College sports are a huge part of life for many all across the country. These events are a place for family, friends, and loved ones to get together, and for many of us sports are a tradition that goes well beyond something like family or even our education. To many of us, sports and our favorite teams that play them are a way to belong to something larger, and a way to connect a serious sense of pride with our school or living area. Whether it’s baseball, soccer, football, or basketball, many of us love sports and spend a large portion of our lives celebrating the parts of the population to play them the best. Professional sports are a huge part of our cultural identity, and a very important part of the economy as well, with so many of us participating in them on a regular basis. Of course, the huge parts of the population that love sports has an implication beyond all this, and this impact is an environmental one.
It’s no secret that we need to be paying close attention to our environment, and the relationship we maintain with it. This recent practice has been made more and more urgent with all the suggestions that climate patterns and the world around us are changing negatively, and will continue to do so unless we can find more sustainable and efficient ways of living our lives. As such, attention has been turned on the consumption and waste that comes as a result of our country’s enjoyment of organized sports. While nobody is suggesting that we participate in our favorite sporting events less, there has been plenty of talk about how we can participate in them a bit more sustainably.
Many college have been at the forefront of this effort, as tailgating and other forms of celebration that revolve around college sporting events are responsible for huge amounts of waste every year. Many schools have been implementing programs and systems to increase recycling and make sure that event-goers are doing everything they can to reduce their ecological footprint. Why bother earning the best degrees for the future if you’re not going to have a beautiful earth upon which to enjoy your education?
Higher learning is all about thinking ahead, and it’s nice to see so many of the nation’s colleges banding together to make sure their sporting events don’t have an unnecessarily negative effect on our earth or the environment that surrounds us. Many patrons have been practicing smarter habits when they attend games, too. Things as simple as planning to recycle ahead of time and making sure not to bring excessive amounts of food are just some of the ways that sports fans have been reducing their impact while they enjoy their favorite events around the country. With a little forethought, it’s not hard at all to make sure that you’re being responsible while you enjoy your favorite college team, and keep a nice environment for everyone.
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