Which sport do you follow NRL, AFL, The World Game, Surfing, Motor sport?

I’ve resurrected this old blog to add the sport of sailing, going green! Influenced by sustainable practices that were renowned at the London Olympics this article “Sailing Academy inspires the Olympians of the Future”

“The Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy is the only sailing venue in the world to have achieved the International Standard for sustainable event management, ISO 20121 and won the PBO Green award in 2011 and the Boating Business Environmental Award in 2012.”

At this time of year we are mainly concentrating on football here in Australia. So what would you say if someone asked you how green is your sport?

Greening of sport is happening all around the world and here are some examples:

FISA, “Fédération Internationale des Sociétés d’Aviron” (Federation of Rowing Associations) is the international governing body of the sport of rowing. The organisation is empowered by its 131 member National Rowing Federations, the National Olympic Committees and the International Olympic Committee.

World Rowing and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) have jointly produced the “Clean Water Video” filmed in the pristine mountain water lake in Bled, Slovenia which encourages all rowers consider and protect the natural environment in which their sport takes place.

The article from “inside the games” reports that FISA President Denis Oswald speaking on behalf of World Rowing, said: “Rowers have an intimate and intense relationship with water. Naturally, they are interested in ensuring that the water bodies on which they row are protected and maintained, not just for their own use, but for the many other groups and communities who also rely upon it.”

So what’s the connection between sport & the environment? Sport happens in many differing natural environments. Ever since sport began back in the days of early Greece I doubt whether the participants of many sports have gone out of their way to make sure that the environment is protected. There are of course small groups but I’m talking more on an international scale.

Surfing had the opportunity when Climate Wave Enterprises presented the Association of Surfing Professionals a project for monitoring and reducing their carbon footprint which at the time was quoted by the head of the organisation as “Cutting edge stuff” but for unknown reasons they didn’t have the foresight to initiate such innovative procedures.

In North America at the moment there is a strong movement, the Green Sports Alliance (GSA) which in January of 2010 started bringing sports organisations and environmental experts together in an effort to improve the environmental performance of sports facilities and operations. In just over two & half years GSA has attracted over 100 sports teams & venues from 13 different sports leagues to these new practices.
This strong movement towards sustainable event management would not be happening for feel good reasons alone, there must be something more to it, don’t you think?

Human beings as a whole generally don’t change their habits quickly; we are creatures of habit. So what is shaking this movement towards environmental concerns in our sports arenas?

The Green Sports Alliance (GSA) through the use of sustainable event management practices has cleverly shown that you can SAVE money by using these systems and also be beneficial for the natural environment as a bonus. The best thing for me about this particular organisation is that through these inspiring practices they are able to educate mum, dad & the kids (the family unit) towards sustainability by supporting their sporting team. The environmental message that GSA is promoting will be going home to the suburbs where it is needed.

So what is going on here in Australia echo echo echo, that’s the sound of emptiness? Not quite right, there are some new stadiums and sporting events that have incorporated some measures towards sustainable practices but it still feels that they’re add on’s not core values. At this point if you have read my previous blogs you might be feeling a sense of déjà vu well yes I have written on this subject before and feel it is so important we act on these practises now.

By incorporating sustainable event management practises at our sporting matches/venues what would be the…

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