Growing Greener Sports

When sports and sustainability come together, the potential for change is tremendous. This was the thinking that inspired undergraduates Weston Cooper and James Walton to work with national clean energy nonprofit Focus the Nation to plan and execute the UO's first-ever Sports and Sustainability Summit. Among the featured speakers were Lundquist College associate management professor Jennifer Howard-Grenville--who discussed two approaches to sustainability at Nike--and Green Sports Alliance founder Martin Tull, described by Cooper as "a rock star for the sport and sustainability world." For panel organizers Cooper and Walton, the successful event marks the beginning of what they hope will be an ongoing dialogue between sports and green practices at the UO and, eventually, throughout the nation.