Dominic Thiem has steadily moved towards the top of the men’s tennis rankings, currently residing at number four, just below the legendary trio of Djokovic, Nadal and Federer. Many tennis observers think that 2019 will be the year Austrian breaks through and wins his first Grand Slam tournament.
If so, casual tennis fans will learn what real aficionados already know — that Thiem is an eco-athlete.
DOMINIC THIEM WRITES A UNIQUE GREEN-SPORTS STORY — ON CAMERA LENSES
If you are not a serious tennis fan you might not be familiar with Dominic Thiem (pronounced TEAM).
You should be, for both on- and off-court reasons.
Thiem is currently the fourth ranked player in the men’s game, trailing only #1 Novak Djokovic, #2 Rafa Nadal, and #3 Roger Federer. And since the three legends above him are between six and twelve years his senior, Thiem is in a very promising spot.
The first part of 2019 has been very good for the 25-year-old Austrian. He won the prestigious BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, California, beating Federer in the final. And last week, he reached the semifinals of the Mutua Madrid Open, defeating Federer in a terrific quarterfinal before falling to eventual champion Djokovic. Thiem has the all-surface game that make him a threat at the three remaining 2019 grand slam championships, starting in two weeks with the French Open at Paris’ Roland Garros.
Off the court, Thiem has become one of men’s tennis’ foremost eco-athletes, along with world #8 Kevin Anderson. Both have honed in on the plastic ocean waste issue.
Thiem supports the work of 4Ocean, a nonprofit founded by two surfers that removes plastics from the oceans and other waterways. It sustains itself by selling bracelets made from that waste. 4Ocean reports that, in just two years, they and their teams of fishermen and others, have removed over four million pounds of trash from the oceans and coastlines.
Dominic Thiem, the world’s eighth ranked men’s tennis player, sports four bracelets made from ocean waste by 4Oceans (Photo credit: Polygram)
In addition to donning the 4Ocean bracelets, Thiem has used a yellow marker to great effect in publicizing his passion for cleaning up the oceans.
Signing a television camera lens has been a thing for winners of tennis matches for the better part of two decades. The networks almost always give air time to these signatures. Thiem has taken to signing camera lenses around the world with a “Play For the Ocean” message. The image above (Photo credit: Amazon Prime) was taken immediately after he won the championship at Indian Wells.
While we don’t have TV ratings data for either tournament, it’s safe to say that the Play For The Ocean message has reached millions. That number stands to increase dramatically should Thiem make a deep run in Paris.
GSB’s Take: Dominic Thiem’s practice of signing “Play For The Ocean” on a TV camera after winning a match — while seeming like a small, cute thing — is actually a big deal.
Tennis is one of the world’s five most popular spectator sports so having a Top Five player make a clear, positive statement on behalf of environmental action can seep into fan consciousness. By signing “Play For The Ocean” every time he wins a match, Thiem is building frequency for his message. This is crucial for building awareness “Play For The Ocean” among tennis fans, which will ultimately help the message break through.
Hopefully, we’re not that far away from Thiem or another top player writing something like “Price Carbon” or “Act On Climate” on a camera lens after every win.
Dr. Allen Hershkowitz was named by the New York Yankees as its first Environmental Science Advisor yesterday. The longtime NRDC Senior Scientist, ex-President of the Green Sports Alliance and Founding Director of Sport and Sustainability International (SandSI) becomes the first person to hold such a title in team sports history. Already a major advance in the Green-Sports movement, the Yankees’ move has the chance to be a true game changer.
The New York Yankees have an almost century-old tradition of firsts: Yankee Stadium, which opened in 1923, was the first three-tiered sports venue in the world. The team was the first to put numbers on players’ uniforms. And the Bronx Bombers are the first and only Major League Baseball club to win five World Series titles in a row (from 1949-53).
Another first took place on Tuesday when the Yankees announced that Dr. Allen Hershkowitz had signed on as the team’s Environmental Science Advisor, a position that’s new to the world of professional sports. His work will also support Major League Soccer’s NYCFC, a joint venture between the Yankees and City Football Group¹, which plays its home games at Yankee Stadium.
“Being appointed as the Yankees’ Environmental Science Advisor is a unique honor and responsibility,” said Hershkowitz, a native New Yorker, offered in a statement. “I applaud the team’s leadership for breaking new ground in the sports industry by being the first team to create this important position.”
Dr. Allen Hershkowitz, the new Environmental Science Advisor with the New York Yankees (Photo credit: J. Henry Fair)
It makes perfect sense that the Yankees chose Hershkowitz for this position. He has, over a decades-long career, staked out a unique role as a visionary at the intersection of the environment, science and sports. As Senior Scientist at the NRDC, Hershkowitz showed leaders across the sports world that leading on the environment made business sense and was the right thing to do. This goes back to his formative Green-Sports work in the mid-2000s with then-Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, the Philadelphia Eagles, and the US Tennis Association, among others. He Co-Founded and served as President of the Green Sports Alliance and is a Founding Director of Sport and Sustainability International (SandSI).
While Hershkowitz is arguable a no-brainer pick, what might shock some people is that the 27-time world champions created the Environmental Science Advisor position in the first place.
But dig a little deeper and the appointment should surprise no one.
