Most people want to do their share in helping the environment. But, it takes a department-wide initiative to truly "go green."
By Gloria Nevarez
Gloria Nevarez is Senior Associate Athletic Director/Senior Woman Administrator and Chair of the athletic department Green Team at the University of Oklahoma. She helped initiate environmental efforts at the NCAA offices while serving on the Division I Management Council. She can be reached at: gnevarez@ou.edu.
In the interest of full disclosure, I must state that I have no formal background in environmental studies. I try my best to adopt green practices in my own life (such as the worm composting bin in my garage), but more often than not I forget to bring my travel mug to Starbucks and commute solo in a non-hybrid car. So when asked to author an article on how athletic departments can begin to "go green," I found myself writing a tale of how anyone with a basic interest in being environmentally friendly can begin to make changes in a large organization.
In 1907, Theodore Roosevelt said, "The conservation of natural resources is the fundamental problem. Unless we solve that problem it will avail us little to solve all others." A century later, we are still wrestling with how to make conservation an everyday priority and how that priority translates to the conduct of athletic events.
But, with the help of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, higher education has recently made great strides. As our institutions of higher education lead the way in greening collegiate operations, our efforts in the area of athletic operations will naturally follow suit.
FIRST STEPS/strong>
Hailing from California, where issues such as overcrowding, pollution, and preservation of natural resources are hot topics, I was amazed by the wide open spaces and uninterrupted skyline when I first moved to Norman, Okla., two years ago. I was equally amazed that curbside recycling had only been implemented the year prior.
One of my first steps in bringing environmental initiatives to Oklahoma athletics was simply getting colleagues to understand that when I talked about "going green," I was not referring to an away contest at Colorado State or Baylor. Much of the process was educating others on why sustainable business practices are important to any organization. After all, we are in the business of running athletic departments, not saving the Earth.
As scientists produce more evidence of a degrading atmosphere, government will continue to create legislation that requires green practices. No organization wants to be caught behind the times when such measures are mandated, and it's better to get a rolling start than sprint to catch up. In reality, there aren't many industry leaders who haven't already embraced sustainability initiatives.
The next step was to put together a committee, which was called the Green Team and consisted of representatives from every area of the department that could have an impact: facilities, residence life/athletic food services, purchasing/accountability and reporting, information technology, event food services, communications and publications, fields and grounds, and interested student-athletes. Two new subgroups were also formed: event waste minimization and recycling and energy conservation. The support of Athletic Director Joe Castiglione, who opened the first Green Team meeting with a few words about the importance of this effort to the department and the University, was central to the movement.
It was also very important to involve student-athletes and coaches. They are the eyes and ears at competition and practice and can lead by example. We've found our student-athletes are so far ahead of the rest of us in their passion for environmental protection that we just sit back, take notes, and work on implementation. Student-athletes are the ones telling us where the recycling containers need to be, where we can prevent waste, and about innovative practices.
Our first major project was a recycling program at our football games, with the idea that all other events would follow. We developed a logo and ran public service announcements on our video board. We worked with our cleaning service on separating recycling from trash. We approached our concessions company about recycling the cardboard packaging for supplies in the snack bar. And lastly, we provided recycling bins around the venue while student volunteers roamed the stands in readily identifiable T-shirts encouraging fans to recycle.
Although many of the bins captured a lot of bottles and cans, they also collected a good amount of trash. Now that the infrastructure is in place, this fall's focus will be on educating fans, primarily through marketing efforts. Visualize costumed mascots slam-dunking bottles into a recycling bin on the video board.
PHASE TWO
Due to the positive publicity we received from the football venture, new energy around green initiatives began to percolate in the department. I quickly realized that as the Chair of the Green Team, I did not have the expertise to sustain the momentum of the committee. I didn't have the answers to questions such as, "Should we switch every bulb in the building?" and "How much would it cost to install water filters in all the kitchens instead of ordering bottled water service?" Thus, we reorganized. We empowered ourselves to go forth and green.
Each team member created his or her own subcommittee within their department, serving as chair and conducting regular meetings. Subcommittees were responsible for creating a purpose, along with both short- and long-term goals. The larger Green Team then became a forum for reports from each area.
Because so many of the hands-on people were serving on subcommittees specific to their areas of expertise, they became empowered to generate new ideas. As greening remained on the top of their minds, people found more ways to integrate small and large changes. In most cases, practices resulted in cost savings and greater efficiencies.
Here are some examples of the things we've done:
• The communications committee replaced all the copier paper with recycled stock.
• The recycling committee rolled out recycling bins at all the championships we hosted.
• Timers were installed on the lights in the basketball practice gyms.
• Stickers with our green logo appeared on all the thermostats reminding everyone "68 in the winter and 75 in the summer."
Here are some of the things we are currently working on:
• We are researching new technologies to help minimize paper usage.
• Our turf management experts are looking into a device that monitors evapotranspiration, wind, radiation, and temperature, as well as a rainfall sensor to determine the amount of irrigation water our turf grass needs, which should help reduce watering.
• The technology group is studying auto-hibernation for computers and large office copiers during the off hours, as well as consolidating all the desktop printers around the office.
In these tough economic times, any large initiatives will have to go through a stringent analysis to determine the true nature of long-term costs or savings. Again, we are in the business of athletics, not environmental protection. But we also realize that going green is good business--and can often save money in the long run.
INTO THE FUTURE
The area we've not yet been able to get our arms around is transportation. The nature of team travel is complicated, often requiring multiple flights and charter buses that are left to idle for hours on end. We need to move large groups of people as quickly as possible, and we don't want to sacrifice student-athlete welfare. We are hoping for the day that someone invents a long-haul charter bus that runs on used athletic tape!
In the near future, the NCAA will be a tremendous resource for athletic departments looking for greener operations. An NCAA green team has been formed and is expected to model sustainable operations at championship events and publish information about best practices. Given the NCAA's experience in hosting large athletic events and its access to experts at all member institutions, it will likely be an information hub and role model for all of us.
Here at OU, the keys have been support from the top and getting a lot of people involved. We started small, with initiatives that were easily attainable and basic common sense, and now have a structure in place for more advanced ideas. Providing a forum for discussion and empowering our team to make change enabled a surprising amount of progress in only one year. We are far from carbon neutral, but we feel good about our plans to continue sharing ideas and making improvements on an ongoing basis.