Green, Blue and Gold: Recommendations for Environmentally Conscious Athletics at SMCM

Abstract

As sustainability becomes an increasingly important issue around the world, people are looking for more ways to incorporate environmentally sustainable practices into their lifestyles. Athletics and recreation have a tendency to get overlooked when thinking of ways to increase sustainability. Additionally, many people ignore or do not realize the capacity of athletics to bring together communities, thus serving as a perfect platform for reaching out and encouraging environmental stewardship. That is why for my project I am putting together a list for feasible, sustainable practices that St. Mary’s athletics teams and the Athletics and Recreation Center can implement now or in the future, depending on their interests and availability of funding. Not only will these ideas help "green" the ARC and athletics teams, but they will increase environmental knowledge within the community, with the ability to transcend that knowledge to other fields and "green" St. Mary’s as a whole.