A team of eighth graders from the Joan MacQueen Middle School in Alpine, CA — about 30 miles east of San Diego — are getting ready to defend the school’s Junior Solar Sprint National Championship at the finals in Atlanta on June 24-25. Teams from all over the United States race model cars that are powered by solar panels mounted on the roofs. GreenSportsBlog talked to Chris Loarie, a parent volunteer leading the Chicken Pot PieRats squad, and Chase Kingston, one of the Pie Rats’ key cogs, to gain a better understanding of what Solar Sprint racing is all about.
GreenSportsBlog: Chris and Chase, thank you for taking time out from your preparations for the Junior Solar Sprint National Championships to talk to us. Chris, how long has this been a “thing”?
Chris Loarie: Well, it’s run by an organization called the Technology Student Association, and it’s been around for about 20 years.
Chris: The school got started with it about eight years ago — a science teacher offered an elective to interested students back then. We think it’s a great way for students to combine science, technology, engineering and renewable energy, testing creativity along the way. And about three years ago, it became a part of the curriculum in a newly created engineering elective…
GSB: …Middle schools have engineering courses? I guess that question shows it’s been a very long time since I was in middle school! And you can take a class in building and racing solar-powered model cars?
Chris: Thirty-one students are taking the JMMS Engineering course this year.
GSB: I would imagine it’s popular — It sounds like a lot of fun and you Joan Macqueen won the nationals last year in Orlando! And, it must be said, your son Hayden and Ramses Lara took home the gold so congratulations are in order.
Chris: Thank you!
Hayden Loarie (l) and Ramses Lara, after winning the 2017 Junior Solar National Sprint Championship in Orlando (Photo credit: Sullivan Solar Power)
GSB: What is your role?
Chris: I’m a parent volunteer with 35 years of experience in manufacturing. I want the kids in our community to see the types of tools and software that is used in industry and how math is used to solve real problems in design.
GSB: The kids are lucky to have you! And soon you will be on your way to Atlanta to try to do what many say is the toughest thing in sports: Repeat as champions. Are you ready? How did Joan Macqueen MS qualify for the nationals?
Chris: We took part in a regional qualifying tournament, sponsored by Sullivan Solar Power…
Members of the Joan MacQueen Middle School teams at the 2018 Junior Solar Sprint San Diego-area regional championship (Photo credit: Sullivan Solar Power)
Chris: The very same. Our three-person teams came in first, second and third and the winning team, the Chicken Pot PieRats, get to go to Atlanta to defend our title.
GSB: Chicken Pot PieRats? Where does that name come from?
Chris: We asked the teams to come up with a theme for their car and a team name that was representative of the theme. Being 8th graders, they came up with a play on words and decided on a pirates theme of sewer rats. I think it really helped them make their car color decisions and made the making of the car display a really fun process. Their display is worth almost 1/3 of points in the competition, so having fun with it leads to better quality work. Everyone laughs when they hear the name, so we know it was a great choice.
GSB: Love it! How long are the races and how many cars are in each heat?
Chris: The national event will start with a day of time qualifications. All the cars are run on a single track with a digital timer. The top 16 times advance to the finals the following day. The finals are two lane, head to head racing in a double elimination tournament. The winner of the races receives the highest point value, but the National Champion is the team that earns the most points in three judged areas: racing, design/documentation, and car display.
GSB: How many teams will try to dethrone the PieRats?
Chris: Last year, at the Nationals in Orlando, there were 90 teams so I believe it will be a similarly sized field in Atlanta.
GSB: That’s a lot of people chasing the PieRats, that’s for sure…And that’s a great point to segue from the chasers to talking to eighth grader Chase Kingston, one of three members of the PieRats team — along with Ronan Eddie and Josh Handley who will try to bring the Junior Solar Sprint national championship trophy back to Joan MacQueen Middle School! Chase, what are the keys to designing, engineering and building a solar powered model car that can compete for — and potentially win — a national championship?
Ronan Eddie (l) and Chase Kingston on the winners’ stand after emerging victorious at the San Diego area regional qualifying tournament for the Junior Solar Sprint National Championships, sponsored by Sullivan Solar. Ronan, Chase and teammate Josh Handley head to the nationals in Atlanta on Friday for the races that take place Sunday and Monday (Photo credit: Sullivan Solar Power)
Chase Kingston: It takes a lot of things but I’d say the main factors are building the lightest car possible, with the best tires and the best gear ratios.
GSB: Of course…lightest, best tires and gear ratios…That’s easy to say but I imagine it’s hard to execute…
Chase: It isn’t easy but, thanks to our engineering teachers, we’ve been able to improve on all three.
Engineering drawings of the Chicken Pot PieRats entry that will race in this weekends Junior Solar Sprint National Championships in Atlanta (Credit: Chicken Pot PieRats)
GSB: What about the solar panels themselves?
Chris Loarie: The solar panels, as well as the motors, are the same for all of the cars.
GSB: Got it — that puts a premium on design and engineering. Chase, how did you get into this?
Chase Kingston: Last semester, I was taking a coding class, didn’t like it much. One of my teachers, Miss Tomkins, suggested I try the Engineering class. So I did and she was right. It’s amazing!
GSB: I wish we had something like this when I was in school. How has this course and experience changed you?
Chase: I’m interested in engineering as a career but, thanks to the class and being part of the PieRats, solar engineering is now something I would like to explore.
GSB: That is great to hear. But before that, it’s time to head to Atlanta to try to bring the national championship back to Joan Macqueen Middle School. Good luck!
