If you worry about ATM skimmers
Source: http://gizmodo.com/gas-pump-skimmers-are-now-just-as-good-as-those-on-atms-959510989
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Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Gas Pump Skimmers Are Now Just as Good as Those on ATMs
At least three critically injured in large explosions at Florida propane plant
Tyler Mackenzie Photography
A series of explosions engulfed a propane plant in flames in Tavares, Florida, late Monday. This photo was taken at 11.36 p.m. from a location between 1-2 miles from the blast.
By M. Alex Johnson, Staff Writer, NBC News
A series of explosions engulfed a propane plant in flames in Tavares, Fla., late Monday, injuring at least seven people ? three of them critically ? and forcing evacuations for a half-mile around the scene, authorities said.
The explosions began as a fire spread through the Blue Rhino plant in Lake County,?near Orlando,?about 10:30 p.m. ET, Lake County sheriff's Lt. John Herrell told reporters early Tuesday. Seven people were taken to hospitals, two by helicopter, he said. All of them were in the plant when the fire started.
Watch live coverage on WESH-TV
Residents of the area told NBC station WESH of Orlando that flames from the explosions could be seen for several miles, but there were no reports of damage to the surrounding buildings. ?
WESH-TV
Flames from the Blue Rhino propane plant in Tavares, Fla., seen from the air Monday night.
"It sounds like bombs are going off," Norma Haygood, a nearby resident, told WESH.
No deaths were immediately reported, Herrell said. Three male victims were in critical condition, the Orlando Regional Medical Center, told NBC News.?
Two were airlifted, while a third was still being transported by ambulance at 3:00 a.m ET. ?
Authorities initially declared a one-mile evacuation zone around the plant, but they later scaled that back to a half-mile, effective until 6 a.m. ET.?
"We feel that there is no longer any danger" to the area around the plant, Herrell said.
Twenty-four or 26 people were scheduled to work the night shift at the 33,000-acre facility, according to plant managers, Herrell said. Authorities initially said 15 people were unaccounted for, but Herrell later said the company's management said that they had accounted for all of the people it knew were in the plant at the time of the initial explosion.
NBC News/Bing Maps
Some of them showed up at others location, according to Blue Rhino, Herrell said. He said he had no further information on where the others were.
The plant housed about 53,000 20-pound propane cylinders, Herrell said.
"They store the propane cylinders on different parts of the property, and as the fire spread, there were more and more explosions," he said.?
Explosions continued but were diminishing at 1 a.m. ET Tuesday, 2? hours after the first blasts were reported.
Don Ingram, former plant production supervisor at the plant, said his son felt one of the explosions in their home 6 miles away.
Ingram told WESH that the back area of the plant is "lined with propane tanks stacked four or five high on plastic pallets."
"I don't think you fight this fire," he said. "It's just too dangerous."
Blue Rhino is a subsidiary of Ferrellgas Partners, the second-largest distributor of propane in the U.S.
Azhar Fateh of NBC News contributed to this report.
This story was originally published on Tue Jul 30, 2013 3:24 AM EDT
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Tuesday, July 30, 2013
When fluid dynamics mimic quantum mechanics
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Researchers expand the range of quantum behaviors that can be replicated in fluidic systems, offering a new perspective on wave-particle duality.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/ywDYaooTxkA/130729111934.htm
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Witness: Paterno said Penn St. erred on Sandusky
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) ? Longtime Penn State head coach Joe Paterno said that the university mishandled its response to the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal, a former assistant coach testified Monday.
Mike McQueary was called as a witness in a hearing for three former Penn State officials accused in a cover-up of the scandal. He told the judge that the late Hall of Fame coach had told him over the years that "Old Main screwed up" ? referring to university administrators ? in response to the allegation against Sandusky.
Former Penn State president Graham Spanier, retired university vice president Gary Schultz and ex-athletic director Tim Curley are accused of failing to tell police about a sexual abuse allegation involving Sandusky and then trying to cover it up. They have proclaimed their innocence. At the hearing, they sat at separate tables with their lawyers.
McQueary testified about a specific exchange at football practice in the hours before Paterno's firing in November 2011, just days after Sandusky had been arrested.
He recalled the head coach as saying that the school would come down hard on McQueary and try to make him a scapegoat. Paterno advised McQueary not to trust the administration or then-university counsel Cynthia Baldwin, the former assistant coach testified.
A Penn State spokesman said Monday the university would not comment on the legal proceedings. The Associated Press left a message for a Paterno family spokesman.
The hearing, which could last several days, began Monday after being delayed for months because of a legal dispute about the role played in the case by Baldwin, who had accompanied the administrators to their grand jury appearances.
The judge must determine whether there's enough evidence against the ex-officials to send the case to trial. The three are charged with perjury, obstruction, endangering the welfare of children, failure to properly report suspected abuse and conspiracy. Those charges include allegations of hiding evidence from investigators and lying to a grand jury.
McQueary has testified that he saw Sandusky and a boy engaged in a sex act in the locker room shower 2001 and within days reported it to Paterno, Curley and Schultz.
Curley and Schultz "definitely knew it was a sexual act, a molestation act between Jerry Sandusky and a boy in the showers," McQueary testified.
Curley and Schultz have said McQueary never reported that the encounter was sexual in nature, while Spanier has said Curley and Schultz never told him about any sort of sex abuse of a boy. They said they had believed that Sandusky and the boy were engaged in nothing more than horseplay.
Sandusky is serving a 30- to 60-year prison sentence after being convicted last year of sexually abusing 10 boys. He maintains his innocence.
Curley and Schultz were charged in November 2011, when Sandusky was arrested, and accused of perjury and failure to report.
Spanier was forced out as president at that time, and he was charged a year later when more counts were added against Curley and Schultz. He remains a faculty member on administrative leave.
Paterno died in January 2012. His family has vehemently denied accusations that he covered up allegations against Sandusky, the once highly-regarded defensive coordinator.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/witness-paterno-said-penn-st-erred-sandusky-145007929.html
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Blair Underwood back on TV starring in 'Ironside'
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) ? Blair Underwood is returning to series television in a remake of "Ironside," which shares few similarities with the original series that starred Raymond Burr.
The character's name and job as a detective is the same, and he uses a wheelchair after being paralyzed from the waist down.
In a nod to Burr, Underwood's character ends the day by sipping a glass of bourbon.
"Everything else is re-imagined. All new characters, a new city, new texture, new storytelling, new audience," Underwood told the Television Critics Association on Saturday. "It's a crime drama wrapped in a character study."
The original series, set in San Francisco, ran on NBC from 1967-75. The reboot is based in New York City and filmed in Los Angeles. NBC has ordered 13 episodes of the show that debuts Oct. 2.
Underwood said he got used to the wheelchair by using one at home while learning his lines. The role is especially meaningful to him because his mother, Marilyn, is in a wheelchair as the result of multiple sclerosis.
In preparing for the part, Underwood is working with technical adviser David Bryant, who became a paraplegic after a skiing accident at 19. Bryant's self-sufficiency inspires the new "Ironside" incarnation, with the handles on the character's wheelchair removed just as they are on Bryant's chair.
"It's something I had to delve into and continue to delve into as often as possible," Underwood said. "Our job is to make you believe it and be authentic in that."
Ironside's personal life is noticeably spicier than it was on the old show, too.
"What David told me is every injury is unique, and everybody is different depending on where it affects your spinal cord," Underwood said. "So, yes, in Ironside's case, he is able."
Underwood returns to TV after a stint on Broadway last year. The 48-year-old actor has a long history on NBC, including a breakout role in "L.A. Law."