That’s because the Yankees have been at the forefront of the Green-Sports movement since they moved into the new Yankee Stadium in 2009, often with Hershkowitz’ counsel as a consultant. Sustainability initiatives include:
Diverting 85 percent of waste from landfill by recycling and composting, very close to the 90 percent threshold required to claim Zero-Waste status
Innovating on energy efficiency through the introduction of LED lighting and more
Measuring, reducing and offsetting the team’s greenhouse gas emissions impacts The latter includes the distribution of thousands of life-saving, high-efficiency cookstoves to women in Africa
The Yankees, through their carbon offset investments, have funded the distribution of life-saving, high-efficiency cookstoves in Africa (Photo credit: South Pole Group)
Per a club press release, Hershkowitz will work “to expand existing promotion of responsible environmental stewardship among essential members of the Yankees family, including suppliers, sponsors, fans and the local community.” His primary focus will be on energy use, waste management, water conservation, and food services.
“The Yankees have always been devoted to supporting the best interests of our community, our fans and our players, and we believe effective eco-friendly initiatives are a key element of our interactions,” said Hal Steinbrenner, the Yankees’ principal owner and managing general partner, in a statement. “We have made significant strides throughout the years, and as such, Yankee Stadium is proud to promote a zero-waste economy, and stand as one of the most successful recycling and composting venues in all of sports…We look forward to even more improvement under Allen’s guidance.”
In a statement, John Adams, Founding Director and former President of NRDC, who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2010 for his environmental leadership, emphasized the significance of Hershkowitz’s new position: “This is a very smart move by the Yankees. One of greatest sports organizations in the world has chosen to use its visibility to promote environmental literacy in a critically important way. I congratulate Allen for becoming the Environmental Science Advisor to the Yankees, the most influential team in the history of sports.”
GSB’s Take: The mere creation of the Environmental Science Advisor position by the New York Yankees is already an important advance for the sports greening movement. By choosing Hershkowitz for the job, the Yankees — already near the top of the Green-Sports sports standings — have shifted into a higher gear, telling the world that the environment — and environmental science — is integral to its business.
It says here that, for the Yankees’ appointment of Hershkowitz as Environmental Science Advisor to fulfill its promise and become a Green-Sports game-changer, these two things need to happen:
1. Climate change, not spoken of much by the Yankees to this point, must consistently and clearly be communicated as a prime focus of the Yankees’ environmental efforts, and,
2. Engage fans — those who attend games and the larger number who follow the team on TV, online and elsewhere — to take positive environmental actions.
Do those two things and the Yankees and Hershkowitz will have teamed up to become Green-Sports Hall of Famers. Watch this space.
¹ City Football Group is led by Sheik Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahayan, a member of the royal family ofAbu Dhabi. In addition to its stake in NYCFC, it owns Manchester City, current champions of the English Premier League, and four other football/soccer clubs around the world.
2018 was a banner year for the Philadelphia Eagles, on the field and off.
The team won its first Super Bowl, knocking off the heavily favored New England Patriots, 41-33 in an “instant classic.”
Off the field, the Eagles further burnished their reputation as Green-Sports pioneers by earning ISO 20121 (sustainable events) and LEED Gold certifications.
For those reasons, Philadelphia earned GreenSportsBlog’s BEST TEAM ON/GREENEST TEAM OFF FIELD designation for 2018, sharing it with MLS champions Atlanta United. Eagles Team President Don Smolenski offered a reaction.
Highly-visible renewable energy: Fans cannot miss The Linc’s 11,000+ solar panels, many of which adorn the highly visible east wall of the stadium adjacent to I-95, and the 14 wind turbines, shaped like Eagles talons, atop the stadium roof. Around four megawatts of clean energy is generated per year, accounting for roughly 33 percent of the stadium’s annual energy usage. The remaining energy is covered by the purchase of renewable energy credits, allowing the organization to be completely “off the grid.”
Recycling and composting: Since 2003, the Eagles’ recycling and composting programs have diverted close to 4,000 tons of waste from landfills. These include the installation of two bio-digesters to help decompose pre-consumer food waste.
Water conservation: Management installed 15 water filtration fountains at both Lincoln Financial Field and the nearby NovaCare (training) Complex, eliminating the use of more than 154,000 water bottles since 2015.
Reforestation: In partnership with The Conservation Fund, 100 percent of all team travel is offset through the “Go Zero” program, which is focused on tree planting and reforestation funding. Since 2007, the team has planted more than 5,900 trees, including at the 6.5 acre “Eagles Forest” in Bensalem, PA.
Solar array, topped by Eagle talon-shaped wind turbines at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. (Photo credit: Lewis Blaustein)
This year, the team was rewarded three times for its stellar for green performance.
In June, the Eagles became the first professional sports team to achieve ISO 20121 certification, an international standard designed to help organizations in the events and hospitality industry integrate sustainability into management practices and processes. The Linc followed that up in December with an upgrade from LEED Silver to LEED Gold from the U.S. Green Building Council.
And last week, GreenSportsBlog added the BEST TEAM ON/GREENEST TEAM OFF FIELD award to the Eagles trophy case. It honors the team for its Super Bowl LII win as well as its sustainability excellence. They share the award with Atlanta United, winners of the 2018 MLS Cup.
“It is an honor to be recognized by the Green Sports Blog for our commitment to sustainability,” said Don Smolenski, Philadelphia Eagles President. “We have always been proactive and deliberate in our efforts to serve as proud environmental stewards. This award represents not just our team’s accomplishments, but also that of our amazing partners who diligently support our year-round Go Green efforts. We would also like to congratulate Atlanta United who we share this award with. World champions working in parallel to serve the greater good is something we strongly support.”