GreenSportsBlog will check in with Chris and Chase after the Junior Solar Sprint Nationals to see how they made out.
Please indulge me this rare sports-free post. Green-Sports-themed posts will return next week!
I had the good fortune to spend Monday and Tuesday in Washington D.C. among an amazing group of 1,400 volunteers at the Citizens’ Climate Lobby National Conference. The 10-year old grassroots organization exists “to create the political will for climate solutions by enabling individual breakthroughs in the exercise of personal and political power.”
Though the group is very diverse — volunteers come from all corners of the United States, there are high schoolers and octogenarians, lefties and conservatives (a growing number, in fact) — CCLers have three things in common.
We…
1. Are passionate about solving the climate crisis,
2. Believe in CCL’s market-based Carbon Fee & Dividend legislative proposal that would place a price on carbon and that would share the dividends equally with every household in the country. This would grow the economy, in particular the lower and middle classes, and clean energy technologies would scale at the pace needed to avert the worst effects of climate change.
3. Know that getting to meaningful climate solutions is a marathon and we are in the race until it is won.
Are we closer to the start or the finish of the climate change marathon? No one really knows. But, Tuesday’s lobby-thon — CCLers met with almost each of the 535 House and Senate offices — showed that Citizens’ Climate Lobby definitely picked up the pace.
For those of us engaged in the climate change fight in the United States, it is very easy to get dispirited.
We have a climate change denier in the White House.
Congress is controlled by the only major political party in the world — at least as far as I know — which casts significant doubt on the veracity of climate change.
Daily political discourse is much, much, much more focused on Russia, Stormy Daniels, witch hunts, Robert Mueller, etc., etc., etc.
Even the environment, when it gets covered, centers on Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt’s many scandals, rather than the virulently anti-climate policies he, his boss, and their Administration are enacting.
All of this is happening as the climate change news becomes more dire. In Wednesday’s Washington Post, this headline blared: “Antarctic ice loss has tripled in a decade. If that continues, we are in serious trouble.” If you are reading this, you know there are a legion of such stories out there.
Pine Island Glacier in Antarctica, a site of significant ice loss. (Photo credit: Ian Joughin/University of Washington)
So it is understandable that many people would rather do something — anything — else other than get and stay involved with climate change activism.
WHERE MANY SEE DESPAIR, CCL’ERS SEE A TANGIBLE WAY FORWARD…AND THUS, HOPE
Are CCLers naive? Just the opposite.
CCLers know that we humans have put our climate in critical condition and that we need to quickly change the course we are on, energy production- and usage-wise.
We also know that the solutions that exist now (wind, solar, efficiency, storage, etc.) can get us where we need to go in time to avert the worst effects of climate change, if we have the political will.
As far as CCL is concerned, building that political will to critical mass means finding a legislative solution in Congress.
The hopeful news is that CCL has a transformative policy measure — designed to appeal to both sides of the political aisle — that, once signed into law and implemented — will grow the economy, benefit mostly those in the lower and middle income stratas, and will reduce emissions at the scale and pace necessary.
Do the italicized parts sound a bit Kumbaya-ish?
Your skepticism is understandable — I just ask you to put it aside, at least until you’ve read the CCL policy prescription and how its 1,400-member volunteer army, moved it forward this week.
THE POLICY: CARBON FEE & DIVIDEND
Carbon fee and dividend sounds like something a gaggle of accountants would get giddy about…but a climate crisis game-changer? Really?
Really.
Here’s the slightly wonkish gist:
CARBON FEE
To account for the many societal costs (climate change, medical costs due to pollution, climate refugees, etc.) of burning fossil fuels, CCL proposes a fee^ — which would escalate yearly —be established on the emissions of fossil fuels. It will be imposed where the fuels are extracted (at the mine or well) or, if we are importing it, at the port of entry.
This fee accounts for the true cost of fossil fuel emissions, creates a level-playing field for all sources of energy, and informs consumers of the true cost comparison of various fuels when making purchase decisions.
THE DIVIDEND
All fees collected minus administrative costs will be returned to households as a monthly energy dividend that is divided evenly per household, based on size. If you have a social security number, you get the dividend.
WHO BENEFITS
You and Me
In year one, about 2/3 of households — the lowest 2/3 on the income scale — will break even or receive more in the dividend than they would pay in higher prices.
Why?
The people who make the least tend to also use the lowest amount of carbon — they likely don’t live lavish, carbon-intense lifestyles. But they’re getting the same dividend as everyone else.
And, since the lower income groups will likely spend most of the dividend, billions will be injected into the economy.
As families see they can do better financially simply by using less carbon, they will likely make smarter choices about their energy usage, meaning their net financial benefit will increase over time. This will spur innovation and build aggregate demand for low-carbon products at the consumer level.
The environment and the economy
In just 20 years, independent studies show that this system could reduce carbon emissions to 50 percent of 1990 levels while adding 2.1 million jobs above baseline to the American economy.
If you need a bit more clarity, check out this two minute video about CF&D:
THE POLITICS: BIPARTISAN APPROACH; SOME GOP MOVEMENT IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
There have been a number carbon pricing bills brought forth in Congress over the years but none have passed. Most have been structured as taxes, meaning the revenues go to the federal government for the Congress to disburse, not to the citizenry, as with CF&D. These bills have only garnered support from Democrats.
