Climate nuts are in a tizzy over the Qatar World Cup soccer tournament, whose hosts are “greenwashing” in their commitment to an eco-friendly soccer tournament. They’ve been busted by environmental extremists and Sports Illustrated, which is running a series of feature stories on fake enviros allegedly practicing hollow virtue signaling.
Dan Falkenheim and Alex Prewitt co-wrote the SI story about “organizations claiming to be far more eco-conscious than they really are.”
The 2022 World Cup begins Nov. 20, features seven new stadiums and is being sponsored by, among others, QatarEnergy. It’s a state-owned oil and gas corporation that’s “long been a notoriously climate-unfriendly affair,” Sports Illustrated claims.
Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy issued a press release promising to “deliver a plastic-neutral tournament,” by “physically removing plastic waste from rivers and oceans . . . the amount recovered will be equivalent to the plastic waste generated from the hosting of the FIFA World Cup.” Environmental sustainability “remains at the heart of tournament preparation, with the aim of leaving behind a green legacy as one of its key objectives,” that committee stated.
Sports Illustrated dismisses phony ecology, stating that “fishing out old soda bottles does not negate the environmental impact of fabricating massive amounts of new plastic.” Al Gore must be cringing because the “carbon neutral” 2022 World Cup will produce an estimated 3.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. That’s an estimated increase of 67 percent from the 2018 Russia World Cup.
This is what World Cups have devolved to: how much of a carbon footprint is created on Mother Earth.
And this madness is not confined to soccer. Allen Hershkowitz, an environmental scientist who advises the NBA and Major League Soccer on sustainability efforts, nearly had a coronary over mention of a plastic-neutral World Cup in Qatar.
All should be righted and Gore should be pacified, knowing that among Qatar 2022’s green initiatives will be the purchase of “certified and recognized” carbon credit offsets. These credits are the magic wand for climate kooks fully engaged in virtue signaling themselves.
Nonetheless, Hershkowitz is more concerned about people promising plastic-neutral activities – accusing them of “greenwashing.” It’s the attempt to signal “virtuous behavior with respect to environmental objects, often climate, but in reality it’s just a signal,” added Roger Pielke, professor of environmental studies at the University of Colorado.
The corporate world is awash in such behavior, say the SI co-authors of the alarmist story. They verbally grounded JetBlue, an organization that brags about carbon-neutral flights, which is a “literally impossible feat for non-avians.”
SI claims “the sports world is rife with teams, leagues and organizations failing to fulfill even the most basic aspects of their environmental commitments.” They say no one expects sports organizations to solve climate change, but sports can play a positive role.
For those of us not fully engaged in the climate change loop, the United Nations is also pressuring sports for climate action. Some 300 sports teams and events, from New York to Duluth, signed on with the U.N.’s carbon-killing initiative. They were required to file reports showing progress, but most of them refused and crossed the line in the sand, losing their climate accreditation. Perhaps these sports organizations just wanted to look good to the climate nuts, but actually realized that climate change is a scam.
Climate freaks claim to have the ability to measure out the combined carbon footprint of the NFL, NBA and NHL. It turns out that they collectively emitted 90 seconds of the annual U.S. carbon footprint. Perhaps the Super Bowl, Stanley Cup and NBA Finals will also be targeted for their future footprints.
Not only are climate fascists like Hershkowitz living a lie, but they’re also incapable of agreeing amongst themselves on how to accurately measure the carbon footprint of fans traveling to games, production of plastic bottles and baseballs. While they’re floundering disagreement among themselves, the planet continues to function.
No matter. It might just be better if sports teams and fans all rode bicycles to competitions to save the planet. The eco-nuts would love nothing better.
