Idrætsudøvere og det bredere idrætssamfund har traditionelt ikke været meget tilstede ved tidligere globale klimakonferencer. Det ændres kl COP26, der finder sted næste måned i Glasgow, Skotland.
COP26 Sports Community Manifest, underskrevet af en global liste på mere end 200 atleter, sportsorganisationer og deres ledere, vil blive præsenteret for magthaverne på konferencen. Et græsrodsinitiativ - — vil være vært for utallige aktiviteter og seminarer i Glasgow under konferencen.
Game on.
Økoatleter, the nonprofit I launched last year to “inspire and coach athletes to lead climate action,” created the manifesto to give members of the global sports community, especially those who won’t be in Glasgow or have a voice at the COP. Here are the voices of four EcoAthletes Champions who explain why they endorsed it.
Idrætsudøvere og det bredere idrætssamfund har traditionelt ikke været meget tilstede ved tidligere globale klimakonferencer. Det vil ændre sig ved COP26.
“The climate problems we’re dealing with are getting worse and worse, so hopefully athletes can be part of the solutions,” said Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Brent Suter. “I see the manifesto as a way for the sports community to show the delegates at the COP that we expect them to take the critical steps toward climate action now.”
“It’s not enough for us to merely support things like ‘reusable straws’ anymore,” said Sadey Rodriguez, University of Virginia diskoskaster og medstifter af Grøn atletik, a UVA student-athlete organization. “It’s time to go big. Since I am privileged enough to have an athlete’s platform, I am happy to use it to urge the leaders of the COP to take real climate action to help people who don’t have a voice.”
Rodriguez delte manifestet med andre UVA-studerende-atleter ved en bæredygtighedsbegivenhed - til dato har 18 skrevet under.
“Its first line — ‘Anthropogenic climate change is the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced’ — really grabbed them. And then they started signing up.”
“Two years ago, Team USA traveled to Qatar for a tournament, and we played a game outside, and we needed to walk about a mile to get to the venue,” recalled Napheesa Collier, en forward for Minnesota Lynx basketballhold, 2019 WNBA Rookie of the Year og en 2020 olympisk guldmedaljevinder for Team USA.
“It was so blazing hot, I felt like I couldn’t breathe. And I generally like the heat, but this was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. This was not normal. So, I started learning about climate change and instantly became concerned about its harmful impacts now and in the future. This led me to learn more about it, and then I got even more concerned. So, that’s when I decided to act. One of my first climate actions was endorsing the Manifesto.”
Endelig er der Joe Cooke of the Glamorgan Cricket Club, Wales. “I studied climate change and the environment within my degree,” he explained. “And I did my dissertation on how climate change will affect cricket. Our sport is certainly being impacted by extreme weather such as flooding, and that weather is being exacerbated by climate change. That’s why I loved the solutions-focused messaging in the Manifesto, and am happy to support it and look forward to seeing the impact it will have at the COP.”
Ud over manifestet, will provide the sports community with an on-the-ground presence in Glasgow throughout much of the conference, thanks in large part to the efforts of two green-sports leaders: Madeleine “Maddy” Orr, founder of the Sport Ecology Group and an EcoAthletes advisory board member, and Aileen McManamon, founder of 5T Sports.
Per website, athletes and sports executives who make it to Scotland will have the opportunity to “shadow the deliberations of global decision-makers at COP and … gather and engage in interactive sessions to drive climate action in our sector, ensuring continued progress toward carbon reductions and cleaner sport.”
Midtpunktet i , ifølge Orr, vil være aktionens dag den 8. november, hvor professionelle atleter og eliteatleter samles til en en times peer-to-peer-session om atletaktivisme for klimaforandringer.
“The session will be a closed meeting, exclusive to athletes,” explained Orr. “It offers attendees the opportunity to reflect, ask questions, learn, and network. There will be multiple breakout rooms for athletes to engage in myth-busting and trouble-shooting specific challenges that arise at various stages in an athlete’s advocacy journey. New athlete-advocates may discuss how to get started, whereas a more established athlete-advocate might join a breakout room where they’ll delve into how to respond to haters on DM or the comments section of their social media pages.”
Det er gratis at deltage i Day of Action-programmet, men kræver forhåndstilmelding. En virtuel deltagelsesmulighed er også tilgængelig.
Andet begivenheder omfatter en fodboldkamp, der støtter Climate Action Rally (7. nov.); et Bæredygtighedsprogram for Formel E (el-EV åbent hjul-racerkredsløb) (9. nov.); og en Golf Environment Organization (GEO er en Skotland-baseret, bæredygtig golf nonprofit) Foundation-begivenhed (11. november).
Mere programmering vil blive tilføjet mellem nu og kickoff til COP. Tjek med hjemmeside for at finde ud af mere.
Kilde: https://www.greenbiz.com/article/worlds-athletes-cop26-no-game