CCL leadership says they won’t push to introduce Carbon Fee & Dividend as a bill (i.e. to have it considered and voted on) until it has a Republican co-sponsor. They believe that for a carbon pricing law to have staying power, getting there has to be a bipartisan project. Since any number of Democrats in both chambers would likely sponsor CF&D, finding Republicans to co-sponsor is crucial.
But, you may ask, why would any GOP senator or representative sponsor a carbon pricing, given the climate change denial from the President and Congressional leadership and the party’s lockstep opposition to anything that looks like a tax?
It is a valid question, and, so far, not one Republican has stepped up.
But while the climate change fight is a marathon, one that has been run against fierce headwinds since November, 2016, something is impossible until it isn’t.
And there are, largely below the radar, some changes brewing on the GOP side.
Most notably, a group of esteemed Republican leaders of yore like George Schultz and James Baker, along with ex-New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, economist Greg Mankiw, the late, great Steven Hawking, and others, formed the Climate Leadership Council (CLC). They published a market-style, dividend-based carbon pricing proposal that is similar to CF&D.
And, thanks in good measure to the efforts of CCL volunteers, the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus was formed in the House in 2016. Members explore policy options addressing the impacts, causes, and challenges of climate change. For a Democrat to join, she or he must bring a Republican “dance partner” along. As of this week, the Caucus numbers 78 (39 from each party), representing 18 percent of total House members. Over the past 18 months or so, there have been a few climate/environmentally-related votes in the House in which some Republican Caucus members broke with party leadership.
Now, many Democrats fear that GOPers who join the Caucus do so as a “Greenwash”. This means they’re not interested in doing anything meaningful on climate change, but they want to appear like they do, so they sign up. And that may well be true in some cases. It also must be said, sadly, there have been some votes in which Caucus GOP members voted with the President.
So I’m skeptical.
But, I’m much more interested in getting a price on carbon than giving in to my skepticism.
And so I am more than willing to support the market-based, CF&D approach if it can gain Republican support.
What about other issues, you may ask?
From healthcare to immigration to gun safety to income inequality to basic decency to stopping the insanity that began when we woke up on 11/9/16 to [FILL IN THE BLANK], I line up firmly on the Democratic side. Thus I hope a Blue Wave washes ashore in November. And, if that means we have to start in January, 2019 with a smaller Caucus — and a longer marathon to run — so be it.
THE CONFERENCE: YOUNG CONSERVATIVES OFFER HOPE
Despite the above, my climate change fighting batteries got recharged, big time, at Monday’s CCL National Conference/lobbying training and Tuesday’s Lobby Day on Capitol Hill. This was my third conference/lobby day in the past four years.
Monday’s highlight was a terrific talk by Ted Halstead, founder, Chairman and CEO of the Climate Leadership Council (the GOPers eminences grises group I mentioned earlier). His main thrust is that a dividend-based carbon pricing scheme will be a transformational “grand bargain” between right and left. In Halstead’s eyes, the left gets a carbon pricing scheme that benefits the lower 70 percent of families, the right gets regulatory simplification*, and carbon pollution starts to wane.
If you want to really get Halstead’s approach, please watch/listen to his 13 minute Ted Talk.
Halstead then brought on to the stage leaders from Students for Carbon Dividends (SC4D), a new group of college and university organizations — 23 Republican clubs and 6 Democratic clubs so far — that are supporting dividend-based carbon pricing. “This is the first time College Republican groups are publicly supporting a national climate solution,” said Alex Posner of Yale, the President of SC4D. “Young conservatives are very much interested in climate solutions. And liberals on campus are looking for something to move the needle.”
SC4D Vice President Kiera O’Brien of Harvard added, “According to a Pew Research study, 75 percent of young republicans want action on climate but have no outlet. We feel like we’ve been given a false choice: Conservation or the economy. We believe that, a dividend approach will result in conservation, economic growth and less regulation.”
Hopefully, many more young conservatives will follow Alex’ and Kiera’s lead on climate, and FAST!
LOBBY DAY: THE MARATHON CONTINUES
Kudos to the CCL staff! They were able to schedule lobbying meetings for 1,400 people with with over 500 congressional offices on Capitol Hill — and those took place on one day!
Citizens Climate Lobby volunteers pause for a photo in front of the U.S. Capitol before heading to over 500 Congressional offices to advocate for its Carbon Fee & Dividend legislative proposal (Photo credit: Citizens Climate Lobby)
And, it is my great honor to lobby with my CCL colleagues.
If you want to learn how to run an organized, strategic meeting — lobbying, business or otherwise — join a CCL lobbying meeting. Respectful and meticulously well-planned, they feature open-ended questions that get the member and/or staff talking, fact-based discussions, clear asks and tangible next steps.
I took part in three meetings, two with staff from Democratic House members (José Serrano from the Bronx and Joe Crowley from the Bronx and Queens) and with a staffer for an upstate New York Republican (Tom Reed, Ithaca to Jamestown).
CCL has been calling on these offices for years so much of our pitch isn’t new. Some of the objections and questions raised by staffers were similar to those I heard in 2015-16: “We need to promote conservation without hurting the economy,” “How does the dividend get allocated?”
But the staffers’ body language was more positive, more forward leaning. And their questions showed that some, small bits of progress had been made. There was a deeper understanding of the power of the dividend and interest in a “Grand Bargain.”
Leaving Capitol Hill, I felt energized, looking forward to the next phase of the climate change marathon, but also wondering how fast people like Halstead, Posner and O’Brien can rally their conservative friends to join in.
The marathon continues and I have yet to hit “the wall.”
