Athletes for the Earth Campaign

Athletes are role models, especially for young people, and as this year’s Olympics illustrated, in athletes have a truly unique relationship with the environment. Earth Day Network will involve athletes globally as spokespeople for Earth Day and also create awareness at global athletic events leading up to Earth Day. Beginning with the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, Athletes for the Earth™ will harness the voices of athletes to address climate change. The program will also illustrate the interaction of athletes with their environment and connect popular athletic activities with environmental stewardship.

Athlete Ambassadors

Billy Demong

Gold Medal Winner, Nordic Combined

Billy Demong, recently chosen to be the flag bearer for Team USA during the closing ceremonies of the Vancouver Olympic Games, has also been selected as the flag bearer for the Athletes for the Earth™ program. The first American to win a gold medal in an Olympic Nordic event, Billy is now becoming a champion for climate change legislation. “I’ve always been looking for an opportunity to have a voice for the environment. It’s a cause I’ve always been passionate about,” Demong says. “Earth Day is that opportunity.”

Billy Demong will be speaking at The Climate Rally on The National Mall on April 25th, and he will be available throughout the day for interviews, media requests, etc. Billy will also be appearing in Public Service Announcements on behalf of Earth Day 2010, and will also be enlisting his fellow Team USA Olympians to take part in the Athletes for the Earth™. Earth Day 2010 is extremely proud to have Billy Demong as an Official Ambassador.
 

Andrew Ference 

Boston Bruins

Andrew Ference understands the unique opportunities professional athletes have as prominent figures in our society. As a defenseman for the Boston Bruins, Andrew uses his status as a professional hockey player to inspire change amongst followers of the sport. “It's important, as high profile athletes, to use our platform to deliver a message of environmental responsibility and accountability,” Andrew says. “Hopefully this will inspire our fans to follow suit."

In 2007, Andrew met with Dr. David Suzuki of The Suzuki Foundation to discuss how he could make a significant environmental impact on the NHL. What resulted was a program called The NHLPA Carbon Neutral Challenge. The idea behind the program was that athletes, with all of the traveling they do to get to games all across the country, are leaving a massive carbon footprint. Andrew and The Suzuki Foundation challenged individual NHL players to offset their carbon footprint by purchasing carbon credits.

What started with one man’s initiative soon spread to a handful of players, who each worked to educate the rest of the league about the Carbon Neutral Challenge. Today, the program boasts the participation of over 500 professional hockey players. Andrew’s story is a glimmering example of how one person can make a difference, and how action can indeed inspire change.

Watch the video to hear Andrew Ference talk about his commitment to the planet:
 

Alison Gannett

World Champion Freeskier

There’s a popular expression that always seems to be tossed around regarding the age-old question of what one should do for a living: Do what you love. Sadly, most people go their whole life without ever fulfilling that hopeful maxim. The ones who do what they love? We consider them lucky, fortunate, exceptions to the rule. How, then, do we even begin to describe the work of Alison Gannett? A former world champion skier and the founder of The Save Our Snow Foundation, Alison was able to make a career of her two passions: the outdoors and environmentalism.

In 2004, Gannett launched her Global Cooling Tour, traveling to different ski areas to talk to people about global warming and teach about simple things that they personally can do to fight global warming. Alison’s Save Our Snow Foundation educates school children around the world about the threat of climate change and offers fun, engaging solutions. She also offers training to businesses (and Congress, as she mentions on her website) to cut their carbon emissions by 30% while increasing their profits. Alison is currently writing her own piece of legislation mapping out a way for Congress to move our nation toward a green economy.

Find out more about Alison, please visit:

http://www.alisongannett.com
http://www.saveoursnowfoundation.com

Andrew Weibrecht

Bronze Medalist, Vancouver Olympic Games

To say that Andrew Weibrecht has a bright future would be an understatement. No, we’re not talking about the fact that he’s a student at Dartmouth (although that certainly can’t hurt.) At just 24 years old and skiing in his very first Olympic Games, Andrew brought home the bronze medal in the Men’s Super G Event. 

With such a promising future ahead of him, it makes sense that Andrew would want to join in the fight against climate change: the very future of his sport depends on it. “The weather is definitely changing,” Andrew tells us. “You can see it when you travel to different races. There’s definitely areas that used to be warm that are colder now, Central Europe in particular. But when you travel up north, you notice the weather getting noticeable warmer the last few years.”

How does Andrew think this will affect outdoor athletes? “Our sport is so dependent on the weather, particularly the cold weather, that if things continue like this it will be extremely difficult to schedule events in advance, and we will no longer be able to move around and enjoy all of the locations where we love to ski.”

Andrew is taking action by signing a petition demanding that Congress pass climate change legislation in 2010.