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February 01, 2008, 01:27 AM ET
Sustainability: How LEED Gold Are the Gophers, or Any Other Team?
Like any big institution, the University of Minnesota, which recently signed the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment, faces huge challenges to becoming climate neutral and sustainable — challenges that stem just from its sheer size and the activities that big universities are involved in, like athletics.
Consider this: Around the time the university signed the commitment, it also announced the design for a new stadium, which will strive for a gold rating in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. A news release about the stadium, written by Martha Coventry, opened with a statement about “greenwashing,” or the practice of selling something as green when it really isn’t.
“‘Green’ is an adjective that’s being thrown around a lot these days, often used to describe any product or activity that has even a hint of environmental responsibility attached to it. (One friend recently asked if it qualifies as green when she drives her SUV to Whole Foods.)”
So true — perhaps especially when applied to stadiums. One might say that a stadium is the facilities equivalent of an SUV — a Sport Utility Building, if you will. The University of Minnesota’s attempt to build green is admirable, but is a LEED-gold megastadium really environmentally responsible (especially in a state where there seems to be constant talk of tearing down “old” stadiums and building up new ones)?
In any case, big-time college athletics is a difficult activity to call green. Games held in stadiums attract fans and players that burn a lot of fuel, and the events generate a lot of waste. The University of Florida recently tried to negate the carbon emissions generated by its big game against Florida State University. Officials found that it took about 16 acres of forest, managed over 10 years, to suck up the carbon generated by a single game. Do the math to figure out what an entire season, or all of a university’s teams, or even a whole conference, might need to go carbon neutral.
If colleges — especially the biggest ones — are serious about sustainability, they may have to rethink how they play sports and what they value. LEED-gold stadiums are just a start. What sustainable athletics will look like in the end remains to be seen. —Scott Carlson
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