JOINING CCL
The more I do this work with CCL, the more I am convinced that its bipartisan approach to carbon pricing is ultimately going to be successful. If you would like to be a part of Citizens’ Climate Lobby, click here.
^ $15/metric ton on the CO2 equivalent emissions of fossil fuels, escalating by $10/metric ton each year,
* It is important to note Halstead’s/CLC’s plan eliminates carbon-based regulations like the Clean Power Plan in exchange for the carbon fee while CCL’s program does not remove regulations
Steve Kelly of KCOD Radio in the Coachella Valley of Southern California, became a member of the small but growing chorus of media that has begun to #CoverGreenSports. He interviewed yours truly Wednesday on his Kelly’s Corner program about the world of Green-Sports.
A hearty thank you to Steve Kelly for Wednesday’s insightful, wide-ranging interview on the world of Green-Sports! Click here to check it out.
Steve is a long-time talk radio fixture in the Palm Springs, CA area, covering sports, politics and more. In addition to Kelly’s Cornerand his other on-air work, Kelly is faculty advisor and broadcast consultant for KCOD CoachellaFM at the College of the Desert.
Steve Kelly, host of KCOD CoachellaFM’s Kelly’s Corner (Photo credit: College of the Desert)
Steve and I go back an even longer way — as colleagues on the sports staff of WRSU-FM in New Brunswick, NJ, the student radio station at Rutgers University.
It seems as though we have come full circle, doing play-by-play for Rutgers sports and hosting the Knightline^ post-game call-in show back when, and now, decades later, talking Green-Sports on Kelly’s Corner.
Steve Kelly (r), looking at the camera and yours truly making an (obviously) insightful point during Knightline, the post-game call-in show that aired — and still airs — on WRSU-FM, Rutgers student radio (Photo credit: Lewis Blaustein)
Enjoy it, share it and, thank you in advance for urging your own favorite radio and/or TV outlets to #CoverGreenSports. If an on-air personality expresses interest in this topic, please send her or him my way.
^ WRSU’s post game call-in show is called Knightline since Rutgers’ sports teams are known as the Scarlet Knights.
Neither the USA’s (ugh!) nor Canada’s national soccer teams qualified to play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which kicks off tomorrow in Russia. But those two countries, along with 2018 participant Mexico, hit the soccer/football jackpot this morning when they won a vote among 200 FIFA member countries to host the 2026 World Cup, defeating Morocco, 134 votes to 65 (1 voted for neither). Sustainability was one of the metrics upon which both bids were judged and the so-called United Bid was the clear winner on that count.
With that in mind, we are pleased to re-run our interview with Rita Ricobelli, Sustainability Director of the United Bid which first ran on May 4.
GreenSportsBlog: So Rita, how does a woman from Argentina lead the sustainability effort for the United Bid — from Canada, Mexico and the USA — to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup (men’s)?
Rita Ricobelli: Great question, Lew. Growing up in San Francisco, a small town near the city of Cordoba in Argentina, I developed a passion for soccer (or futbol), even though there were no soccer leagues in which girls were allowed to play … Nevertheless, I became a big fan of Boca Juniors, one of the two biggest teams in my country.
RR: We don’t talk about them 🙂 Fast forward to early adulthood. Interested in global development, I got my Masters of International Affairs at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). During that time, I formed an amateur soccer team, which is still part of the New York Women’s Metropolitan Soccer League. Given my passion for sports (I also grew-up playing tennis), my first job after graduate school was at a sports and media platform in New York City, which included the Pan-American Sports Network (PSN).
GSB: What is the Pan-American Sports Network?
RR: It was a Spanish-Portuguese language sports network in Latin America, with significant soccer content, as part of a sports media and marketing platform based in the US. It was a great working experience but the network was sold (a lot of its content was passed over to Fox). Then I pivoted again, workwise.
GSB: What did that pivot entail?
Rita Ricobelli, sustainability director for the United Bid to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup, at FIFA’s world headquarters in Switzerland (Photo credit: Rita Ricobelli)
RR: I went to work for a New York-based educational NGO, then moved back to Argentina for a year, consulting for the Columbia Business School down there, where I also experienced sports in a fascinating way that was new to me: to engage at-risk youth. I came back to New York in 2006, determined to work on Sustainable Development and the potential application of sports in this quest. In 2007, I joined Columbia’s Earth Institute.
GSB: …Led by economist Dr. Jeffrey Sachs…
RR: …At the time, yes. I was hired by the Earth Institute to help manage its international research, education and applied-research initiatives, including the Millennium Villages Project (MVP), a very ambitious endeavor based on the UN’s Millennium Development Goals. The MVP involved multidisciplinary scientists and collaborators working alongside more than 100 communities, mainly in Africa, on health, agriculture, education, infrastructure, and business development projects. Community engagement, in some cases, was a challenge, and that is when I proposed the use of sports, particularly soccer, as an engaging platform. Many academics were skeptical about linking scientific projects with soccer. But, some understood the opportunity and provided support, including Dr. Sachs, as well as Sree Sreenivasan, a visionary alum, and Dr. Safwan Masri.
GSB: So how did you get from working on the Millennium Villages Project with the Earth Institute to managing sustainability for the United Bid of Canada, Mexico and the United States to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup?
RR: My first involvement with a World Cup bid was in 2009, advising the U.S. bid team on an innovative proposition to combine soccer with social and environmental science-based projects. Together with Columbia University experts, we developed initiatives to work — through soccer — on STEM education and childhood obesity — through urban planning models — in the U.S. and on youth health and other sustainability areas in developing countries, to be included in the U.S.’ 2022 World Cup Bid Book.