His co-stars include Spencer Grammer, the oldest daughter of Kelsey Grammer, a star on the NBC hits "Cheers" and "Frasier."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blair-underwood-back-tv-starring-ironside-213323770.html
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Monday, July 29, 2013
Kerry names Martin Indyk to shepherd Mideast talks
Secretary of State John Kerry stands with former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk at the State Department in Washington, Monday, July 29, 2013, as he announces that he Indyk will shepherd the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Secretary of State John Kerry stands with former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk at the State Department in Washington, Monday, July 29, 2013, as he announces that he Indyk will shepherd the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
FILE - In this April 11, 2005 file photo, Martin Indyk speaks in Doha, Qatar. U.S. officials say Secretary of State John Kerry will name former U.S. ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk to shepherd Israeli-Palestinian peace talks that begin Monday in Washington. (AP Photo, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday appointed a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, Martin Indyk, to shepherd Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, just hours before senior negotiators from the two sides sit down together for the first time in years.
Urging the parties to reach "reasonable compromises on tough, complicated, emotional and symbolic issues," Kerry acknowledged that the path ahead would be long and difficult. But he said Indyk had the respect and confidence of all involved and that his vast experience in Middle East diplomacy could only help what will surely be a protracted process.
"I think reasonable compromises have to be a keystone of all of this effort," Kerry told reporters as he announced Indyk's new position at the State Department. The appointment came a day after the department said the Israelis and Palestinians had accepted Kerry's invitation to resume direct talks on Monday evening. The initial negotiations, mostly over procedure, are expected to continue on Tuesday.
"I know the negotiations are going to be tough, but I also know that the consequences of not trying could be worse," Kerry said.
Indyk, who will be the administration's special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, "knows what has worked and he knows what hasn't worked, and he knows how important it is to get this right," Kerry said. "Ambassador Indyk is realistic. He understands that Israeli-Palestinian peace will not come easily and it will not happen overnight."
"But he also understands that there is now a path forward and we must follow that path with urgency," Kerry said. "He understands that to ensure that lives are not needlessly lost, we have to ensure that opportunities are not needlessly lost."
Indyk, 62, will take a leave of absence from his current job as vice president and foreign policy director at the Washington-based Brookings Institution think tank to take up what he called the "daunting and humbling challenge" of trying to forge a peace deal that has eluded successive U.S. administration.
He thanked President Barack Obama and Kerry for "entrusting me with the mission of helping you take this breakthrough and turn it into a full-fledged Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement."
"It is a daunting and humbling challenge, but one that I cannot desist from," Indyk said.
Indyk served as former President Bill Clinton's ambassador to Israel and was a key part of the failed 2000 Camp David peace talks. He was also a special assistant to Clinton and senior director for Near East and South Asian affairs at the National Security Council from 1993 to 1995. And, he served as assistant secretary of State for Near Eastern affairs in the State Department from 1997 to 2000.
In his new job, Indyk replaces David Hale, who had served as a place holder in the post until last month. Hale had succeeded former Sen. George Mitchell as the Obama administration's first special Mideast envoy. Mitchell resigned in 2011 following two years of fruitless and frustrating attempts to get the Israelis and Palestinians to engage in serious negotiations.
Indyk's appointment has been carefully choreographed to come just hours before senior Israeli and Palestinian negotiators sit down for a working dinner hosted by Kerry.
Kerry spent much of his first six months as America's top diplomat in frenetic diplomacy trying to get the two sides to agree to resume peace talks that broke down in 2008. An attempt to restart them in 2010 failed after a single day.
Since February, Kerry has made six trips to the region shuttling between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to try to cajole them into returning to negotiations.
Kerry announced on July 19 in Amman, Jordan, that the two sides had reached a basis for returning to the table, but stressed that it still had to be formalized. On Sunday, the State Department announced that the two sides had accepted invitations from Kerry to come to Washington "to formally resume direct final status negotiations."
That followed a decision by Israel's Cabinet to free 104 long-held Palestinian prisoners, a longstanding demand of Abbas.
Abbas has been reluctant to negotiate with Netanyahu, fearing the hard-line Israeli leader will reject what the Palestinians consider minimal territorial demands. The Palestinians want a state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in 1967, but have accepted the principle of limited land swaps to allow Israel to annex some of the dozens of settlements it has built on war-won lands.
Abbas had repeatedly said he will only go to talks if Israel either freezes settlement building or recognizes the 1967 lines as a starting point for drawing the border of a state of Palestine.
Israel has made no such concessions, at least publicly, and the details of the framework for the talks brokered by Kerry remain shrouded in mystery.
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Spot Gen3 outdoor beacon adds more robust tracking options, improved battery life
It looks nearly the same as it did in 2007, but Spot's outdoor beacon has evolved quite nicely on the inside. Now in its third incarnation, the Spot Gen3 is designed to help wandering argonauts keep their loved ones informed of their location for an even longer period of time. Engineered to be worn by those intentionally heading off of the conventional grid, the Spot Gen3 adds unlimited tracking (enabling wearers to pre-set the device to send tracks every 5, 10, 30 or 60 minutes), motion activated tracking and longer battery life. According to the company, this guy will last nearly twice as long as prior versions, and you can also power it via battery or USB. The downside, of course, is that you'll need to pay $149.95 for the unit itself, along with a required annual subscription plan that starts at $149.99 per year. No one ever said adventuring was a poor man's sport, eh? Filed under: GPS
Source: Spot
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Sunday, July 28, 2013
We are 34 days from kickoff of the 2013 Mississippi State Football season. #Figh...
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Staten Island sports bulletin board: Basketball and cross country
Sea girls? hoop camp ?
?The St. Joseph by-the-Sea girls? basketball camp for grades 5 through 12 will be held July 29 to Aug. 2 from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Huguenot high school. The director is Frank Giordano, head girls? varsity basketball coach, with help from the Vikings? staff and former CHSAA players. The tuition is $200. To register, go to www.josephsea.org or call Greg Manos at 718-984-6500, ext. 5327 or Giordano at 917-627-3424. ?
?Hill seeking X-C coach ?
?St. Joseph Hill High School is looking for a varsity cross country coach for the upcoming fall season. Contact Janice Philipps, the athletic director, at jphilipps417@yahoo.com or call 718 447-1374, ext. 9158.?
Source: http://www.silive.com/youthsports/index.ssf/2013/07/staten_island_sports_bulletin_505.html
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Home Improvement Tips That Will Add Value To Any Home
As your family size changes, you will need to consider making some changes to your home. There are many different options for home improvement available to you. Read this article to find out how you could improve your home.
If you are seriously considering buying a home, get it inspected by a professional. It is best to get a professional opinion in case there is anything that you missed when walking through the home. A third party professional is objective and can keep the process civil.
When managing your home in the summer months, make use of as many fans as you can. Ceiling fans help circulate air, which will help in cooling the room. Use both ceiling fans and stationary fans in lieu of your air conditioner to keep both the air and your utility bill cool.
If your space is limited, think about purchasing a small, stackable washer and dryer. These combo units are great space savers in apartments and homes with not a lot of extra space. There are different types and styles of combination washer/dryers, but most types will fit in about the same space as a dishwasher. These machines wash and dry clothes in the same unit.
If a designer is out of your price range, it is time to do your own research. Look everywhere you can for ideas, from books and magazines to blogs and websites. A magazine layout can serve as the inspiration for your own home?s design. You?ll also find projects that can be completed while staying within your budget.
When you need professional help with a home improvement project, be sure that you and your workers draw up a written contract before any work is done. This way they cannot take advantage of you or add extra charges since everything is down in writing. It would be all too easy to take advantage of you if you employ workers without a contract.
Creating clearly defined living spaces makes it easier to sell your home. Each room should have the appropriate accessories and furniture. When you do this, each room in the house looks more comforting and comfortable to live in. Well defined spaces makes a house attractive, and it will be easier to sell.
Basements generally have little, if any, natural light. Plan your basement well so that it gets enough light coming in. Some basements have walls which reach above the ground outside. In this case, you can have windows as well.
A finished basement adds both value and comfort to your home. You can increase the total square footage of livable space available to your family by finishing a basement. Get your materials from discount stores. Remodeling your basement could add more than 30% to your house?s resale value.