Don Smolenski, President of the Philadelphia Eagles (Photo credit: Philadelphia Eagles)
It has been a great week for Forest Green Rovers — the Greenest Team in Sports. After flirting with relegation much of the season, the club assured itself of remaining in League Two, the 4th tier of English soccer/football, with two matches to play. And FGR was the subject of a short yet powerful video from the “YEARS Project.”
Management of Forest Green Rovers, almost universally acknowledged as The Greenest Team in Sports —it serves only vegan food to supporters and players alike and manicures its home pitch with a solar powered MoBot, among many other great, green things — realizes that the English soccer/football club’s ability to influence other sports teams and organizations on environmental issues in the future, is directly related to its performance on the pitch. The better it does, the higher up England’s football pyramid it reaches, the more media will cover FGR’s green story (#CoverGreenSports).
After a playoff win at London’s iconic Wembley Stadium last May earned FGR promotion from England’s 5th to the 4th division — the highest level it has ever reached in 125+ years of play. That led to more media coverage of the team and its sustainability story than ever before — GreenSportsBlog had been on this story since 2014 but suddenly, the ESPNs and The Guardians of the world were paying visits to the Forest Green’s New Lawn Stadium.
Thus, the pressure was intense to avoid going down, the fate that will be suffered by the last and next-to-last place teams in the 24 team league.
Thing is, newly-promoted teams, whether to the Premier League or to League Two, often struggle to “stay up” in their first season against much stiffer competition. FGR was no different, wallowing near the bottom of the table (standings) for much of the campaign. But a strong late season run pushed Forest Green Rovers above the drop zone and the team clinched safety with two games to go on April 24 with a 0-0 draw at Yeovil Town.
Members of Forest Green Rovers salute their traveling supporters after clinching safety from relegation in a 0-0 draw at Yeovil Town (Photo credit: Forest Green Rovers)
A couple of days later the, “YEARS Project,” an outgrowth of the outstanding, if not-nearly-viewed-enough climate change-themed documentary series “Years of Living Dangerously^,” went up on Facebook and YouTube with a short form (90 seconds) video that, despite (or maybe because of?) its brevity and no-narration style, tells the Forest Green Rovers story in eye-catching, memorable fashion. Check out the YouTube video here:
Here’s the link to the video on the YEARS Project’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/YearsOfLiving/videos/1714770931943291/
If you want to see other short-form, climate change-focused content, on a wide variety of topics, I heartily urge you to LIKE their Facebook page.
In the meantime, here’s hoping Forest Green Rovers’ Chairman Dale Vince and company continue to build the team’s quality so they can contend for promotion to 3rd tier League One in 2018-19. Which will result in even more coverage of the club’s green story.
^ If you haven’t watched Years of Living Dangerously, click here — it’s worth your time!
Readers of GreenSportsBlog are likely familiar with Vestas 11th Hour Racing, the sailing team trying to win the ’round-the-world Volvo Ocean Race while being the most sustainable squad in the race — and, for that matter, one of the greenest teams in any sport, anywhere on the planet. The team was tied for second place as Leg 4 of the race, from Melbourne, Australia to Hong Kong, began. And they were in a strong position heading into Hong Kong when an awful accident took place.
And the team was near the lead towards the end of Leg 4, when tragedy struck about 30 miles out from the Hong Kong Harbor finish.
In the wee hours of the morning on January 20, Vestas 11th Hour Racing collided with an unlit fishing vessel. Despite a badly damaged bow, team co-founder Mark Towill and the Vestas 11th Hour Racing crew carried out a search and rescue effort. Nine Chinese fishermen were rescued. One member of the fishing boat crew was retrieved and transferred to a helicopter, with the assistance of Hong Kong Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre. He very sadly passed away. Two other race boats offered assistance but were not needed. The Vestas 11th Hour Racing crew were not injured.
Mark Towill, co-founder and team director of Vestas 11th Hour Racing (Photo credit: Vestas 11th Hour Racing)
Towill stood in for Enright as skipper for Leg 4 because the latter had to sit out due to a family crisis. During Leg 3, from Cape Town to Melbourne, Enright had to leave the team because his two-year-old son had been admitted to the hospital with a case of bacterial pneumonia. As Leg 4 neared its conclusion, Enright traveled to Hong Kong to greet the crew at the finish line, but instead pivoted to play an active role in the crisis management process from shore.
“I have been asked if it would have been different if I was onboard. Definitely not,” said Enright. “The crew has been well trained in crisis situations and performed as they should. They knew what to do and I think they did a phenomenal job given the circumstances. There comes a point when family is more important than the job you’ve been hired to do and I was at that point. I did what was best for my family.”
“I’m very proud of our crew,” added Towill. “We were in a very difficult situation with the damage to the bow, but everyone acted professionally and without hesitation. On behalf of the team, our thoughts and prayers go out to the deceased’s family.”
The team released a statement on March 2 saying they were informed that investigations by the Hong Kong and mainland China authorities were nearing their conclusion with no further actions expected to be taken and that Vestas 11th Hour Racing has been cleared of any wrongdoing.