GSB: …”Bid Books” being another way to say proposal for an interested country or countries to be considered as a host of the FIFA World Cup…And the 2022 World Cup, despite a wonderful proposal, was awarded to Qatar. We could get into that decision by FIFA but that would take away from the focus of this story, the sustainability facets of the 2026 United Bid…so we won’t!
RR: Yes. I am fortunate to have this extraordinary opportunity as part of the 2026 United Bid Committee of Canada, Mexico and the United States. The sustainability requirements for our current bid book are a lot more detailed and follow international sustainability standards more tightly prescriptive than in prior World Cup cycles, including new human rights and labor sections, as well as the application of international sustainability standards.
GSB: Talk more about the 2026 bid — how it became a United bid, your involvement on the sustainability side, the bid’s highlights as they compare to your lone competitor, Morocco, and where things stand about six weeks away from the decision.
RR: The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the largest in the event’s history, expanding from the current 32 to 48 participating countries, and a total of 80 matches. Host countries will need to provide more stadiums and modern infrastructure as well as the ability to support larger populations of local/global fans. That is why Canada, Mexico and the United States came together in April 2017, to combine their resources, experience and capacity, to be UNITED, AS ONE.
It has been an incredible sprint: an exciting and intense proposition, requiring a 24-7 commitment. We only received the final bid requirements in October last year, five months before the Bid submission deadline.
GSB: …Holy cow! That’s only eight months before the bid will be awarded! Now I get your 24-7 comment! Had prior U.S. bids had a sustainability director or is this United Bid a first?
RR: It is a first and that’s largely thanks to John Kristick, executive director for the 2026 United Bid. He was already very supportive of the sustainable development agenda in the previous Bid (as managing director), understanding that sustainability is a key issue not only for the event but for the sport at large. He has an extensive track record in sports, particularly in soccer. Having a director of sustainability was in his management plan from the very beginning as he saw it as an essential role.
GSB: I’ll say! What are the main sustainability initiatives for 2026?
RR: The last three sections of our Bid Book, which your readers can access online (click here), are devoted to sustainability in its broadest definition. Section 22 includes our proposal for a sustainable event management system, based on ISO 20121, and other international standards. ISO 20121 takes into account social, economic and environmental areas, including governance and other aspects to sustainably manage the World Cup. Section 23 details our human rights and labor strategy, including an extensive human rights risk assessment. Section 24 is devoted to environmental protection and enhancement. As our Bid proposition does not include the need to build any new stadiums (EDITOR’S NOTE: Morocco would have had to build eight new stadia!], we can then focus on other hosting priorities, including sustainability aspects.
GSB: …The most energy efficient stadium is the one you don’t have to build…
RR: Exactly. The three key themes of our bid are Unity, Certainty and Opportunity. The fact that all 23 stadiums in our bid — a list that will be culled down to 16 for the tournament — are already built is a foundation of its certainty. All stadiums will have an environmental certification by 2025, which is one of FIFA’s requirements. But, our commitment is to go beyond FIFA’s requirements. That is why we proposed a Sustainability+ strategy, looking to set a new standard for mega-sporting events and to maximize soccer’s contribution in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We will strive to offer an event that is carbon neutral and zero-waste, with no loss of biodiversity. Carbon emissions and water usage, as well as transportation will be managed from a best-in-class sustainability perspective. Healthy, sustainably produced food and beverage options will be available at all of our venues. Goods and services will be sourced via a sustainable procurement process.
Iconic Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, one of three Mexican venues that will play host to matches in the 2026 FIFA World Cup as part of the United Bid (Photo credit: Sportsnet.ca)
Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta is one of three Canadian venues that will host matches during the 2026 FIFA World Cup (Photo credit: Daily Hive)
MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands of New Jersey is rumored to be the host of the championship match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup (Photo credit: New York Daily News)
GSB: From what I understand of Morocco 2026’s plan, all of their stadiums will either need to be built or renovated, which is a massive difference between the bids, sustainability-wise and otherwise. As far as transportation is concerned, if history is any guide, getting people to and from the three countries will make up the lion’s share of carbon emissions for your bid.
RR: You’re right. In fact 85 percent of emissions are projected to be transportation-related, with 51 percent resulting from international travel and 34 percent coming from inter and intra-city travel. Therefore, we have proposed a Carbon Management Plan, including reporting and reviewing of carbon reduction opportunities, training and awareness, offsetting and mitigation strategies. We will provide low-emissions transportation options for players, officials, the media, fans, and other visitors. Cycling and walking will also be encouraged.
GSB: I expect that, by 2026, EVs and EBuses will be in far greater supply than they are now. Finally, it wouldn’t be a GreenSportsBlog interview about a mega-sports event without a question about fan engagement. Here goes: What is the 2026 United Bid team’s plan for fan engagement on environmental sustainability?
RR: What a wonderful last question. We presented a Fan Engagement section, which was not part of the Bid requirements. Focused on sports for development, marketing and business, the section proposed the crafting of new approaches to connecting with fans, refining new methods of fan activation and testing what works and what doesn’t. In connection to sustainability, we hope to better harness the passion of fans towards sustainable development, which is a topic very close to my heart. I have worked with behavioral science experts, including Dr. Elke Weber, on opportunities to foster positive behavior change through sports, particularly soccer. A focus has been improving the communication of sustainability aspects to fans as well as their level of engagement on these issues. So, there are definitely a lot of interesting opportunities to further engage and empower fans to support sustainability.
