Climate Wave is excited to see that there is some movement towards green sports and in this case from North America. The Green Sports Alliance has formed to encourage sporting bodies to become environmentally conscious and spread the word to fans and sponsors.
We are starting to find pockets of organisations around the world that like us feel that sporting events can go green and use this platform to spread the message of sustainability.
(This below is an excerpt from the Green Sports Alliance website)
The founding members include the Vancouver Canucks (NHL), the Seattle Storm (WNBA), the Seattle Mariners (MLB), the Seattle Seahawks (NFL), the Portland Trail Blazers (NBA) and the Seattle Sounders FC (MLS). The founding partners of the Alliance are the Natural Resources Defense Council, Bonneville Environmental Foundation, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Portland State Institute for Sustainable Solutions, Green Building Services, Coates Kokes, Green Bear Group, Lane Powell and Milepost Consulting.
Over the past year, venue operators, sports marketing directors and environmental scientists have collaborated to exchange their real world experiences and create metrics that are meaningful and measurable. The information gathered from this collaboration is now available to members and partners not only to gain a better understanding of the impact sporting events have on the environment, but also to provide inspiration and a roadmap for teams and venues to make changes to reduce that impact.
It is heartening to see that the clubs mentioned above understand by sustainably managing their events opens up opportunities to gain new sponsors and creates enormous avenues for positive educational messages to the public.
Back home this Easter sees one of Australia’s greenest competitions in The Rip Curl Pro – the world’s longest running and most prestigious professional surfing contest and this year is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Bells Beach Easter Rally and the Rip Curl Pro in Australia’s surfing home of Torquay from April 19 to April 30. The work that takes place at Bells Beach is done through their environmental arm Rip Curl Planet (Keep up the great work Rip Curl)
The practise of environmentally managing sporting events is still in its infancy especially here in Australia. If your local sports organisations adhere to sustainable practises let us know we would be very interested in promoting their cause. Speaking of causes our facebook cause “Support surfing events to go green” has hit a milestone of over 200 members and climbing. If you haven’t joined as yet now is a good time to add your name to the growing list of environmentally conscious sports fans.
working for the planet
Greg Howell & Guil Araujo