Consider installing a shower in at least one bathroom if you don?t already have one. In addition to being significantly more accessible than a tub, you can greatly reduce the amount of water used by your household ? especially if you have children. A five minute shower will use a quarter of the water that a bath will.
It is important to insulate outdoor faucets and other plumbing in preparation for the winter months. You can purchase weatherizing tape that is easy to apply to your plumbing lines. The tape will prevent your pipes from freezing which could lead to a pipe burst.
Now that you are armed with a few solid tips to guide you, making a sound decision regarding home improvement should seem less daunting. Remember, quality home improvements to your home will not only allow you to have a more desirable space but will also improve the overall value of your home.
Source: http://www.renmenbi.com/home-improvement-tips-that-will-add-value-to-any-home/
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Computer freezing on certain websites - Computers, Math, Science ...
 New Today: 2 New Yesterday: 23 |
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Source: http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt236513.html
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Saturday, July 27, 2013
Stocks slide, Dow sheds 100 points as investors take pause
stocks 
21 hours ago
Stocks went on a roller-coaster ride on Friday, ending with the Dow squeezing out a fifth consecutive week of gains, as investors digested the latest batch of mixed earnings ahead of a busy economic calendar next week.
(Read more: JPMorgan raises ceiling on Wall Street's year-end forecasts)
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day just 3 points ahead, after plunging nearly 150 points during the session. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq eked out small gains also. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, finished below 13.
Among key S&P sectors, materials lagged, while health care rebounded.
"The market's had a good run near the highs and with earnings season about halfway through, we characterize the results so far as being lackluster to just OK," said Cam Albright, director of asset allocation at Wilmington Trust Investment Advisors. "As the year progresses, we're expecting the economy to start coming out of some of the doldrums from the fiscal impediments from earlier in the year?so we're expecting a better second half and that should help support the market and provide us with the basis to have prices move forward."
(Read more: S&P 500 ready for another pullback?)
On the economic front, consumer sentiment rose to its highest level in six years, with the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's final reading on the overall index climbing to 85.1 in July from 84.1 in June. Economists surveyed by Reuters expected a reading of 84.
"This high level of confidence points toward a continued expansion of consumer spending in the year ahead," survey director Richard Curtin said in a statement.
But investors initially shrugged off the positive report, with the Dow plunging nearly 150 points soon after the report. Investors also hesitated to jump in ahead of next week's Federal Reserve's meeting and the widely-followed non-farm payrolls report.
"With the Fed meeting and non-farm payrolls due next week, there will be plenty of news to move the market in the week ahead," said Rebecca O'Keeffe, head of investment at Interactive Investor. "U.S. data has been more mixed in recent weeks, suggesting that next Friday's employment report may not be as good as recent months, in part because the housing market does look to have softened in light of higher interest rates."
Meanwhile, President Obama will not announce a decision about who will lead the Federal Reserve until the fall, according to a White House official. Current Chairman Ben Bernanke's term expires next January.
(Read more: Changes to Fed 'forward guidance' could lead to this)
Among earnings, Amazon.com declined after the Internet retail giant reported an unexpected loss and issued a cautious current-quarter forecast as it continues to invest in new areas like cloud computing services.
Starbucks rose after the coffeehouse chain topped earnings expectations and also forecast current-quarter profit above Street consensus. The company also boosted its full-year guidance as its new menu offerings helped drive customer traffic.
More than 50 percent of S&P 500 companies have reported results so far this quarter, with 68 percent of firms topping earnings expectations and 56 percent beating revenue estimates, according to data from Thomson Reuters. If all remaining companies report earnings in line with estimates, earnings will be up 4.1 percent from last year's second quarter.
Activision Blizzard surged after the videogame publisher said it will buy back nearly $8.2 billion worth of Vivendi's holding in the company.
Japan's Nikkei tumbled to its lowest level in nearly three weeks, as the yen strengthened against the dollar, following an inflation report.
"They looked good with the headline number, but when you dig down and take energy out, they were deflationary again," said Art Cashin, director of floor operations at UBS Financial Services. "That spooked the Japanese market and the yen spiked against the dollar."
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How will wearable tech change healthcare? Qualcomm Life backs ...
The wearable technology trend is beginning to take off and two big health organizations want to make sure that they?re not left behind.? This week, health technology company Qualcomm Life and California health system Palomar Health announced the creation of an incubator for exploring the applications of wearable computing in medicine.
Called Glassomics, the joint program, first reported by MedCityNews, will look at both clinical and consumer applications of health-related wearable technology. Although the name is clearly a nod to Google Glass, it sounds like the incubator won?t limit itself to Google devices.
In a statement, the companies said Glassomics is intended to encourage industry partnerships in research and development efforts and would encompass a range of uses, from patient data monitoring to augmented reality-enhanced clinical applications to genomic information mapping and visualization. The incubator will be housed at Palomar and will make use of Qualcomm Life?s 2net platform, which is the company?s universally-interoperable network for collecting and sharing biometric data from connected health devices.
As Google Glass hype has escalated, many have started pointing out the device?s many potential applications in healthcare, from making surgery more efficient to improving how doctors use and collect data in electronic health records to enabling better telemedicine. But, at this point, not much has actually been demonstrated. Glassonomics could play an early role in testing the limits of Google Glass and wearable technology in the medical arena and showing where opportunities and challenges may lie.
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American Golfer: Legendary Journalists Take on The Legends ...
(Portland, Ore.) ? Golf Media Network and the A Position.com travel to the high desert to bring the reports of four journalists on assignment to cover the golf courses and brew pubs of Central Oregon. ?Long known as one of the craft-brewing capitals of the world, and also famous for whitewater rafting, mountain biking, golf, and other adventure sports, Central Oregon is home to The Legends Collection?five golf resorts featuring 171 holes routing across rivers, through canyons, and in the shadows of snow-capped peaks. ?The resorts include Brasada Ranch, Pronghorn, Sunriver, Black Butte Ranch, and Tetherow. From July 28 ? August 2 three writers and a videographer from Golf Media Network will search for errant shots in the fescue, enjoy the triumph of occasional birdies, and quench their thirsts with the IPAs and porters that have made Central Oregon famous not just for golf, but for what many golfers seek out after their rounds: craft-brewed beer. ?The journalists will create and broadcast daily original content via a collection of websites and social media that will be further disseminated by sponsor partners. ?The content will include short travelogues, videos, and reviews of courses, restaurants, and other attractions, as well as the observations of a team of seasoned golf journalists who have been drinking since the late afternoon, possibly earlier.
Award-winning writer Tom Bedell is the only member of both the Golf Writers Association of America and the North American Guild of Beer Writers. ?His work has appeared in Travel & Leisure Golf, Celebrated Living, Lexus Magazine, and many other top publications.
Jeff Wallach, Executive Editor of the A Position, has published in The New York Times, Money Magazine, Outside, and other magazines and newspapers. ?The author of five books, he claims to have a pretty good short game for a journalist.
Christopher Smith is the PGA Lead Instructor at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in North Plains, Ore., and at the KOR Physical Therapy and Athletic Wellness Clinic in Beaverton, Ore.. He is the author of I?ve Got 99 Swing Thoughts but ?Hit the Ball? Ain?t One, and his teaching methods have been featured in GolfWeek, Golf Digest, and The Wall Street Journal. ? He is also the world speed golf champion.
The writers? exploits in Central Oregon will be captured by Scottish videographer David Whyte. ?Whyte is a video producer, writer and photographer specializing in golf travel. His golf destination videos appear on airlines around the world in 'Golf Passport', a 30-minute program exploring the best places to stay and play.
According to Alana Hughson, President and CEO of the Central Oregon Visitor?s Association, "Central Oregon's golf and craft brew scene has attracted a lot of media coverage over the years, but never has a collection of top quality journalists such as the Golf Road Warriors conducted such an in-depth 'investigation' of the region's golf, recreation, and other tourism assets. ?Reviewing and reporting on five resorts that combine to create one of the country's top golf destinations is an arduous task, but we know the guys are up to the challenge."