GSB: I look forward to discussing that platform in the not-too-distant future. Good luck in Moscow on June 13!
RR: Thank you! I look forward to future discussions and tante grazie!
POSTSCRIPT #1: Here is a photo taken at today’s FIFA Congress in Moscow. Delegates from the United Bid of Canada, Mexico and the United States celebrate after winning the vote to host the 2026 World Cup
Victory! (Photo credit: Pavel Golovkin/AP)
POSTCRIPT #2: FIFA announced that no decision has been made on whether Canada, Mexico and the USA will all have guaranteed spots in the tournament. It has been customary for the host nation to be able to bypass the qualification process and gain an automatic bid into the World Cup. But there has never been a World Cup with three host countries. However, the 2026 World Cup will see the field expanded from the current 32-team format to 48, so that will make it easier for FIFA to provide three automatic bids.
The New York Times is starting to become a Green-Sports media All-Star! For the second time in two weeks, the “Gray Lady” ran a story about the intersection of Green & Sports. “Hockey In the Desert” by John Schwartz, appeared in The Times’ Climate: FWD online newsletter.
Two weeks ago, Ken Belson, The New York Times’ lead NFL reporter, jumped into the #CoverGreenSports waters with “Sports Stadiums Help Lead the Way Toward Greener Architecture.” His piece, which told the story of how and why Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium, became the first pro sports stadium to earn LEED Platinum status, was terrific to my mind. But I thought this would be a typical mainstream media, Green-Sports one-off.
Happily, The Times proved me wrong, as, less than a week later, they ran “Hockey In the Desert,” by John Schwartz, as part of its Climate: FWDonline newsletter.
John Schwartz, science writer at The New York Times (Photo credit: The Daily Texan)
Schwartz’ story actually centers on the non-green aspects of playing ice hockey at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in June — the hometown Knights, in their inaugural season, somehow made it to The Stanley Cup Finals against the Washington Capitals so they are still hosting home games in desert as summer beckons. With that in mind, Schwartz asked the obvious question: “Doesn’t that mean that hockey is contributing to climate change — and maybe its own demise — by building ice palaces in the desert?”
After citing the obvious mega-challenge —”The outside temperature was in the 90s Fahrenheit (30s Celsius) before Game 1″ — Schwartz dove into the environmental issues surrounding the hosting of an NHL hockey game in a desert climate beyond simply the making of a quality ice sheet: “Cooling the vast volume of inside air and taking out the humidity so that players and spectators are comfortable requires an enormous amount of energy.”
T-Mobile Arena, home of the Las Vegas Knights (Photo credit: Trip Advisor)
Of course, the environmental challenges surrounding the playing of sports indoors in hot climes goes far beyond hockey. The writer quoted recent GreenSportsBlog interviewee Robert McLeman, an associate professor in the department of geography and environmental studies at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, as saying that all arenas “come at a high environmental cost,” and that the discussion about hockey provides “an entry point into a conversation about what we want with these recreational facilities, and how to make cities more green.”
GSB’S TAKES
The fact that the The New York Times is starting to find that Green-Sports is among the news that is “Fit to Print” (and/or post online, as the case may be) is more important than the actual content of Schwartz’ story.
Let’s not rest on our laurels. Two stories on Green-Sports in The Times in two weeks is cause for celebration. But it’s not a trend, not even close. That means we need to keep pushing the #CoverGreenSports hashtag.
Schwartz’ piece was strong. It illuminated several important issues surrounding the putting on indoor sports events in hot climates. I learned some things.
He should’ve included a bit more about the steps the NHL and NHL Green are taking to lessen the environmental impact of their sport — one line and a link didn’t do justice to the NHL’s Green-Sports leadership.
That the story appeared in Climate: FWD and not the sports section reinforces one of the impediments Belson says stands in the way of more frequent Green-Sports coverage: The topic doesn’t belong to any one section or editor; no one has ownership of it. Belson has a valid point — I, for one, think Green-Sports should reside in the sports section to provide oxygen to this subject to a wider audience than the already “converted,” In Science Times and Climate: FWD. Hopefully the editors at The Times will figure this out.
For now, I’m happy that two Green-Sports stories appeared under The New York Times masthead in two weeks.
Since 2013, GreenSportsBlog has told the stories of the great environmental work being done by teams, managers of venues and athletes. But as far as the sports side of the Green-Sports equation was concerned, we really didn’t go there.
Until last September, that is.
It was then that we launched GSB Eco-Scoreboard: Catching Up with Green-Sports Leaders on the Field, anoccasional series highlighting 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.
And if they struggle? Well, those of us engaged in the climate change fight know what struggle is all about. We can relate.
With that in mind, please enjoy our fifth Eco-Scoreboard.
JOSH ROSEN, CLIMATE CHANGE-MINDED ROOKIE QB, STARTS HIS NFL JOURNEY IN ARIZONA
“Josh Rosen Impresses Cardinals Brass, Teammates at OTAs”
Some version of this headline blared across media reports about the Arizona Cardinals’ rookie quarterback at his first spring practices, or “Organized Team Activities”.
Rookie QB Josh Rosen at Offseason Team Activities (OTAs) for the Arizona Cardinals (Photo credit: Cards Wire/USA Today)
Why does GreenSportsBlog care about Rosen, selected out of UCLA with the 10th pick in the first round of April’s NFL Draft?
