Prince Ea, Rachel O’Reilly, and Shawn Heinrichs Photo credit: Gerber & Scarpelli Photography
Prince Ea joined the festivities and discussions at the Green Sports Alliance Summit in Chicago where he shared his video “Dear Future Generations: Sorry” and spoke about how to get involved in mitigating the effects of climate change with Stand for Trees and Wildlife Works, and the power sports have to catalyze positive change in millions of fans. His video and speech we’re received with a standing ovation by representatives from all major sports leagues as well as teams representatives, athletes, stadium owners and others involved in the sports industry. He reminded everyone in the room that the pursuit of a sustainable future is about more than just recycling, it’s about how we relate and communicate with each other too, commenting, “Smart speaks, wisdom listens.” His speech was an inspiring call to action for leagues, teams, and stadiums to become accountable for their unavoidable emissions with the types of projects that create real impact on the ground, like Wildlife Works’ projects in the DRC and Kenya that he visited earlier this year.
Rachel O’Reilly spoke on behalf of Wildlife Works at the event as well on tactics for fan engagement as it relates to sustainability, pointing out that if fans were half as passionate about sustainability initiatives as they were about their team, we would have a tremendous positive shift for the climate. She demonstrated how this could be done with teams and players leading by example and executing simple, easily understandable campaigns. For example, a team could address their unavoidable emissions with Wildlife Works REDD+ projects while using Stand for Trees as a turn-key fan engagement tool to empower fans to take part in the movement of protecting the world’s threatened primary forests. She also acknowledged the teams and leagues who have already offset a portion of their emissions or emissions of specific events, including the MLB, NBA Green, the Green Sports Alliance, Portland Trail Blazers, and Sustainable Surf. “We need to be bold and act now using the immense power of sports to leverage-up proven initiatives that are making a real difference in the race against climate change,” Rachel said.
Watch Prince Ea’s inspiring speech at the Green Sports Alliance 2015 Summit
