RE: Brandon Markiw – “The NHL Making a Push Toward Sustainability”
This is actually an old comment (note the Oct 19th date) that I accidentally made on Brandon’s blog instead of my own. Blog noob moment.
Anyway, here ya go!
——————————————
meldelucch says:
Whoa, I had no idea! This is pretty cool.
I’ve thought frequently about the amount of waste professional sports use, often while at hockey games, and it seriously blows my mind. From the World Cup using at least 40 balls per game, to the amount of food waste just generated by the fans watching. And don’t even get me started about the fireworks at home runs during American baseball games. In the NHL’s case, what I’m curious about is whether these green initiatives are more operations focused (e.g. the LEED certification, energy efficiency, etc) or whether they have actually fundamentally certain aspects of the League, as opposed to just finding substitutes. While LEED certification and operational improvements are great and surely a step forward, there are some initiatives that are more low-hanging fruit than others. The real indicator in my opinion are initiatives that actually require changing the values of an organization, and possibly going without something previously thought of as fundamental. For example, is it really necessary for hockey players to have a new jersey every game? With this example specifically, as well as others, I personally think being more sustainable promotes tradition. In the past, hockey wasn’t as glamorized and flashy as it is now. I think cutting back on a few of the frills of the NHL would be more true to the spirit of the game.
Another example: yearly playoff towels. Seriously, I probably have about 6 Canucks playoff towels just myself, my family probably has over a dozen in total. Instead, I love the idea of everyone just bringing all shapes and sizes of plain white towels from their houses, like in the old days. That’s actually fan-generated TRUE spirit and excitement. How can you really measure fan support when they make it harder for you not to participate?
So, in summary, I applaud the NHL’s effort, because I don’t know of any other sports league taking steps like these, but I question how much of a values shift this actually is, as opposed to an easy and well-advertised substitution.
(original post: https://blogs.ubc.ca/markiwsustainability/2010/10/07/the-nhl-making-a-push-toward-sustainability/#comments)
you know I'm a diehard.