Because climate change is a big concern of his, that’s why!
From an in-depth, pre-draft interview on espn.com with Sam Alipour, Rosen declared, “One cause I’ll champion is the environment. It touches everything. I mean, the war in Syria started because of the drought and famine that destabilized the country and led the population to revolt against the government. I know global warming is a partisan issue for some stupid reason, but it touches everything.”
So even though my New York Jets, with the third pick in the draft passed on Rosen to take cross-town rival QB Sam Darnold from USC, you can be sure GSB will be following the Cardinals’ new signal caller.
All of the Rosen reviews I read had the same tone as Sean Wagner-McGough’s, writing for CBSSports.com on May 18:
“He stepped in the huddle and had a lot of pizzazz,” left tackle D.J. Humphries said. “He didn’t seem like he was choked up at all. Voice didn’t crack none. He wasn’t talking low. He was excited. He was asserting himself into the huddle, and I was pretty excited to see that.”
“Josh looked great today,” coach Steve Wilks said. “Some of his timing and his throws with the quarterback and tight ends I thought were right on point.”
The conventional wisdom is that, while Rosen is deemed to be the most NFL-ready of the five QBs drafted in the first round*, the Cardinals will start veteran QB Sam Bradford, at least to begin the season.
But that conventional wisdom may not be so wise.
Per Jess Root of the Cards Wire blog, Coach Wilks “is open to the idea of Rosen winning the job.”
My take is that Bradford will likely be the opening day starter vs. Washington. But with a long injury history and a precocious, climate change aware QB chomping at the bit, I think the odds are good that Rosen will take the reins at some point this season — and sooner rather than later.
SUTTON UNITED AND DARTFORD F.C. FALL SHORT OF PROMOTION
GreenSportsBlog has given a lot of oxygen to England’s Forest Green Rovers, the “Greenest Team in Sports.” Promoted from the fifth to the fourth tier (League Two) of English football after last season — their highest level ever — FGR was able (barely) to avoid relegation and will look to make a move upward next season.
Two other mid-tier English clubs with green in their DNA made runs at promotion this season but both fell short (barely).
Sutton United looked to join Forest Green Rovers in League Two via promotion. They hosted a promotion playoff match vs. Boreham Wood on May 6 at Gander Green Lane, the first football stadium to achieve The Planet Mark™ sustainability certification##. Reducing its carbon footprint by 13.6 percent in 2016 and diverting 88 percent of its waste from landfill helped the club earn the designation.
Unfortunately from the Sutton United perspective, their promotion dream died that day as they fell behind 2-0, got a goal back before conceding again in the 88th minute. A stoppage time goal for the home side was not enough as Boreham Wood prevailed 3-2.
On the same afternoon, Dartford F.C. looked to join the league Sutton United hoped to escape by moving up from the sixth to the fifth tier. To do so, they would have to knock off Braintree Town F.C. in a playoff semifinal.
Like Sutton, Dartford hosted the playoff contest. The 4,100-seat Princes Park, which opened in 2006, is top tier, sustainability-wise: It was the UK’s first sustainable, purpose-built, small-sized stadium, featuring on-site solar panels, energy efficient lighting, a state-of-the-art green roof, and an advanced reclaimed rainwater system.
Princes Park, with its distinctive and state of the art green roof, serves as the home of Dartford F.C. in Kent England (Photo credit: Sustainability in Sport)
Like Sutton United, Dartford was unable to close the deal, falling to Braintree Town 1-0 as they let in a second half goal.
So the status will remain quo in the 2018-19 season, league-wise, for Sutton United and Dartford F.C. Both teams have made player moves early in the offseason to prep to make promotion runs when the new campaign starts this summer.
ECO-OUTFIELDER STEPHEN PISCOTTY MAKES IMMEDIATE IMPACT UPON RETURN TO BASEBALL POST BEREAVEMENT
GreenSportsBlog first wrote about Stephen Piscotty in January 2017 after learning that the then-Cardinals outfielder had majored in Atmosphere and Energy Engineering at Stanford and is an investor in renewable energy.
Piscotty was coming off of a stellar rookie campaign in 2016 but 2017 proved to be challenging on and off the field.
On the field, Piscotty dealt with two stints on the disabled list with hamstring and groin injuries along with a sophomore slump at the plate. The double whammy led to a brief demotion to the minor leagues.
The off field news was much, much worse as Piscotty’s mother, Gretchen, was diagnosed with ALS^ or Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
Over the winter, Piscotty was traded by the Cardinals to the Oakland A’s, only an hour’s drive from his parents’ home. Both the Cardinals and the A’s acknowledged that Gretchen’s illness was a factor in the trade. Amazing, no?
After winning the A’s starting right fielder job in spring training, the Stanford man got off to a slow start as his mom’s condition worsened. Sadly, Gretchen Piscotty passed away on May 6 at 55, about a year after her diagnosis. Her son took bereavement time before rejoining the A’s as they headed to Boston to play the Red Sox on May 16.
Oakland A’s outfielder Stephen Piscotty and his mom Gretchen (Photo credit: People)
And, in a kind of “Field of Dreams” moment, Piscotty, in his first at-bat in his first game back, the A’s outfielder slugged a home run over Fenway Park’s famed left field wall, the Green Monster.
“It was pure joy,” Piscotty said of his blast in the A’s 5-3 victory over the Red Sox, per sfgate.com. “It’s been an emotional week. I’ve been a little cried out, so I didn’t tear up or anything. It felt real good knowing family was watching and my mom was watching.”