Check out the warriors? field reports at GolfRoadWarriors.com and theAposition.com.
Contact: NEOhioGolf@yahoo.com
Source: http://americangolfer.blogspot.com/2013/07/legendary-journalists-take-on-legends.html
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Friday, July 26, 2013
Coach John Fox says Broncos are "ready to roll" entering training camp
Gentlemen, start your metaphors.
After a month's worth of bad vibes played out in capital letters trailing the words "breaking news," the Broncos reported for training camp Wednesday. And as running back Ronnie Hillman pulled his luxury sedan into the players' parking lot, it sported a flat front tire.
So it goes as the Broncos continue a bumpy offseason ride as Super Bowl favorites. They get down to their on-field business Thursday morning with the first practice of training camp.
"I think we're ready to roll," coach John Fox said. "Everybody came back in great shape."
The on-field work might offer some solace over the next three weeks as the Broncos try to leave behind the news of the drunken-driving arrests
Broncos fans line the sideline during opening day of training camp Thursday at Dove Valley. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)
of front-office executives Matt Russell and Tom Heckert, and star outside linebacker Von Miller facing a four-game suspension for allegedly violating the NFL's substance-abuse policy.Fox said he will go about the business of making sure the players are focused on the work that needs to be done "between those white lines."
"We're going to embark on a very long season and I'm sure there's going to be some adversity as well as some prosperity along the way," Fox said. "This will be no different. There's always a lot of noise. Sometimes it's good. Sometimes it's bad. You had better be able to focus through the noise."
All but one of the Denver players ? including Miller, who had 18? sacks last season ? reported for medical examinations and conditioning tests Wednesday. Rookie defensive tackle Sylvester Williams, a first-round draft pick, was the only no-show. Williams can't participate in team functions until his contract is completed.
Williams' representatives and the Broncos continue to close in on a deal. Williams isn't expected to miss much time with the team if negotiations continue at their current pace.
"The guys who are here are ready to go," said cornerback Champ
Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning (18) starts off the opening day of training camp with center Manny Ramirez on Thursday at Dove Valley. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)
Bailey. "I think everybody understands what's ahead of us and what we need to do."Bailey, entering his 15th season in the NFL and coming off his 12th Pro Bowl selection, was asked whether this Denver team, despite its recent travails, provides the best opportunity of his career to play in his first Super Bowl.
"I look at it as my only shot," Bailey said. "I don't know what's to be said about next year. I'm looking at right now as my only shot. I hope everybody in that locker room feels the same way, because nothing's guaranteed in this league. We could all be in different places next year."
Once practices get underway Thursday morning, the biggest football-related question on the depth chart will be the offensive
line. With several linemen still working their way back from surgeries, the Broncos have to make some adjustments. Center J.D. Walton (ankle) and guard Chris Kuper (ankle) will open training camp on the physically unable to perform list because they aren't able to practice. Walton, who had surgery last month, isn't expected back in the lineup until late October, at the earliest.Left tackle Ryan Clady, who recently signed a five-year contract worth $52.5 million, is working back from shoulder surgery. He won't participate fully in practices for at least two weeks.
"My guess is we'll take it slow," Fox said.
"It's going to be a little bit of time," Clady said. "I'm not sure how long it's going to be yet."
The team's players and officials are hoping to put the offseason woes behind them.
"I think we just move on," said wide receiver Wes Welker. "We practice with the guys we have out there and don't worry about anything outside ? all the noise."
Jeff Legwold: jlegwold@denverpost.com or twitter.com/jeff_legwold
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Thursday, July 25, 2013
West Africa's Togo votes today for the first time since 2007
Opposition leader Gilchrist Olympio survived hit squads and now wants a nation of 'flower plantations.'?Legislative elections may shake family dynasty.
People stand in line to cast their ballots during the Togo legislative elections in the city of Lome, Togo, Thursday July 25, 2013.
Erick Kaglan/AP
EnlargeTogo voters are going to the polls today in a legislative election ??already twice delayed ??that may shake up a family dynasty that has essentially ruled the West African nation since 1967.?
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Not since 2007 has Togo allowed for elections to the legislature or parliament, and today's voting, which began at 7 a.m. local time and ends at 4 p.m. is seen as an important next step in the nation's transition to full democracy. Today's vote was originally scheduled for last October but was delayed as pro-democracy and civil society groups tried to push further reforms before the poll.?
Some 1,200 candidates are competing for 91 seats in the legislature.?
In Togo, the Gnassingb??family has been in power for decades. ?tienne Gnassingb? Eyad?ma?ruled from 1967 to his death in 2005. The military then quickly slotted Gnassingb??Eyad?ma's son, Faure Gnassingb?, into the president's seat where he continues to govern, though is viewed as more moderate and open than his father. ?
For most of this period, the opposition in Togo has been represented by a businessman and legacy figure in Togo named Gilchrist Olympio, whose own father was the first post-independence president before he was gunned down by assassins on the steps of the US Embassy in the capital Lome.?
Mr.?Olympio has survived over nearly four decades of fighting the powers that be in Togo, his native land. As voters head to the polls today, he is hoping to make an entrance into the political sphere that he's long been kept out of by the machinations of Togo's rulers.
Like any politician, he's taken to the campaign trail in recent weeks, visiting cities and villages across this narrow country to vouch for parliamentary candidates supporting his United Forces for Change Party.
As the Monitor reported yesterday:?
Gilchrist Olympio survived a bloody ambush on his motorcade, escaped from a coup that saw his father ??Togo?s first post-independence leader ? gunned down at the door of the American embassy, and then he later managed to avoid two death sentences pronounced by the country's courts.?
Now, as the perpetual leader of tiny Togo?s political opposition, Mr. Olympio is still out on the campaign trail.
He is preaching about a new era for this troubled west African country that, since 1967, been ruled by a family dynasty.
?I?ve always done it,? Olympio says of campaigning, which he now does in a caravan of pickup trucks and SUVs. ?Now it?s become legal.
It used to be that Olympio snuck campaign literature across the border from Ghana. But his supporters now cheerfully approach the Olympio caravan on motorbikes decorated with stalks of grass. ?The people of my party want me to be active,? he says.
With voters heading to the polls to decide on the balance of power in the country?s parliament, Togo just might be taking its first steps to shake control from the Gnassingb? family.
That family dynasty?s crackdowns on opposition have resulted in Togo being marginalized amid an increasingly democratic and economically vibrant west Africa.
The current president,?Faure Gnassingb?, was shoehorned into office in 2005 in the wake of bloody violence between the military and street protesters, who say that the son's ascension into power after father?s death was unconstitutional.
If opposition parties tomorrow gain control of parliament ? and set aside their differences ? the parliament may pass reforms to check Mr. Gnassingb??s power and perhaps disqualify him for elections in 2015.
Olympio himself, as one of the most senior opposition activists, has long been at the center of efforts to unseat the Gnassingb? rulers. But age and political missteps may damage Olympio's clout.
Significantly, Olympio joined a unity government with Gnassingb? in 2010. Rival opposition figures called him a sell-out. That led to a split in his own party that may undermine their chances in parliament.
?At some stage you have to stop looking in the rear mirror, and look forward,? Olympio says. ?And that?s what we?re trying to do.?
Since becoming independent from France in 1960, democracy for the sliver-shaped Togo has been fraught and fleeting.
Olympio?s father, Sylvanus Olympio, sat in office for three years before soldiers loyal to Etienne?Gnassingb? Eyad?ma, the current president?s father, staged a coup and gunned the elder Olympio down as he tried to seek refuge in the American embassy in the capital Lom?.
Four years later, President Eyad?ma overthrew Mr. Olympio?s successor, seized power, and ruled Togo for almost 40 years. Along the way, he cultivated a personality cult, one replete with monuments to his deeds that he scattered around the country, along with a tall folk tale that he had survived a plane crash because he was invulnerable.
