Or – how to reduce your carbon footprint in a few easy steps.
I know it’s mean to rain on the parade, but that’s what Mother Nature is doing as heavy rain threatens to turn a sell-out crowd at the U-20 FIFA finals in Auckland into a sodden one.
Maybe (just like the Pope’s encyclical – Praised Be for that) this could be a watershed moment to consider the costs – environmental – of major sports events.
David Connor in the UK notes, just from the British football season, about 30 million journeys to and from stadia, many by car. Then there are the “thousands of tonnes of beer bottles, pie trays, soft drink cans, waste food, used tickets and merchandise wrapping mostly sent to landfill.”
Brendan Koerner, writing in the US Slate magazine on The hidden costs of heading to the stadium begins by wondering how much energy is burnt by stadium lights and the power required to "feed the fans", etc, but concludes that most of the environmental cost is that of fans travelling to and from the game – especially by car.
But it seems the scintillating Brazilians – off the pitch – have taken the lead on “sustainable football”, thanks to some UK technology (and some Anglo-Dutch petrochemical funding). The Gaurdian, in a look at Sustainability in football, says:
But none of these superficial changes deals with the impact of fans travelling to the game, energy use and the superfluity of food and drink around the spectacle.
Meanwhile, as football fans settle down to watch Brazil play Serbia under lights in the U-20 final, about 4000 properties are without power in the southwest of the North Island, and 1000 are still without power in the South – due to the southerly storm that has moved up the country in the last two days.
Are super-sports just bread and circuses to distract us from the real issues?
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Flooding in Whanganui.
Jacob Mancer via RNZ.
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Maybe (just like the Pope’s encyclical – Praised Be for that) this could be a watershed moment to consider the costs – environmental – of major sports events.
David Connor in the UK notes, just from the British football season, about 30 million journeys to and from stadia, many by car. Then there are the “thousands of tonnes of beer bottles, pie trays, soft drink cans, waste food, used tickets and merchandise wrapping mostly sent to landfill.”
Brendan Koerner, writing in the US Slate magazine on The hidden costs of heading to the stadium begins by wondering how much energy is burnt by stadium lights and the power required to "feed the fans", etc, but concludes that most of the environmental cost is that of fans travelling to and from the game – especially by car.
But it seems the scintillating Brazilians – off the pitch – have taken the lead on “sustainable football”, thanks to some UK technology (and some Anglo-Dutch petrochemical funding). The Gaurdian, in a look at Sustainability in football, says:
The London-based tech firm Pavegen has installed 200 of its “kinetic-harvesting” tiles into a local football pitch in the Rio’s Morro da Mineira neighbourhood. The 56mm tiles sit under the pitch’s Astroturf surface and flex fractionally every time a player takes a step. Each footstep generates around five watts per second. The system is supplemented by solar panels, which together help light the pitch and surrounding area for up to ten hours a night.
The pitch, funded by oil company Shell, marks the largest application of the innovative tiles to date. Pavegen’s portfolio of projects also includes kinetic powered lighting for a pedestrian bridge at West Ham Tube Station, one of the access points to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London.The same article highlights Real Madrid’s Dutch-made pitch that never needs watering, mowing or pesticide applications, and Gloucestershire’s Forest Green Rovers who have an organic football pitch, which needs no nitrogen-based fertilisers or chemicals.
But none of these superficial changes deals with the impact of fans travelling to the game, energy use and the superfluity of food and drink around the spectacle.
Meanwhile, as football fans settle down to watch Brazil play Serbia under lights in the U-20 final, about 4000 properties are without power in the southwest of the North Island, and 1000 are still without power in the South – due to the southerly storm that has moved up the country in the last two days.
Are super-sports just bread and circuses to distract us from the real issues?
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