* Three QBs were picked ahead of Rosen: Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield, the #1 overall pick by the Cleveland Browns, Darnold to the Jets at 3, and Josh Allen, from Wyoming, went to Buffalo at 7. The Baltimore Ravens, with the 32nd and last pick of the first round, chose Louisville’s Lamar Jackson.
About a month ago, GreenSportsBlog launched a new hashtag, #CoverGreenSports. Its goal is to encourage the mainstream media, from sports to green to news, to cover the sports greening movement. Last week, the US “paper of record,” The New York Times and lead NFL writer Ken Belson, stepped up to the #CoverGreenSports plate in a big way, with “Sports Stadiums Help Lead the Way Toward Greener Architecture”.
The fourth week in May should be a quiet time for the lead NFL reporter at The New York Times. The draft, which took place in April, is already old news and training camps don’t open until late July. You would think this time of year is when NFL writers should be on vacation.
But last week was a busy one for Ken Belson, proving that there is no such thing as a quiet period for the NFL.
Ken Belson of The New York Times (Photo credit: The New York Times)
In fact Belson, working at breakneck pace, had three stories in The Times over a 48 hour period:
“The NFL and Nike Make Room for Fanatics,” detailed how the League expects revenue from merchandise sales to increase by 50 percent by 2030 through a new deal with Fanatics.
In “NFL Anthem Policy Bound to Please Only the NFL,” Belson opined about the NFL’s controversial, just-announced national anthem policy. It was instituted in response to protests by some NFL players in 2016 and 2017, most notably ex-49ers QB Colin Kaepernick, who knelt during the playing of the national anthem. They did so to draw attention to police brutality and other social injustice against African-Americans. But many NFL fans, including President Trump, feel that the kneeling players disrespect the flag. The new policy requires players to stand for the playing of the anthem or stay in the locker room during that time. There was no player input on this decision. Belson’s take: “It’s hard to envision the N.F.L. crafting a policy that satisfies everyone. But one that is likely to satisfy only the 32 owners hardly seems like an enlightened solution.”
But it was his third story that interested me most — and made me smile.
He kicked off with Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the new home of the city’s NFL and MLS teams and the world’s first LEED Platinum certified stadium. Belson’s main insight is in sync with GreenSportsBlog’s overall ethos: “Green stadiums are shining a light on the complex and critical issue of climate change. Fans disinclined to care about the issue are exposed to things like highly efficient LED lighting or low-flush toilets, and can see that going green is not a hardship, but a choice.”
Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, the first to win LEED Platinum certification. (Photo credit: Kevin D. Liles for The New York Times)
Belson then took readers on a brief trip across the pond — “many of the innovations [in green stadiums-arenas] are being developed in Europe, where laws and regulations governing greenhouse gas emissions are stricter,” — before pivoting back to North America and the National Hockey League.
He lauded the NHL as a green leader among sports leagues for understanding the existential threat the sport faces from climate change and for taking steps to combat it: “The number of ponds that freeze over in winter has fallen dramatically in recent years, making the sport less accessible in countries like Canada, where many children first start playing the game outdoors. Going green is a way to address a long-term threat, not just save money.”
According to a study by McLeman and Robertson, published in The Canadian Geographer, the future of outdoor ice hockey on Lake Louise in Alberta and elsewhere in Canada is at risk due to the effects of climate change (Photo credit: Edmonton Journal)
GreenSportsBlog readers are likely familiar with much of this. And the folks quoted in Belson’s piece likely ring a bell.
You probably recognize Scott Jenkins, Mercedes-Benz Stadium’s general manager and the Chairman of the Board of the Green Sports Alliance, as an “evangelist of all things green.”
Scott Jenkins (c), General Manager of Mercedes-Benz Stadium, flanked by Rich McKay (l), President of the Atlanta Falcons and Arthur Blank, at the LEED Platinum announcement event (Photo credit: AMB Sports and Entertainment)
And you probably know of Allen Herskhowitz, ex-President of the Alliance and a founder of Sport and Sustainability International (SandSI), which promotes low-carbon strategies for sports teams, leagues and association. He told Belson, “Any single sporting event doesn’t really have a giant ecological footprint, whether it’s a football game or even a season for a team. But the cultural and social platform of sports is almost unparalleled in terms of its ability to reach people.”
Yes, you may recognize Scott and Allen and the many other Green-Sports luminaries who have been featured in our posts these past five years, but the thing is, most humans have no idea who they are and are unaware of the important work they are doing.
So it is very important that The (NOT failing) New York Times, with its massive reach and prestige,has decided to #CoverGreenSports with Belson’s piece.
Does this foreshadow a trend?
It should, especially since the millennial and GenZ readers that The Times — and for that matter, almost all media outlets — is desperate to engage, care more deeply about the environment, sustainability and climate change than do their predecessor generational cohorts.
But it is, methinks, too early to tell.
One potential brake on an increase in Green-Sports coverage from mainstream media outlets is that the topic crosses many areas — sports, green/environment, business, and politics, to name a few. That means that no one department claims natural ownership of Green-Sports and so no editor will assign a beat writer to cover it. What is more likely is that the hodgepodge we see now — a rare story by a sports reporter here and another one-off story from a business reporter there — will continue.
Until, that is, a department editor — I don’t care which department — says strongly “Green-Sports is MINE!”
With that in mind, we invite any visionary Green-Sports-minded editors to go through GreenSportsBlog’s archives to find a few hundred compelling story ideas to bring to their readers.