The elder Gnassingb?, Eyad?ma,?who died in 2005, was not kind to the younger Olympio, who had survived his father?s murder, fled the country, and became known as public enemy No. 1 in Togo.
Twice Olympio was sentenced to death?in absentia. After a 1992 amnesty he returned from exile in Europe and other African nations. But while campaigning in the north, a hit squad riddled Olympio?s car with bullets, sending him back into exile abroad.
?Eyad?ma was bad. He?s a page that everybody wants turned once and for all,? Olympio says in an interview.
He has nicer things to say about the son, the current president, who he considers well-read and accommodating. ?You can argue cases with him,? Olympio says.
He describes their current political coalition as fruitful, and a way to get Togo?s economy back on track again after the 2005 political crisis.
Olympio envisions a Togo of flower plantations and increased coffee and cocoa exports, where container ships line up to unload at west Africa?s only natural deep-water port, just to the east of the capital.
But to some of his supporters, joining with Gnassingb? was anathema. Jean-Pierre Fabre, an important ally, left Olympio?s party to form his own opposition group, which is expected to make considerable gains in parliament.
?For some members of the opposition, he?s joined Gnassingb??s force,? said Dany Ayida, a Togolese civil society activist. ?Olympio is a businessman. Politically, he has lost.?
Even in Olympio?s ranks there are whispers that it?s time to find someone else to head up his United Forces for Change party, perhaps someone younger.
?He has the support of the people,? says Noms Mohammed, as he watches Olympio at his second stop of the day, a stump speech held in a dirt field an hour?s drive south of Kpele Adeta. Mr. Mohammed wants to vote for Olympio?s party but isn't as keen about the party leader. ?He?s old?. They must appoint a new flagbearer,? he says.?
Olympio's next move must be decided before the presidential polls in two years time. Unlike the vast Gnassingb? family, the only child he has to draw on for a legacy is his daughter, who is married, living in the United States, and disinterested in Togolese politics, according to Olympio.
?I?m not very young,? he replied when asked if he?ll make another presidential try after being prevented from running so many times.
?As they say, old soldiers don?t die, they just fade away. You don?t quit.?
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Chris Christie Pressed To Enact Gay Marriage By GOP Lobbyist Hazel Gluck
A longtime New Jersey Republican stalwart and confidante to two former GOP governors is now pushing Gov. Chris Christie (R) to end his opposition to same sex marriage in the state.
Hazel Gluck, a former state transportation and insurance commissioner who was also a top lobbyist, told NorthJersey.com on Sunday that she has joined forces with same sex marriage advocates to press Christie to sign marriage equality legislation. Christie has vetoed the state's gay marriage bill, saying that he believes the public should vote on the issue. The move pits Gluck, a moderate Republican who recently came out, against a Republican governor who is leading his Democratic opponent, state Sen. Barbara Buono (Metuchen), by over 30 points in recent polls.
Gluck said that while it would be tough to get Christie to reverse himself on the issue, she believes that a dialogue must start. While she is retired as a lobbyist, she expected to use her former skills.
?I contributed to your campaign. I helped you run for office. I made sure you were taken care of when I was in Tom Kean?s administration," Gluck told NorthJersey.com, articulating her pitch for gay rights in New Jersey. "I?m still the same person. Look at me and tell me that I don?t have the same rights that you have.?
Gluck is best known for her tenure in former Gov. Tom Kean's (R) administration in the 1980s. After leaving Kean's cabinet, Gluck founded a Trenton lobbying firm and was known for her friendship with former Gov. Christine Todd Whitman (R) in the 1990s.
The marriage equality legislation vetoed by Christie is currently awaiting a potential override vote in the state legislature. An override is unlikely to pass unless Republican lawmakers, who rarely defy Christie, join with Democrats. Buono has made the marriage equality issue a cornerstone of her campaign. Buono told The Huffington Post that she hopes Gluck's involvement could flip Christie's stance.
"If he was really a moderate, he would take the Republican legislators out of the headlock he has them in and allow them to vote their conscience," Buono told HuffPost. "If [Gluck] can convince him to back off we will all be better off."
Buono's daughter, Tessa Bitterman, who is openly gay, has also joined the attacks against Christie's record.
Christie's office did not return a request for comment by HuffPost and did not comment to NorthJersey.com.
Gluck said that she believes Christie is more conservative than past New Jersey Republicans, but not a tea party member. She had harsh words for national Republicans, who she called "right wing wackos."
Gluck is not the first moderate New Jersey Republican to distance herself or himself from the GOP's more conservative factions. Whitman, the former governor, has called on the party to be more inclusive, while last year pro-choice Republican fundraiser Candace Straight urged moderates to stop donating to the Republican National Committee until the party came closer to the center.
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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/23/chris-christie-gay-marriage_n_3639818.html
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Wednesday, July 24, 2013
The Environmental Awakening in Sport
Photo credit: Sky Images and CenturyLink Field.?Sport events, small and large, contribute to environmental problems, but in partnership with the Green Sports Alliance, teams are reducing their footprint. Here, solar panels on the garage of Seattle?s CentuyLink Stadium complement efficiency upgrades.
In Brief
The Green Sports Alliance was formed with the aim of understanding how the games we play can affect and foster awareness about the environment to promote change. Having fun on the sports field, it turns out, can be a far more effective way to spread messages about our natural resources than the classroom. By its very nature, sport participation and conduct impacts the environment and, in turn, is impacted by it.
Key Concepts
- The participation in and conduct of sport creates a significant impact on the natural environment
- Many sport personnel, across all levels of the industry, are working to understand the environmental impact of their activities
- The Green Sports Alliance is a nonprofit organization designed to facilitate dialogue and exchanges of information among its members
- To be effective and sustainable in these efforts, sport personnel need to make environmental strategic planning part of overall organizational operations
Sport is, for the most part, an enjoyable experience drawing billions of people to games, events, televisions, bars, and other venues to watch athletes, from children to highly talented professionals, play the sports they love. Yet, this fun comes with consequences that go beyond the game as those individual actions are multiplied by millions and millions of people each year all around the world. An enormous amount of trash is generated at sporting events, from packaging, plates, and bottles to food waste. Resources like water and energy are used to power the games and to keep playing fields lush. Carbon emissions from travel to and from events by all stakeholders also factor into the calculation of consequences.1
Two related perspectives exist in relation to sport and the environment. The first is the Inside-Out perspective where organizational personnel understand how their activities impact the environment. The second perspective is Outside-In where external environmental and related issues (e.g., government regulation) impact the operations of an organization.2 In sport, most of the conceptualizations, research, and knowledge of these issues involve the Inside-Out perspective. Energy consumed by national and international sport events will continue to increase as sporting leagues grow around the world.3 During the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, 10,500 athletes participated in the Games and 500,000 people traveled to attend them. Seventy thousand people visited New Orleans to attend the Super Bowl in person, but many more visited the city for the events surrounding the Super Bowl, but did not have tickets to attend the game. It was estimated that each match at the 2006 World Cup used three million kilowatt hours of energy and produced five to ten tons of trash?and that was with an environmental plan developed by FIFA prior to the tournament.4 Television broadcasts of these events allowed millions of people around the world to stay home, but still generated a significant amount of resource consumption involved in the millions of nationwide parties and general home viewing. Events need parking, which consumes land and resources to build and to maintain. With more new stadia taking transportation into account when designing facilities, there is an improvement in transportation options (i.e., some fans and participants travel to and from the games by buses, bicycles, or walking), but automobile travel followed by air travel remain the dominant mode.
