16 TONS: average annual carbon footprint of a person in the United States.
1.5˚C: the increase in global temperature scientists hope to avoid by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
1/3: Carbon emissions that could be offset by our forests, farms and wetlands.
Milwaukee Brewers’ pitcher Brent Suter spends a lot of time traveling with his teammates to games near and far. But before taking over the mound in Milwaukee, he earned an environmental science degree from Harvard—so he knows that all those miles on buses and planes are contributing to climate change.
That’s why Brent is a champion for a new initiative called Sidelining Carbon. The Nature Conservancy worked with partners to develop an online platform to make it easy for athletes and teams to purchase carbon offsets for travel and to help them reduce their climate impact in their hometowns.
Quote: Brent Suter
The goal is to change the culture around doing the right thing for the environment, and pro athletes have an opportunity to lead.
Since the platform launched, the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks and
Portland’s pro soccer teams the Timbers and the Thorns have signed on,
as well as a growing number of individual players.
The contributions made to Sidelining Carbon support TNC forest conservation projects in Pennsylvania and Tennessee. “The goal is to change the culture around doing the right thing for the environment, and pro athletes have an opportunity to lead,” Brent says.
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