On the same day, the Volvo Ocean Race announced the opening of its own independent investigation into ocean racing at night in areas of high vessel traffic density. The goal is to establish what steps race organizers may take to mitigate risk going forward. Any findings from the report that could benefit the wider sailing community will be released; it is expected to be submitted to the race’s board this June.
Understandably, the loss of a life weighs very heavily on the minds of Towill, Enright, and every other member of the Vestas 11th Hour Racing squad. “On behalf of the team, our thoughts and prayers go out to the deceased’s family,” said Towill.
Despite their heavy hearts, the severe damage suffered by its racing boat, and missing Legs 5 (Hong Kong to Guangzhou, China and back to Hong Kong) and 6 (Hong Kong to Auckland, New Zealand), Vestas 11th Hour Racing is rejoining the field. To do so, a new port bow section was sent to New Zealand, where it was spliced to the hull of the boat.
Repairs being made to Vestas 11th Hour Racing’s boat as team co-founder and skipper Charlie Enright looks on (Photo credit: Atila Madrona/Vestas 11th Hour Racing)
When Vestas 11th Hour Racing gets back on the open ocean, they will most likely find themselves in fifth place overall and out of contention for top honors. And they will face a grueling Leg 7; the 6,700 nautical mile journey from Auckland, New Zealand, around Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America, and up the Southern Atlantic to Itajaí, Brazil.
While the nautical and competitive obstacles facing the team will be significant, I imagine that the psychological and spiritual hurdles will be even more challenging. Putting my armchair psychologist’s hat on, I think the best thing for Towill, Enright and crew is getting back into the race, bringing the same commitment to the task at hand as they did to the rescue mission.
The first-time Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles have long been Green-Sports trail blazers. As the City of Brotherly Love gets ready for Thursday’s parade (please stay off the hotel awnings and street light poles, Iggles fans!), GreenSportsBlog is happy to play some of the Eagles’ Greatest Green-Sports Hits.
IT ALL STARTED WITH…TOILET PAPER?
As Green Sports Alliance co-founder Dr. Allen Hershkowitz likes to tell it, the impetus for the Eagles’ commitment to sustainability — and, for that matter, the beginning of the broader sports-greening movement — can be traced back to 2004 and…
“Back in 2004, the Philadelphia Eagles had recently moved into a brand new stadium, Lincoln Financial Field, and wanted to become more environmentally responsible. The team reached out to [Hershkowitz] to talk about paper, one of his areas of expertise. It wasn’t exactly exciting stuff, but Hershkowitz, then a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) with a track record of taking on ambitious projects, had done his homework: The Eagles’ TP supplier was Kimberly-Clark, which was getting wood pulp from forests in the southern Appalachians that were home to, you guessed it, real-life eagles. ‘The people at the Eagles’ stadium were wiping their butts with eagle habitat,’ he recalls. ‘That’s what we call a branding liability.'”
Indeed.
CHRISTINA WEISS LURIE LEADS THE EAGLES GREENING EFFORTS
Why did the Eagles want to become more environmentally responsible?
Christina Weiss Lurie, a minority owner of the club since 1994, deserves much of the credit. She spearheaded the Eagles Go Green campaign, coinciding with the opening of “The Linc” in 2003. That groundbreaking initiative has seen the Eagles divert 99 percent of their waste from the landfill and generate 100 percent of their electricity from renewable energy.
Christina Weiss Lurie, minority owner, Philadelphia Eagles. (Photo credit: Christina Weiss Lurie)
In a wide-ranging September 2013 GreenSportsBlog interview, Weiss Lurie shared…
…her inspirations for Go Green:
“In the late 90’s, as we planned what became Lincoln Financial Field, we looked for ways to make a positive statement to the community with the stadium. And, while it was not designed with sustainability at the forefront, as time went on I started thinking about how we could operate more efficiently and with a smaller carbon footprint. 9/11 inspired us as well — with the idea that we had to do more to wean ourselves off of foreign sources of energy. We asked the simple question: What can we do? And so, when the stadium opened in 2003 we started the Go Green campaign with something relatively simple–recycling–and things took off from there.”
…how her colleagues in Eagles management didn’t exactly embrace Go Green from the start:
“It was an uphill battle at the beginning, no doubt about it. We are a business after all and so the costs of greening had to be taken into account at every step of the way. ‘[But] we just persevered! And, at the same time, we empowered the team employees from top to bottom to take ownership of Go Green. From the bottom up, we provided incentives for all employees to choose electricity supply from renewable sources for their homes by paying any premiums for green vs. “brown” power. From the top down, I’ve been fortunate, over the years, to get buy in from our C-level on Go Green, especially our CFO at the time. The net result of the bottom-up/top-down strategy has been astounding: Our recycling rates have gone up from 8 percent in 2005 to 99 percent in 2012!”
…how a variety of forward-thinking companies partnered with the club to make Go Green a success:
“We’ve been very lucky with our vendors. For example, SCA, a Swedish company that has its US headquarters in Philadelphia, is our paper vendor. They provide us with 100% post consumer recycled paper. Aramark, our food concessionaire, initially was resistant to “greening” our food services operations (composting, organics, etc.) due to cost. But ultimately they wanted to find solutions and now are bringing their green operations to other facilities! Going the eco friendly route is a journey and can take time. NRG, our energy provider, built and financed our 11,000 panel solar array at Lincoln Financial Field. Now we generate 30 percent of our electricity from the panels and also mini wind turbines.”