It is not just the national and international events that create environmental problems. While the large events garner attention, numerous lower-tier sport events and recreational activities contribute to our environmental problems. At the intercollegiate athletics level, mid-major football games, like those at Ohio University, have been known to generate around two tons of trash at their most heavily attended game, but major programs can generate up to three times that much each week. Local public golf courses consume land, require constant resource inputs, and use pesticides to control insect populations. Ski slopes generate snow when nature does not provide it and the local ecosystem can be at risk by this action, especially when wastewater is used to manufacture the snow.5 The list goes on, but the common denominator is that sport and recreational activities impact the environment, often in negative ways.
The Outside-In perspective comes into play as natural environmental changes impact sport organizations. In New Orleans, for example, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina had a significant effect on the city and its infrastructure, especially the Superdome, in graphic and enduring ways. Few people will forget the images of the Superdome after the flooding in New Orleans. The venue was transformed from a stadium of fun and excitement into a place of death, despair, and tragedy. It is impossible to visit the venue without recalling the toll of environmental disasters. In another example, Australia?s difficulties with drought over the years affected its sporting industry and infrastructure as rationing and other methods to combat drought were undertaken.6,7 While natural conditions are often out of the control of sport personnel, their own contributions to the outcomes of the natural conditions, such as inhibiting proper water drainage due to a facility footprint, necessitate a balance of Inside-Out and Outside-In thinking in strategic planning for environmental activities.
Regulations and legislation related to construction of sport venues and their operations are driving change as much as altruistic intentions. Since the 1970s and enactment of the National Environmental Policy Act, federal agencies must consider the environmental impact of any federal action.8 States have followed this lead, often commissioning environmental impact studies and reports.
In 2009 the city of Santa Clara, California, undertook one of these studies in preparation for a new stadium for the San Francisco 49ers. The report was sent to over 30 organizations, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, California Highway Patrol, and the Cupertino Planning Department. Comments were solicited about the study and compiled into the final report. The study results offered a comprehensive analysis of the holistic environmental impact of the new stadium. This small example is part of a larger network of laws and regulations governing construction and operations of organizations in the United States. State environmental policy acts (SEPAs) require environmental study and planning before any state action is taken, although they might vary on how this is accomplished.8 The SEPAs also ensure that state natural resource agencies conduct environmental reviews of proposed projects. While mechanisms exist to delay or to be exempt from environmental review, the review cannot be bypassed entirely unless a SEPA indicates a process to do so (e.g., regulations for the timeline to put a construction project on a ballot).8
Photo credit: Kevin Fitzsimmons. Though professional sports teams advocate most ardently for environmentally friendly changes, amateur and collegiate teams, like Ohio state University, also participate.
Consulting organizations have been brought in. Additional local, state, and federal laws and regulations for environmental issues are also part of this process, which is why sport organization personnel sought out the expertise of organizations such as the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the U.S. Green Building Council. Combined with regulating or governing body guidelines from groups like the International Olympic Committee, sport personnel have a complex task of accomplishing organizational goals while accounting for environmental issues.
Lastly, the nonprofit Green Sports Alliance was formed in 2010 with a mission to help sports teams, venues, and leagues enhance their environmental performance. More on this organization?s vital role will be discussed later in the article.
Sport is a part of life and life is inclusive of the environment, not separate from it. We see this as fans huddle around a small grill. Brats and hot dogs pop and sizzle on it as each person talks up the chances of a win later in the day. A small child jumps up and down pointing excitedly at the largest foam finger she has ever seen as her dad reaches for his wallet and smiles with his wife. On the sidelines, a player pulls out a bottle of water from his bag as he finishes practice, drinks it down, and chats with the coach about the night?s game. A lone woman sweeps out a concourse in a stadium, catching dropped ketchup packets, game notes, and the coupon flyer handed out at that night?s game. Each of these scenes, like thousands of others, is played out across the world of sport each day. What connects them all? Trash.
Sport is also highly material and has a significant, multifaceted environmental impact that must be addressed. Exploring how the different stakeholders in the world of sport can address this issue is important to understanding the goals, objectives, and tactics used to take action. In the end, the impact of sport on the environment can become clearer, as can the ways everyone involved can work to minimize, address, or solve environmental problems in sport.
Facility Design, Construction, and Management
To begin, facilities and stadia are clear examples of an environmental impact. Every sport venue is built, maintained, renovated, and demolished, and a new one built at some point. Stadia today, especially as you move up the ranks to the highest professional levels, require more and better amenities. Wireless access is now commonplace, numerous food and beverage choices are on menus to satisfy as many possible tastes as there are fans, novelties and merchandise are sold or given away to entice fans to games and allow them to demonstrate their fandom, and, of course, there is the never-ending demand for parking spaces. More aspects of the sport experience are needed if fans are to gain value from purchasing tickets, including the season variety where parking is a must. For every hot dog purchased, beer or soda consumed, light turned on, and field watered, however, energy and resources are used.
It is interesting to note that facility management personnel were early movers in the environmental change process. What might have started with a search for more environmentally friendly cleaning products is now a full force effort to have buildings built or renovated with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. Much of the impetus for change came over the course of the past 20 years in the form of waste reduction and much of this work was done to improve the customer experience (e.g., hand dryers in the lavatory eliminate paper towels all over the floor and do not run out). As new stadia are built and others refurbished, LEED principles are increasingly added to the planning and construction work. In more recent years, sport personnel in other organizational areas like marketing began to see the strategic issues related to environmental activities, such as community engagement, revenue generation through sponsorship, and cost savings through upgraded facilities. Potential cost savings helped to drive the changes in facility operations and best practices were sought for energy savings, resource usage, and other operational activities.9 Today, stadia developers and teams often compete to determine which team is the greenest. For example, the Olympic Stadium in London was built using only a tenth of the total steel used to build the Bird?s Nest stadium in 2008 for the Olympic Games in Beijing.10 Environmentalism is becoming a key operational initiative and marketing aspect of sport, though funding remains a constant issue in keeping them both active and progressive.9
In Major League Baseball, the Washington Nationals, Minnesota Twins, and San Diego Padres, among many others, all made efforts to be the greenest team and ballpark in the country, making substantial commitments to environment design and conduct in their ballpark operations. The New York Giants, Miami Heat, Portland Trailblazers, and the Montreal Canadiens also received LEED certification at some point. In fact, NRDC, an environmental advisor to Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association, noted as of 2012 that 15 professional sports venues had been awarded some level of LEED certification for new or existing structures with numerous others in various stages of such certification.11 This does not even count intercollegiate and lower-level professional and amateur venues.
Photo credit; Portland Trail Blazers. Portland Trail Blazers mascot Blaze the Trail Cat demonstrates a state-of-the-art Christenson Electric vehicle charging station. There are 26 stations available throughout the stadium?s parking structures.
Event Operations
Beyond the physical structures, sport leagues, teams, organizing committees, and governing bodies developed event-management plans that help to produce greener games. As noted earlier, FIFA, the governing body of soccer, built a zero-emission headquarters and developed guidelines for organizing committees to use when planning to host events. The guidelines are called Green Goal. They were initiated at the 2006 World Cup in Germany and continued for the 2010 South African World Cup.4 They are updated and revised continually and take into account local needs and abilities. The International Olympic Committee has a similar set of guidelines for host countries to follow. While organizations such as Major League Baseball do not provide any such strict rubric, it has been active in developing relationships to help teams. Efforts are often local and under team control.
Local Community Engagement
An important aspect of any sports organization?s operation is engagement with the local community. Many personnel see community engagement as a form of corporate citizenship or outreach. Reading in schools and health issues are common outreach contexts. However, the environment is becoming another avenue for community engagement. Educational opportunities to reach into schools with applied environmental problems and data to help teachers and students study environmental impacts is one example. Helping to understand and address local environmental damage and degradation, even health and wellness, is becoming important to the fishing, golf, and outdoor sports industries as well as professional and amateur team sports. Since sport organizations have an important and high-profile local role, and are beholden to many levels of governmental laws and regulations, personnel work to integrate their sustainability efforts with the local community. This is a complicated issue because of the ability for a local community, including the local business community, to aid these efforts (having, for instance, strong infrastructure for waste disposal or recycling). Social pressures from many levels?nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), fans, suppliers, league offices, governing bodies, and universities and colleges?are driving change, but the change is contextual and inconsistent across sports and within a sport itself.
