New Nonprofit on Mission to Educate, Coach Athletes to Engage Public on Climate Crisis

Athletes have, for many years, spoken out on a myriad of social points,
together with civil rights, ladies’s rights, gender equality, toxic
masculinity
and rather more, utilizing their voices to influence thousands and thousands of followers. But when it
involves local weather change, most have been gradual to interact.

The brand new nonprofit’s method is to determine, encourage, coach, and deploy
“EcoAthlete Champions” to speak about local weather change at any time when potential, in
no matter methods work for them.

“As Founding Editor of GreenSportsBlog, I
have requested dozens of athletes from everywhere in the world why they haven’t
spoken out to boost consciousness of or advocate for advances to fight local weather
change,” says Lew Blaustein, founder and President of EcoAthletes. “The
causes are virtually all the time the identical: ‘It’s too sophisticated. It’s too
political. It includes science and I’m not a scientist. It’s an issue for
my grandkids and I wish to have influence now. I don’t wish to be criticized
for having a fuel guzzler…’ EcoAthletes was created to alter that; and, in
so doing, unleash the unrivaled energy of athletes to spur crucial cultural
change.”

EcoAthletes is backed by a stellar advisory board that features sports activities figures
akin to Paralympic sailor Alexandra
Rickham and Milwaukee Brewers pitcher
Brent Suter; together with Jenny
Vrentas, Senior Reporter at Sports activities Illustrated; Madeleine Orr, founder
of Sport Ecology Group; Michael Mann, Director of the Earth System
Science Heart at Penn State College; and Elysa Hammond, VP of
Environmental Stewardship at Clif Bar, which has lengthy sponsored activist
athletes all over the world.

“The excellent news on local weather change is that technical options exist proper now;
the massive query is do we’ve the collective will to make the modifications needed
to get us a clear vitality future quick sufficient,” Suter mentioned. “That’s the reason I’m
excited to be a part of this group. EcoAthlete Champions will likely be given the
instruments wanted to speak about local weather in media interviews, on social media or to
neighborhood teams. Our attain can encourage thousands and thousands to take constructive motion on
local weather.”

Blaustein acknowledges that constructing a community of EcoAthlete Champions throughout a
international pandemic would probably be tougher than ordinary, however as a result of the
local weather disaster is getting extra pressing, and athletes will probably have extra time
than ordinary to interact on the subject, the group believes now’s the time to launch.

“Many athletes are rightfully getting concerned with coronavirus relief-related
efforts,” Blaustein famous. “By launching now, we consider that some athletes will
additionally use this time to interact on local weather as a result of, like coronavirus, local weather
change is an pressing international disaster that calls for motion now. There are additionally methods
to border the local weather problem by means of the lens of the COVID-19 pandemic; and by
launching now, we are able to assist athletes to leverage their platform to take
constructive motion in opposition to each international challenges.”

The group’s authentic athlete outreach plan was to fulfill athletes at spring
coaching, at rookie symposia, throughout the offseason, and so forth. Given the
still-unfolding coronavirus
pandemic,
EcoAthletes will make it simple for athletes to develop into EcoAthlete Champions,
teaching them through webinars and digital particular person coaching periods.

A small however mighty group of world-class athletes are already outspoken on the
want for environmental consciousness and local weather motion — social media influencers
together with US Olympic snowboarding champion Sage Kotsenburg, professional surfer
Albee Layer and professional skateboarder Nora Vasconcellos have teamed up with
likeminded manufacturers akin to JuneShine hard
kombucha
to advertise sustainability; the Vestas 11th Hour
Racing
crusing group and retired professional surfer Kelly
Slater
are drawing extra consciousness to the plight of our oceans; and the
dozen or so high-performing champions from a variety of sports activities featured in
the latest documentary, The Recreation Changers, are highly effective proponents of
switching to plant-based
diets.
Search for a brand new class of EcoAthlete Champions to hopefully be part of their ranks quickly.