioned to lead a vital conversation about sports and sustainability that grows more promising and urgent by the day,? said Board Member Kunal Merchant. ?I?m thrilled to join with Roger, the Board, and our entire network to further the Alliance?s work at a moment where bold, transformative, and inclusive action is needed more than ever.?

McClendon will make his first appearance as Executive Director on Thursday, January 17 at the Green Sports Alliance?s Sports & Sustainability Symposium at Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ. McClendon is expected to embark on an initial listening tour with Alliance members and partners shortly thereafter.

Read the full article here.

The post Roger McClendon Named New Executive Director of the Green Sports Alliance appeared first on Green Sports Alliance.

By Emma Murray, Boulder Weekly

Folsom Field at CU Boulder. Media credit: Courtesy of University of Colorado Boulder Environmental Center

Eight years ago, the dozen Pac-12 universities all became Green Sports Alliance members ? the conference?s student-athletes, coaches and sports fans agreeing to support and prioritize campus and game-day sustainability initiatives under a new organizational umbrella. Pac-12 Team Green helps promote the ?greening and sustainability efforts taking place on and around the Pac-12 Conference and all 12 of its member universities,? according to Pac-12?s website. No more single-use plastic cups finding their way into trash cans, for example, and no more water-intensive sports fields.

But, of course, to really get the sustainability ball rolling, the 12 universities and their teams needed a little healthy competition. Thus, the Pac-12 Zero Waste Challenge was born.

Courtesy of University of Colorado Boulder Environmental Center. Alex Mitoma, a CU-Boulder environmental engineering student, left, volunteers to show football fans, including Gavin McNeish, which bin to put their waste away during the CU vs. Hawaii football game at Folsom Field on Sept. 18, 2010. (Photo by Glenn Asakawa/University of Colorado)

During the past four football and basketball seasons, every Pac-12 campus has been competing with one another to produce at least one zero-waste home game. Among different categories ? which include an overall winner, best fan-engagement, most-improved and best student-athlete engagement ? the Pac-12 recently announced University of Colorado Boulder as the overall 2018-19 Zero Waste champions.

With five judges from diverse backgrounds, this is an honor CU is proud to include among its many athletic accolades. ?Sustainability is a very important key for us, something we take a great deal of pride in,? Rick George, athletic director at CU, said in a press release. ?We want to be leaders in this area and we are certainly excited about being recognized in this way.?

Courtesy of University of Colorado Boulder Environmental Center. Through a diverse array of engagement strategies like social media campaigns, educational initiatives and healthy competition, students, athletes, faculty and spectators alike are encouraged to incorporate sustainability initiatives into their game-day habits like tailgating, eating out and commuting to and from the stadium.

CU?s big sustainability win this season was a natural progression. During the 2016-17 football season, CU placed third among Pac-12 Green Sports Alliance members with a waste-diversion rate of 87 percent. That same basketball season, however, CU placed an encouraging second, boasting a waste-diversion rate of 92 percent at one home game. The following year, during the 2017-18 football season, CU won the Athlete/Player Engagement Award.

Indeed, raising awareness and garnering interest in personal sustainability among sports fans is just as much a priority of the competition as it is creating a zero-waste game-day environment.

Ralphie?s Green Stampede, the nation?s first NCAA Division I sustainable athletics program, played a large role in reaching this Pac-12-inspired goal at CU. Ralphie?s Green Stampede has implemented or installed zero-waste programs across all of the university?s sports venues, zero-net carbon emissions and zero-net water use in all facilities, a zero-net-energy football practice facility and a zero-waste car-free tailgating zone. CU also collects plastic bags from stadium activities and sends them to a recycler that manufactures new plastic bags for collecting tailgate recycling on game days.

Courtesy of University of Colorado Boulder Environmental Center. Ralphie?s Green Stampede

The home game on which CU?s sustainability win was based took place on Oct. 6, 2018 against Arizona State. The fact that it came on top of an athletic win made it that much sweeter. In a close game, CU defeated Arizona 28 -21.

More importantly, however, a 91.82 percent diversion rate was achieved that day ? more than 8,700 pounds of waste were composted; more than 3,900 pounds of bottles and cans were recycled; and just over 1,300 pounds of waste were sent to a landfill.

Go Buffs! 

Read the full article here.

The post Winner, Winner! appeared first on Green Sports Alliance.

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