Beyond altruistic actions, revenue generation, cost savings, and cost offsets can be found through partnerships and sponsorships with corporate entities and other groups. These partnerships could help to move environmental change from a single team throughout its stakeholder base. However, sponsorship opportunities and partnerships in this area are at a nascent stage compared with traditional corporate sponsorship in sport. In addition, when a local community (e.g., Cleveland, Chicago, Philadelphia) has several major and/or minor league sport organizations and the athletics departments of various colleges and universities surrounding it, competition occurs for sponsorship dollars from a finite corporate base. Competition for relationships with green-oriented businesses, such as title sponsorship of an event or long term in-kind assistance, is a challenge for sport personnel if the green oriented companies do not have capacity to handle the demand from these organizations in addition to the demand from traditional corporate or civic organizations (e.g., city governments).
The Times Are Changing
Recycling is common at sporting events today and research has shown that it is one of the most frequently taken first steps in an environmental change program at the intercollegiate athletics level, although it is just as frequent at major sporting venues and events.12 Additionally, there has been a general focus on reduction in resource and chemical usage. For example, the St. Louis Cardinals personnel estimated that 15?20 percent of their operations budget was devoted to energy usage.13 Using the Environmental Protection Agency?s EnergyStar Portfolio Manager, the Cardinals showed how ?since 2007 they?ve cut the ballpark?s energy use by 23 percent.?13
Within stadia, food and menu changes are also being made. For example, the Cleveland Cavaliers began offering an expanded vegetarian menu at their concession stands and restaurants in Quicken Loans Arena. Similarly, the Philadelphia Eagles, an organization that exemplifies environmental activism in sport, has one of the largest vegetarian menus in sport, a commitment found at every food-service level from concessions to suites. The San Diego Padres recently partnered with a local biofuel company to provide used cooking oils to buses in the surrounding school districts. Even sport stalwarts like paper-based media guides and game notes are going digital to reduce waste and paper usage. Once again, the Philadelphia Eagles personnel worked to reduce paper usage. When paper is needed, they strive to use 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper. In 2004 they used about 25 tons of it, but by 2010, it was near 50 percent of overall paper use in the Eagles offices and overall paper usage was down to 75 tons from a high of nearly 200 tons in 2007.14 Also, in 2010, of the 457 gallons of cleaning products used by the Eagles, 169 gallons (37 percent) were from environmentally friendly products.14
Photo credit: Diane Rezendes, Green Bear Group. Teams are taking active roles as educators, showing fans different environmental actions that they can take. Here, Seattle?s Kid Compost shakes hands at Safeco Field.
Outside of the professional level, intercollegiate athletics is also addressing environmental issues. Some academic studies examined current and past usage practices related to environmental activities by intercollegiate athletics personnel. For example, 75 percent of Division I intercollegiate athletics department personnel reported extensive-to-moderate usage of compact fluorescent lighting in sport facilities. Recycling, across office operations and events, was an often-reported environmental activity in the athletics departments. Areas such as promoting green strategies through partnerships and utilizing alternative energy were less often reported or planned for.12
Even individual athletes are getting involved. Athletes including Steve Nash, Usain Bolt, Kelly Slater, Marta Vieira da Silva, Tom Paradiso, and Leilani M?nter are visible advocates for environmental action.15 They work on their own, separate from the teams of which they?re part, to promote an environmental message.
An Answer: The Green Sports Alliance
Without much guidance, sport personnel have been addressing environmental issues on their own with debates over the best pathways to environmental sustainability.16 Some teams took little to no action, while others made it a top-down imperative to change operations. Little data and information were shared throughout the industry; exchanges were confined mostly to individual associations, mega events, or personal relationships. What was needed was a more coordinated effort to link sport organizations together in terms of environmental issues and to connect them to other organizations that could help them address the environmental challenges they faced.
Enter the Green Sports Alliance, a nonprofit organization with a mission to help sport teams, venues, and leagues enhance their environmental performance. In February 2010 the concept of the Alliance began in a workshop where sport personnel, mainly from the Northwest United States, came together to discuss sustainability issues, share experiences, and to help each other address the environmental impacts of their teams and venues. That first meeting and the initial development of the organization and its ideals was orchestrated by Jason Twill, sustainability lead at Vulcan Inc., and Allen Hershkowitz, senior scientist at NRDC and director of NRDC?s Sports Greening Project. Paul Allen, cofounder of Microsoft and Vulcan Inc., owns the Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trailblazers, and is part owner of the Seattle Sounders FC. In addition to Allen's teams, the inaugural members and partners of the Alliance are the Seattle Mariners, Seattle Storm, Vancouver Canucks, Bonneville Environmental Foundation, Milepost Consulting, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Realizing the benefit of building this collaboration, the Alliance launched nationally in March 2011 in an effort to bring together sport personnel from around the world to share information and ideas about improving environmental performance industry-wide. What started with six professional sports teams and five venues now boasts a membership of nearly 170 professional and collegiate sports teams and venues from 15 different sports leagues. Scott Jenkins, chairman of the board for the Alliance and vice president of Ballpark Operations for the Seattle Mariners, noted, ?Our biggest challenge is to get people?s attention. People are busy and sustainability is often woven into existing responsibilities. We need it to become a part of their time and get their attention.?
Alliance Guiding Principles
During the Alliance?s formation, several guiding principles shaped the strategic decisions and actions taken by members. As a small, start-up, nonprofit organization, the Alliance measures its actions and activities based on the goal of providing maximum value to its members.
Alliance members make a commitment to improve their environmental performance. With the support of the Alliance and its partners, members collaborate with each other on a number of ongoing initiatives. Membership in the Alliance is open to any sports team, venue, league or collegiate program willing to make this commitment. The Alliance helps its members reach their environmental goals through direct support and focused research, facilitated networking with recognized leaders in the industry, compilation and sharing of best practices in venue operations and team communications, workshops, a monthly webinar series, and much more. In short, as Hershkowitz noted, the Alliance wants to ?green the world through sport.?
A primary principle guiding Alliance efforts is that its members succeed when they measure and track their environmental performance in order to drive environmental performance improvements. This principle is grounded in the belief that you cannot manage what you cannot measure. Understanding operations within a venue or the administrative offices of a team is a first step toward figuring out how to plan strategically for immediate and future environmental operations. As Jenkins said, ?We need to get people aware of issues to get anywhere.?
Building upon this effort, Alliance personnel can then work with team and venue personnel to develop a strategic approach to environmental efforts (e.g., developing goals, objectives, tactics). While the Alliance is not an auditing organization and does not provide certification processes, they support their members both individually and collectively. With partners like NRDC and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as technical advisors, the Alliance helps to guide the greening process for its members, tackling specific challenges and sharing the broader lessons they?ve learned. These processes are contextual and unique to each situation, versus a one-size-fits-all approach.
It is also important for team and venue personnel to communicate their activities to stakeholders, especially fans?a point voiced by Hershkowitz when he said the Alliance must be an ?information-sharing organization? that facilitates ?a cultural shift in the way people think about the planet.? The Alliance has mechanisms to help spread messages and to share better practices with the general public, other nonmembers, and among the teams and venues themselves. The organization was founded on a platform of leadership and stewardship within sport given the high-profile role of sport in cultures around the world as well as its substantial environmental footprint. The Alliance?s efforts go beyond sports and provide stewardship for the society at large and enhance and augment the environmental conversation, according to Jenkins.
Strength in Numbers
In a 2013 Forbes contributor David Ferris laid out four key ways that sport organization personnel can begin to address environmental issues:
- Analyze and reduce energy and water usage combined with waste diversion strategies.
- Work within the context of the team or venue to achieve the maximum benefits of environmental change.
