As a boy, I dreamed of playing a professional sport, but then I grew older and realized my athletic abilities were inferior in comparison to the Pro’s. So my dream of playing a professional sport fizzled, but my enthusiasm of following them still runs strong. I’ve often thought about how great it would be to work for a professional league, take the NFL for example, I can’t think of many jobs that I wouldn’t want. A coach, a trainer, a ref, an IT guy, a stadium announcer, a mascot - you name it, they all sound great to me. Why? Because I’m passionate about the NFL. I watch games that I don’t even care about, I spend hours a week analyzing my fantasy team, I even plan vacations and camping trips around the Cowboys schedule.
Then on Saturday night as I watched Romo on the sidelines flip through several printed pictures of his interception, I wondered what green efforts the NFL is making. I thought of how nice it would be to work in the Environmental Management Program for professional or NCAA leagues. Getting paid well, doing something you are infatuated with for an organization you are obsessed with. How can one not be wildly successful in such an environment?
I did some reading and found that most leagues either have their own internal program, or formed a strategic alliance with an existing group: NHL/GreenLife, MLB/NRDC. It seems most of these sports-related, eco-improvement initiatives involve recycling, and making events like the Superbowl “carbon neutral”. This is done by planting trees, buying offsets, and using alternative energy sources where possible. But surely they can do more, right? From a sheer public awareness standpoint, professional sporting organizations are in a great position to greenducate our youth, given who they have as spokespeople.
Suppose you were the environmental program director for a professional league, what are some projects you would consider undertaking? Could a carbon-cap (similar to a salary-cap), which sets a limit on the amount of emitted pollutant in a given season be imposed on teams?