Solar array, topped by Eagle talon-shaped wind turbines at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. (Photo credit: Lewis Blaustein)
GO GREEN DOES NOT REST ON ITS LAURELS
While repeating as Super Bowl champs is super difficult — the 2004-2005 New England Patriots were the last team to turn that trick — the Eagles, through Go Green,have been consistent Green-Sports winners over the past a decade and a half. Last summer, GreenSportsBlog shared how the Eagles continued that trend through the installation of Eco-Safe Digesters® at The Linc and their practice facility:
“The Philadelphia Eagles team[ed] up with environmental partner, Delaware-based Waste Masters Solutions (WMS), on the installation of a BioHiTech GlobalEco-Safe Digester®, a food waste digester and data analytics platform at Lincoln Financial Field. The unit uses a proprietary bacteria formula to break down pre- and post-consumer food scraps via aerobic digestion and send them through sewer systems with no residual solids…This move builds upon the September 2016 installation of a waste digester at the team’s NovaCare Complex practice facility to help decompose pre-consumer food waste. Since then, more than nine tons of food waste has been decomposed and, thus, diverted from landfills.”
BioHiTech Global’s Eco-Safe Digesters will be installed Lincoln Financial Field, the home of the Philadelphia Eagles, and will be managed and maintained by Waste Master Solutions. (Photo credit: BioHiTech Global)
EAGLE ECO-ATHLETES; CHRIS LONG AND CONNOR BARWIN
The Eagles’ Go Green ethos has made its way to the locker room.
Defensive end Chris Long, who donated his entire 2017 salary of $1 million to educational charities, is also the co-founder of the nonprofit Waterboys. A January 2017 GreenSportsBlog story provides some of the inspiring particulars:
“[After Long’s season ends,] the former first round draft pick from the University of Virginia will turn a good chunk of his offseason attention to Waterboys, the nonprofit he founded to use his platform as a pro football player to affect change by bringing water to drought-ravaged Tanzania and other countries in East Africa…
…Long first visited Tanzania to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Seeing the poverty and the challenging quality of life—due, in large part, to the water scarcity in the area—were his catalysts for action. That water deficit has reached crisis levels due to a massive prolonged drought that, according to climate scientists, is being exacerbated by climate change.
…Through Waterboys, Long, philanthropist Doug Pitt and a network of 23 current and former NFLers, including ex-Eagle (currently with the Los Angeles Rams) Connor Barwin, donate their own funds and, through social media, raise money from their fans to support the digging of wells by local workers in East Africa.”
Eagles defensive end Chris Long, co-founder of Waterboys (Photo credit: WPVI-TV Philadelphia)
To date, 31 wells have been funded, with each serving 7,500 people at a cost of $45,000.
Speaking of Connor Barwin, while he was with Philadelphia, the popular linebacker became one of pro sports’ leading eco-athletes. He drove a Tesla, rode his bike to work and, as a volunteer, installed solar panels on the roofs of local homes.
GREEN X 2 IN SUPER BOWL LIII?
Given the Eagles Green-Sports leadership, rooting for them to get back to Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta next February is not a heavy lift for this GreenSportsBlogger. And how fitting would it be if, across the sideline, stood the New York Jets, aka Gang Green.
OK, to be completely transparent, the Gang Green moniker has nothing to do with sustainability — rather, it refers to the color of the Jets’ uniforms. But the club does play at MetLife Stadium, a green leader in its own right. And they are, for better and mostly worse, my favorite team. Of course they don’t really have a quarterback, but that’s a story for another day.
Still, I choose to dream big and green. And nothing would be bigger — or greener — than an Eagles-Jets Super Bowl.
But, for now, it’s the Eagles day. So Fly Eagles FLY!
The reigning NBA Champion Golden State Warriors otherworldly performances on the court are well known around the world. While the Bay Area club’s sustainability record — along with that of its LEED certified home, Oracle Arena — is much less well-known, it is also top shelf. That combination earned the Warriors its first “Best Team On/Greenest Team Off Court” designation from GreenSportsBlog. The club commented on winning the award.
The Warriors’ sustainability record is a reflection of the Bay Area’s strong environmental ethos. The club, working with Oracle Arena management and concessionaire Levy Restaurants:
Powers its practice facility with solar panels
Reduces energy usage at Oracle Arena through a smart energy management system
Introduced a rainwater recapture system that uses the harvested H₂O to feed the plants and vegetation surrounding the arena.
Partners with a local vendor who turns oils from concessions into bio-diesel,
Implemented a system which utilizes water, salt and electricity to create an eco-friendly cleaning solution
Reduced the carbon footprint of, and the waste produced by the food service. In partnership with Levy Restaurants, the club uses compostable cutlery and flatware and composts food waste.
For the above and more, Oracle Arena earned LEED certification from the US Green Building Council in September.
“We share this award with our Oracle Arena partners Levy [Restaurants] and AEG, who are also committed to making the Bay Area a more sustainable community,” said Warriors President and Chief Operating Officer Rick Welts. “It is important to the entire Warriors organization to continue to do our part in making the Bay Area one of the most eco-friendly places to live.”
Golden State Warriors President and Chief Operating Officer Rick Welts (Photo credit: Golden State Warriors)
The Dubs will up their sustainability game when the club moves to the new Chase Center — expected to seek LEED Gold certification — in San Francisco in 2019. So, it will be on the shoulders of Kevin Durant, Steph Curry & Co. to keep up their end of the bargain if Golden State is to dominate the “Best Team On/Greenest Team Off Court” award going forward.