- Identify and work towards return on investment targets to justify the long term value of the environmental strategy and align environmental issues with other key organizational strategic planning and elements.
- Maintain awareness of changes to technology and other areas related to environmental change.17
Alliance personnel have developed tools to help sport personnel address these and other environmental and related issues. For example, the Alliance developed an Operations Roadmap that is designed to help strategic and tactical planning for environmental issues. Specifically, it addresses planning issues, cost reduction, and revenue generation. The guide offers overviews of key environmental issues and suggests implementation strategies and tactics to fulfill environmental goals. Additionally, the Alliance recently released its E-Waste Collection Playbook: A Guide to Help Sports Teams and Venues Host a Successful E-Waste Collection Drive. The guides are not prescriptive, and suggestions can be tailored to fit many different contexts. Additional guidance can be found in the form of an online guide from NRDC and a solar power guide from NRDC and the Bonneville Environmental Foundation for sport personnel interested in energy usage and solar energy systems in sport venues.18 Finally, the Alliance assisted NRDC in the preparation of a compilation of case studies on successful environmental initiatives in sport, entitled Game Changer: How the Sports Industry is Saving the Environment.13 The report is available on the Alliance website. The cases come from around the professional sports world and cover a variety of environmental topics. Sport team, venue, and special events topics are included. The cases answer questions as to why sport personnel made the commitment to environmental action, where to start with environmental change, what types of challenges there are in making environmental issues part of organizational operations, and what lessons can be learned from individual contexts and experiences.
Despite these proactive actions, the Alliance mission and role does not prescribe actions to take or monitor the activities of its members in the sense of accreditation (e.g., LEED) or oversight (e.g., governmental regulations). Rather, Alliance personnel help guide the flow of information and facilitate opportunities for people to come together to discuss environmental issues in sport and share better practices in addressing them. Each year, they convene the Green Sports Alliance Summit, this year in New York from August 26?28. They do not conduct testing or auditing for sport teams and venues. They do emphasize the collective nature of the environmental problems we face, and seek collective answers to them.
Twists and Turns on the Environmental Path
Even though the Alliance has achieved a great deal of success from its early days, many challenges remain. The individual team members remain heavily weighted toward major professional sport organizations. There is a need to bring more collegiate athletic programs and smaller professional sport organizations into the fold. Growth of the Alliance?s operations must be managed, too, as it is a small organization despite its high profile.
Additionally, the Alliance remains a North American organization, although it has a much stronger member base from outside this area in relation to its venue members. Continuing to link sport organizations and venues from around the world and to navigate the complexity of international sport operations will be a task for the Alliance in the long term.
Photo credit: Arizona State University. Arizona State University?s Wells Fargo Arena, topped with solar panels.
Continuing to understand the roles fans play in environmental efforts is another key area on which to concentrate. While most people do not go to sporting events for a science lesson, fans do play a significant role in sport?s environmental footprint. They need to be part of the process in order to change behaviors at events and at home in their everyday lives. Learning from fans and teaching them about environmental actions at teams and venues is a growing and critical aspect of the Alliance?s mission. Connecting corporate and nonprofit partners with the fans is also important.
The Alliance continues to work to improve the strategic and operational effectiveness among members. They are helping to establish better practices and benchmarks, which improves overall strategic planning by individual teams and venues. Related to this is the attention given to help members balance cost savings and revenue generation opportunities and goals. This is a tricky area because, in a specific region for example, there might be several Alliance teams, but a finite number of potential partners and sponsors. We see this in many major sport cities that host a variety of sport teams. Fostering collaboration will be a key focus in this area because establishing a culture of measuring environmental performance will enable a culture of managing it.
Training members to train the individuals within their organizations (?green teams?) is crucial for environmental success. One area to work on is the internal organizational member training at the team, event, and league levels, which will help to prepare the next generation of sport managers with skills and abilities in this area while they are still in college or early in their careers. Jenkins suggested that training is becoming easier as more people become aware of the Alliance and environmental issues, and as more people attend the Alliance?s annual summit and monthly webinars.
Finally, developing closer links with partners in the corporate and nonprofit sectors will continue to be an important part of the Alliance?s activities. Further, establishing new relationships and enhancing existing ones addresses the holistic nature of environmental issues because of the variety of stakeholders involved in putting on sporting events. ?Our partners allow me to do what I do because they help with expertise and resources,? said Jenkins, also noting how sport teams and venues provide a great platform to tell environmental stories and activities.
The End?
In the end, there is a need to make environmental issues a part of the culture of sport management and administration. Sport personnel must bring environmental issues into operational and strategic planning. At the moment, there is momentum, but the momentum must be routinized into strategic planning and operational guidelines for it to mean something two decades from now. The Alliance is well placed to make this happen. As Jenkins said, ?We want people to get in the game, to get involved, to join the Alliance and to attend our summits.? The environmental challenges our planet faces are like a race without end. Thus, the world of sport, like all other cultural contexts, must address its environmental impact through continuous adaptation and management.
References
- Houghton, RA. Balancing the global carbon budget. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 35, 313?347 (2007).
- Porter, M & Reinhardt, F. A strategic approach to climate change. Harvard Business Review 85, 22?26 (2007).
- Dolles, H & S?derman, S. Addressing ecology and sustainability in mega-sporting events: The 2006 football World Cup in Germany. Journal of Management & Organization 16, 587?600 (2010).
- FIFA. FIFA and the Environment [online] (2013) (www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/socialresponsibility/environmental.html).
- Schmidt, C. Putting the Earth in play: Environmental awareness and sports. Environmental Health Perspectives 114, A286-A295 (2006).
- Van Ommen, T & Morgan, V. Snowfall increase in coastal East Antarctica linked with southwest Western Australia drought. Nature GeoScience 3, 267?272 (2010).
- Western Australian Department of Sport and Recreation. Climate Change Is No Longer Just A Concept: How Climate Change Could Affect Sport and Recreation Now and in the Future [online] (Western Australia Department of Sport and Recreation, Perth, WA, 2007) (www.dsr.wa.gov.au/assets/files/Research/Climate_Change.pdf).
- Porteshawver, A. Under review: Stadium construction and State Environmental Policy Acts. Marquette Sports Law Review 21, 339?360 (2010).
- Mallen, C, Adams, L, Stevens, J & Thompson, L. Environmental sustainability in sport facility management. European Sport Management Quarterly 10, 367?389 (2010).
- CNN. London Olympics by the numbers [online] (July 27, 2012) (www.cnn.com/2012/07/27/world/olympics-numbers).
- NRDC. LEED certified professional sports facilities [online] (2013) (nba.greensports.org/greener-building/leed).
- Casper, J, Pfahl, M, & McSherry, M. Athletics department awareness and action regarding the environment: A study of NCAA athletics department sustainability practices. Journal of Sport Management 26, 11?29 (2012).
- NRDC. Game Changer: How the Sports Industry Is Saving the Environment [online] (2012) (www.nrdc.org/greenbusiness/guides/sports/files/Game-Changer-report.pdf).
- Philadelphia Eagles. Go green: When We Go Green, Everybody Wins [online] (2011) (prod.static.eagles.clubs.nfl.com/assets/images/community/go_green_playbookv9.pdf).
- Zerbe, L. 19 Amazing Eco Athletes [online] (2013) (www.rodale.com/green-athletes?siteID=TnL5HPStwNw-vF1mJDedKrazNHZVOwuJMQ).
- Mallen, C & Chard, C. A framework for debating the future of environmental sustainability in the sport academy. Sport Management Review 14, 424?433 (2011).
- Ferris, D. What ?green? really means for the Eagles, Seahawks, NASCAR. Forbes [online] (February 28, 2013) (www.forbes.com/sites/davidferris/2013/02/28/what-green-really-means-for-...).
- Greening Advisor. NRDC Greening Advisor [online] (2013) (www.greensports.org).
Source: http://www.resilience.org/stories/2013-07-24/the-environmental-awakening-in-sport
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