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Apr 27, 2012

Innovator
Storyteller_1
For the Love of Sport
by Anne Bertucio

I love sport.  When I’m not working with our Focus the Nation partners or helping to guide F2A projects, I’m usually breaking a sweat or cheering on one of my beloved teams (Go Timbers!). So when Sasha told me that the University of Oregon F2A team wanted to concentrate on sports and energy, I was thrilled.

 

The University of Oregon (UO) athletic program has a long history of excellence and is located in a city that is affectionately nick-named “Track Town, USA.” UO is also a leader in sustainability and noted for its environmental initiatives.  So where do these overlap?  How can the UO apply its success in sustainability with its excellence in sport?  And why does it matter? 
 
Luckily, Focus Coordinators James Walton and Weston Cooper were not pondering these questions alone.  The Green Sports Alliance is a nonprofit organization with a mission to help sports teams, venues, and leagues enhance their environmental performance.  GSA was founded in 2010 and has already reached 13 leagues and over 90 venues and teams.  With the help of GSA and the UO Athletic Department, the UO F2A team made a clear case for incorporating sustainability and sports at the collegiate level at last night’s “Focus the Nation Sports and Sustainability Summit.” 
 
“Without a clean environment, athletic achievements are hindered,” Walton’s opening words that would resonate throughout the forum.  Sporting events are a major part of the University’s culture, but are also a major impact on their carbon footprint.  Stadium lights.  Water bottles.  Beverage containers.  Scoreboards.  Televisions.  Loudspeakers.  Refreshments.  Transportation.  These quickly add up in the course of a 4-hour game, or 3 day Olympic Track Trial.  But with 58% of people paying attention to sports, and only 18% to science, these events also represent a great opportunity to change citizen behaviors.  
 
The UO Athletic Department takes sustainability seriously and has conducted a full sustainability report of their current operations.  They know where they are improving, and they know where they need to make improvements.  Now they just need the creativity to generate solutions.  Which is where the innovative, dynamic students come in.  How can we change behavior and reduce the energy consumption of sports operations without impacting the sporting experience?  It’s a big challenge, but as GSA Executive Director Martin Tull remarked in his keynote last night, the energy and problem-solving creativity of the UO students is inspiring.  
 
The power of sport has overcome discrimination, broken stereotypes, and united countries.  Solving our energy crisis?  This may well become sport’s next accomplishment.
View Comments (0) Tags: innovator sustainability F2A University of Oregon sports

Apr 18, 2012

Storyteller_1
"Sunday School and Sustainable Energy" from Alabama Coordinator Bailie Clark
by Bailie Clark

The University of Alabama team has been working hard on their action plan. Focus Coordinator Bailie Clark wrote about the importance of sustainable energy in UA's paper, The Crimson White:

 

It’s a parable many of us have heard since childhood: a hard-working man saves money his entire life to leave his two sons with a sizeable inheritance for when he dies, but one son, in an ultimate act of disrespect, decides he wants his share of the inheritance before his father’s death. According to tradition, if a son claims his inheritance before due time, he must be permanently cast out of his community. With his fortune, the son gladly exchanges his life in the village for one of frivolous spending which leaves him penniless. Left with no other option, he returns to his father and asks forgiveness. The father unexpectedly welcomes his estranged son back with open arms and a big party.

Over the past few billion years, life has flourished and died on a scale we cannot even begin to imagine. Comparable to the father’s careful saving, these organisms accumulate and are compressed over thousands of years, eventually resulting in a carbon-rich material. When humans realized how profitable this inheritance could be, we started squandering it without a thought to its transiency.

However, we are now at a point in our history where we pull our father’s inheritance out of our pockets and realize there is simply not enough. The age-old tale does not describe this moment in the irresponsible son’s life, but I imagine he first dug deeper in his pockets thinking, “There must be more. This cannot be all that is left.” In the same way, scraping what little oil we can find is costing more energy than it’s worth — sometimes only breaking even.

Read more at The Crimson White.

View Comments (0) Tags: sustainability Energy Alabama

Dec 05, 2011

Storyteller_1
Cross-Pollination Across California: My Workshop at the CSSC Convergence
by Meredith Jacobson

 

At the California Student Sustainability Coalition’s most recent fall convergence, hosted by California State University at Chico, I was given the opportunity to hold a workshop. I called my workshop “Cross-Pollinating for Clean Energy Campuses,” inspired by and based on what I learned at the Focus the Nation ReCharge! retreat about collaboration and diversity. 
 
The California Student Sustainability Coalition (CSSC) hosts convergences twice a year to bring sustainability-minded students from across the state of California together to share ideas, collaborate, get to know one another, and create a sense of togetherness. All students are encouraged to hold workshops on any topic, because the convergences run on the energy and passion of students themselves. Workshops are chances to share ideas but also gain new ideas, because every attendee has a unique perspective and experience to bring to the table.  
 
My workshop was mainly a discussion; I wanted to use the fifty-minute time slot as a chance to brainstorm new ideas that we could all take back to our campuses in our efforts to implement clean energy. Personally, I was looking for fuel to take back to my FTN Forums-to-Action team. There were about ten of us in the room, and I had each attendee pick which quadrant/quadrants (FTN style) he or she identifies with. All quadrants – Storyteller, Innovator, Politico, and Technician - were represented!
 
Together, we discussed collaboration on multiple levels – with the community, with legislators, with campus organizations, with administration, and even with different college campuses, like we were doing at this very convergence. Participants brought lots of new ideas to the table, from green lunch bag series with scientists, to asking labs to experiment with their technologies on campus, to holding diversity events bringing different kinds of people and clubs together. Some students talked about how their campuses have a “Renewable Energy Initiative” funded by student fees. 
 
At the end of the session, we did some real-time “cross-pollinating.” Each of us got in a pair with someone of a different quadrant, and discussed answers to questions including  “What is the best forum to voice opinions and ‘cross-pollinate’?” and “How can we frame the issues in different ways to get different types of people and organizations on board?” The creative juices were flowing, and the sound of stimulating conversation filled the room. The idea of “cross-pollinating,” of bringing different styles of thinking together to work on common issues and questions, is the only way to truly address the challenges we face on our campuses and beyond. 
 
The CSSC Convergence, in essence, is one big field of cross-pollination. At its core, the convergence brings people of many backgrounds together, in one place, to pollinate one another with new ideas and solutions. The energy, passion, and creativity present at these convergences are amazing, reminding me that while the internet is a powerful tool for collaboration, nothing beats learning from someone face to face – something I learned at the ReCharge! retreat in August. 
View Comments (0) Tags: California sustainability Student Convergence Chico

Nov 14, 2011

Storyteller_1
Lohas. No, it isn't slang for "Aloha"
by Anne Bertucio

 

Lohas. No, it isn’t slang for “aloha,” but refers to a market segment called Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability, an upper class, highly educated demographic who values sustainable living.  One in five American adults are classified as Lohas. And while some of the most lauded, sustainable cities have been driven by Lohas, what happens to the other 80% of adults and the communities they live in? Andrew Ross, NYU professor and author of Bird on Fire: Lessons From the World’s Least Sustainable City, tackled this question in the November 7th New York Times Op-Ed.  How will struggling cities make the transition to sustainable living?  Check out Professor Ross’ thoughts, and share yours below! 
View Comments (0) Tags: urban planning sustainability

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