The minor leagues of English soccer/football have become a petri dish of Green-Sports innovation. GreenSportsBlog has featured Forest Green Rovers, the “Greenest Team in Sports” and Dartford F.C. Today, our focus turns to Sutton United F.C., the South London club in the fifth tier of English soccer whose home stadium, Gander Green Lane, became the first to receive The Planet Mark™ sustainability certification.
Some of the greatest innovations in Green-Sports are happening in the soccer equivalent of baseball’s low minor leagues. While several Premier League giants, including Arsenal, Manchester City and Newcastle, have taken strong green-sports actions, it is the mid-to-lower levels of the English soccer/football pyramid where bold sustainable sports innovation is happening.
Forest Green Rovers of the fourth tier of English Football has become the undisputed Greenest Team on the Planet and a GreenSportsBlog staple through its all-vegan menus, solar powered lawn mowing “mow-bots”, rooftop solar, and more. Last month, GSB featured Princes Park, home of sixth tier Dartford F.C., and, arguably, the greenest of all stadium green roofs in the world.
After hitting “send” on the Dartford F.C. piece, I thought “there can’t be any other small, quaint English soccer/football clubs doing state-of-the-art green-sports things, can there?”
Yes There Can.
Today, we bring you fifth tier Sutton United F.C.. Located just south of Wimbledon, the Amber and Chocolates (how about that for a nickname?) are in the midst of a noteworthy 2017. On the pitch, the club made an improbable run to the fifth round of the FA Cup, the 10 month tournament that involves the entirety of the professional/semi-professional English soccer pyramid, from the Premier League to pub leagues. When Arsenal, the Premier League Goliath, came to the 5,000 seat Gander Green Lane in February, it was the biggest game in Sutton United history. And it was played at the first football stadium to achieve The Planet Mark™ sustainability certification.
Gander Green Lane, home of Sutton United F.C. (Photo credit: AFTN)
The Planet Mark is a three year-old British certification system that recognizes businesses for their sustainability better practices, including waste reductions, detailed carbon footprint measurements and targets, as well as stakeholder engagement. Over 100 organizations have been certified, each committing to reduce their carbon emissions by at least 2.5 percent per year.
Sutton United, which began its sustainability journey in 2011, has certainly earned its Planet Mark designation. They have:
Reduced their carbon footprint by 13.6 percent in 2016, led by savings came from gas consumption (down 39 percent). Those reductions were mostly attributed to installing double glazed windows and by decommissioning a leaking boiler in Gander Green Lane’s club buildings
Recycled 88 percent of their waste
Invested in the Eden Project, a climate change education nonprofit and visitor destination that has officially been added to my bucket list. Nestled in a huge crater in Cornwall, UK, it features massive Biomes housing the largest rainforest in captivity
Stored 260 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent (CO₂E) by protecting endangered rainforest through the nonprofit Cool Earth
Committed to engage their employees and suppliers to drive improvements.
Dave Farebrother, chairman of the board of directors at Sutton United and an environmentalist, has been the driver of the club’s sustainability initiatives. “We like to say that our club is much more than just the ‘first team’,” enthused Farebrother. “Our community program is very active in the local area. I’ve…been into local schools to talk about sustainability.”
“I think climate change is one of the greatest challenges we face but, as [Sutton United] showed in its magnificent FA Cup run, challenges are there to be overcome,” said Steve Malkin, founder of The Planet Mark. “We are delighted to support Sutton United and, in our small way, contribute to the club’s success.”
Although the clock struck midnight on the Amber and Chocolate’s Cinderella story when Arsenal earned a hard fought 2-0 victory back in February on the way to winning the 2017 FA Cup, Sutton United did earn an estimated quarter of a million pounds from TV broadcasting rights, a significant sum for a club of that smallish size. According to The Planet Mark, “If some of that money is ploughed back into low carbon measures, the club’s position as a sustainability leader will be secured for years to come.”
Sutton United (yellow) and Arsenal battle in their February 2017 fifth round FA Cup match at The Planet Mark-certified Gander Green Lane (Photo credit: Caughtoffside.com)
For the past four years, GreenSportsBlog has featured the teams, athletes and events that are taking the Green-Sports lead. What we haven’t focused on much is how said teams and players have done on the court or field. Well, that changes today as we unveil a new occasional feature, the GSB Eco-Scoreboard: Catching Up with Green-Sports Leaders on the Field, in which we highlight the recent on-field/court results of the greenest teams and athletes. Why? Because if they do well, their green messages will gain a wider audience. Also, it’s fun. And if there’s one thing the climate change/environmental world can use more of — including the Green-Sports niche — is fun.
Dartford F.C.
Dartford Football Club in Kent, located 18 miles southeast of London has always resided in the lower rungs of the English football (soccer) pyramid and is currently in the sixth tier.
Yet this classic “small club” has gone big when it comes to sustainability. Its 11 year-old Princes Park was built with sustainable construction materials, boasts on-site solar panels, an advanced rainwater reclamation system and a green roof.
Princes Park, home of Dartford F.C., and its green roof (Photo credit: Dartford F.C.)
