Joe Levin from Religion of Sports spoke with Vermont Green’s Keil Corey on Earth Day:
Let me tell you a dirty little secret: sports are bad for the environment.
Well, sports aren’t bad for the environment in and of themselves. But the whole infrastructure of professional sports that we’ve built—from stadiums, to the dozens of balls we use per game, to uniforms, to merchandise, to advertising—all of it, all of that, adds up and starts to take its toll on the Earth.
There might be no better example than the World Cup. In 2010, the tournament produced 2.8 million tons of CO2 emissions. That’s more than 80 countries’ total carbon output per year.
But there’s hope—and it’s coming from an unlikely place. Next month, Vermont Green FC will kick off in its inaugural game in USL League Two, essentially minor league soccer. And when they do, they’ll usher in a new, greener future for professional sports.