On the pitch, Dartford F.C. has one major goal this season: Earn promotion to the fifth tier National League by finishing first in the National League South. After its high octane 4-2 home win on Tuesday over Eastbourne Borough, Dartford moved into a 4-way tie for first place. There’s a long way to go — Dartford just played the 11th game of its 42-game season — but the early signs are strong.
Next up for “The Darts” is a Saturday visit to 17th place Weston-super-Mare A.F.C. (I love these British team names).
Forest Green Rovers
Sticking with the minor leagues of English football, we turn to Forest Green Rovers.
Its owner, Dale Vince, OBE, who also owns solar and wind company Ecotricity, has set out to turn the West Midlands club into the Greenest Team in Sports. From solar panels on the roof to an organic pitch that is mowed by a solar powered mow-bot to exclusively-vegan concession stands, Vince and FGR has succeeded in setting the Green-Sports pace.
Vince realizes that the FGR Green Story will get more attention and followers the better the team does on the pitch.
Now the trick is to stay in League Two this season — to do so, FGR cannot finish in the bottom two places or it will be relegated back down from whence they came. And it won’t be easy as stepping up a league means a significant step up in competition.
FGR has had a scratchy start to the 2017-2018 season, earning but one win and one tie from their first seven contests. Thus Saturday’s match at Port Vale was key as a loss would mean FGR would be in the dreaded “relegation zone,” a place you don’t want to be, even this early in the season (eight matches have been played in the 46-game schedule).
And things looked dicey when Port Vale took the lead in the 20th minute. But, in the 66th minute, Omar Bugiel entered the game for FGR as a substitute and two minutes later, the the Lebanese National Team member leveled things with a glancing header. From then on, FGR applied constant pressure but could not net the game winner. Still, a tie on the road was a solid result and keeps FGR out of the relegation zone for now.
Lebanese international Omar Bugiel scored the equalizer for Forest Green Rovers in their 1-1 draw at Port Vale on Saturday (Photo credit: Forest Green Rovers)
Friday night, Forest Green Rovers’ fight to stay above danger continues when 10th place Swindon Town F.C. comes to The New Lawn.
Stephen Piscotty, St. Louis Cardinals
GreenSportsBlog has closely followed the 25 year old Redbirds outfielder after interviewing him in January. Why did we talk to Piscotty? Two reasons:
Coming off of a stellar first full season in the big leagues, with 25 homers and 85 RBIs, Piscotty was primed for a breakout 2017 campaign.
A 2015 Stanford graduate, with a degree in Atmosphere and Energy Engineering, Piscotty is the rare athlete to express serious knowledge of and interest in clean tech—specifically solar and smart grid.
Stephen Piscotty, St. Louis Cardinals outfielder (Photo credit: Taka Yanagimoto/St. Louis Cardinals)
Unfortunately, Piscotty has had a very rough second season: Two stints on the disabled list with hamstring and groin injuries combined with a sophomore slump at the plate led to a demotion to Triple-A Memphis in early August.
But these struggles pale in comparison to the news Piscotty received over Memorial Day that his mother, Gretchen, had been diagnosed with ALS^ or Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
As the July 31st trade deadline approached, rumors surfaced that the Cardinals were trying to deal Piscotty to the Oakland A’s to allow him to be nearer to his mom and family in the Bay Area. That trade did not come to pass.
In fact, Piscotty was sent back up to St. Louis from Memphis after only a couple weeks. Shortly thereafter, he launched a game-winning homer against the Padres on September 6 in San Diego, with his mom in the stands. This gave a much-needed boost to the Cardinals in their long shot bid to make the playoffs — as of this writing, the Redbirds are 4.5 games out of a wild card berth with 13 games to go.
^ If you are interested in donating to support ALS research, please click here for a link to the ALS Association
In the almost four year existence of GreenSportsBlog, we have written more stories about fifth tier English soccer/football club Forest Green Rovers than any other team or topic—12 times to be exact. Why? FGR is, clearly to GSB, the Greenest Team in Sports. From rooftop solar to mowing the lawn with a solar powered “mow-bot” (I kid you not!) to the now famous vegan-only food concessions, FGR is at the cutting edge of Green-Sports. And, as of Sunday they are no longer in the fifth tier of English soccer. After beating Tranmere, 3-1, in a playoff match at London’s fabled Wembley Stadium, FGR earned promotion to the fourth tier (aka League Two), for the first time ever. This is huge, from both football and greening perspectives.
I am quite sure you’ve never heard of Kaiyne Woolery. But he may well be one of the most important people in Green-Sports today—and he likely has no idea about that fact.
Woolery scored two goals to lead Forest Green Rovers (FGR), aka the Greenest Team in Sports, to a 3-1 win over Tranmere Rovers on Sunday at Wembley Stadium in London. The playoff victory earned FGR promotion from the National League (the fifth tier of English football) to League Two (fourth tier).
Kaiyne Woolery celebrates one of his two goals for Forest Green Rovers in Sunday’s promotion 3-1 playoff win at London’s Wembley Stadium over Tranmere. FGR moves up to League Two, the 4th tier of English football, next season (Photo credit: Sky Sports)
You simply cannot overstate the impact of this win, abetted by Woolery’s two goals, both in terms of football and FGR’s sustainability/climate change fighting mission.
MOVING ON UP
From a football perspective, consider that Forest Green Rovers has been in existence since 1889 and has never made it up to the fourth tier (FYI, there are 24 tiers in English football, with over 7,000 clubs).
In most countries—but not the US and Canada—professional soccer operates a system of promotion and relegation. Clubs that finish at or near the top of a league are promoted to the league above for the following season. Teams that end up at or near the bottom get relegated to the league below. If you want more information on promotion and relegation, check out this schematic, which maps out the top nine tiers of English football, and/or click here.
The English Football Pyramid. Forest Green Rovers won promotion from the 5th Level (Conference National) to the 4th Level (League Two), the highest tier it has ever achieved. (Credit: An American’s Guide to English Soccer)
For most of its 128 year existence, FGR rattled around a maze of English local, county and regional leagues, moving up and down over the decades, never getting above the sixth tier. In 1997-98, they made it up to the National League, the fifth tier of English soccer. While that was an accomplishment, let’s put it in its proper perspective: In baseball terms, the fifth tier is the equivalent of the low minor leagues. FGR’s quaint and sustainable home ground, The New Lawn, has a capacity of about 5,100, similar to most of its (now former) National League compatriots.
The club largely teetered between relegation and mediocrity until Dale Vince, OBE^, owner of Ecotricity, a solar and wind provider, bought the club in 2010. They started slowly but hit on an upward trajectory that led to FGR making the promotion playoffs in 2015 and 2016. They fell short both years but the third time proved to be a charm on Sunday. Before a crowd of almost 19,000 at Wembley Stadium in London, the club earned promotion to League Two with Woolery’s 11th and 44th minute goals sandwiching one from Christian Doidge in the 41st.
The honeymoon will be brief for the coaches, players and supporters, many of whom flooded The New Lawn for a celebration Monday night. FGR’s first League Two season starts in just three months (it’s a loooooong season!). Some higher caliber talent will need to be added to the core of this season’s group to make sure Forest Green Rovers stays in the fourth tier and doesn’t face relegation.
LEAGUE TWO: BIGGER MEGAPHONE FOR FGR’S GREENNESS
From a sustainability perspective, the implications of Woolery’s two goals and of the resulting move up the ladder are also massive.
One might not think going from the fifth to fourth tier is that big a deal. Trust me; it is.
Sky Sports, a British version of ESPN, broadcasts League Two matches, providing those clubs with greater media exposure, and thus a bigger audience, than their National League counterparts (without a national broadcast deal) can hope for. And that means a bigger audience for stories about FGR’s greenness, the vegan only food, the mow-bot, etc.
With its ascension to League Two, FGR is now, per the schematic above, part of The Football League, the organization that oversees the second, third and fourth tiers. This is important because FGR can take part in two domestic, knock-out Cup competitions, the League Cup (includes the Premier League teams) and the League Trophy (open to League One and Two clubs only) that are not open to National League clubs or below. And that means they will share in yet more additional revenue. The more famous and prestigious FA Cup is open to all levels.
The TV deal and the additional Cup exposure will result in a financial windfall for the club, estimated by one source to be between $1-$2 million. That is rounding error compared to the estimated $220 million influx for each of the three teams that get promoted from the second tier Championship to the Premier League. But $1-$2 million can be a big deal in the Forest Green Rovers world. It will allow Mr. Vince to attract a higher level of talent. And perhaps he will be able to move forward on some new sustainability initiatives.
The highest profile sustainability-focused project on Mr. Vince’s docket is FGR’s new stadium. To be clear, the world’s first all-wood stadium was in the planning phase before this season started.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Did you say all-wood stadium?”
Yes. Mr. Vince and company is planning an all (fire-retardant treated) wood stadium. In a meadow.
Computer-aided design of the exterior of the planned all-wood Forest Green Rovers stadium. (Courtesy Forest Green Rovers and Zaha Hadid Architects)
Mr. Vince, in a story by George Ramsey that ran Tuesday on CNN.com, said, “The importance of wood is not only that it’s naturally occurring, [but that] it has very low embodied carbon — about as low as it gets for a building material. And when you bear in mind that around three-quarters of the lifetime carbon impact of any stadium comes from its building materials, you can see why that’s so important — and it’s why our new stadium will have the lowest embodiment of carbon of any stadium.”
Computer-aided design of the interior of the planned Forest Green Rovers stadium. (Courtesy Forest Green Rovers and Zaha Hadid Architects)
Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, the stadium will be topped by a translucent, sloping roof to reduce shadows on the pitch (field) and aid in grass growth. Venue walkways have been fashioned to allow better ventilation and maintenance of the field.
The first 53 seconds of this 6:44 video from TomoNews provides details about Forest Green Rovers’ proposed all-wood stadium.
If all goes to plan, the stadium will be the hub of a 100-acre Eco Park. At an estimated cost of $123 million, the park will include facilities for both the community and the club: gyms, all-weather soccer pitches/fields, sports science clinics, as well as a conference center.
The project still needs approval from local authorities, so Mr. Vince asked the fans present at Monday’s promotion celebration to write to the Stroud District Council in support of the stadium—another benefit of promotion to League Two.
But don’t think that Mr. Vince is content to stop at League Two. He was quoted at the celebration by Aled Thomas in Gloucestershire Liveas saying, “I think we’ll have a good first season in League Two and will be there or thereabouts for promotion – I’m aiming for League One and then the Championship.”
And the FGR owner is also aiming, with his club’s higher profile, to show his fellow owners that green is good for business and good for football.
^ OBE = Order of the British Empire, a level of chivalry in the United Kingdom.
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