SPORTING SUSTAINABILITY
Graham Zusi with the Assist In 2018, The Nature Conservancy partnered with Major League Soccer Club Sporting Kansas City to raise awareness about food waste and the environmental impacts that come with it. Now, the initiative, Sporting Sustainability, is in its second year and
is getting some help from Sporting Kansas City soccer star, Graham Zusi. “I have always cared deeply about protecting our environment especially through living sustainably,” said Graham. “When I heard about our partnership with TNC, I jumped at the opportunity to help educate others on how they can also live a sustainable lifestyle.” Sporting Sustainability uses educational tools to encourage sustainable practices among consumers, such as greenhouse gas emissions reduction, responsible agricultural land use, and freshwater conservation. Besides promoting the initiative to fans during gameday activities and public service announcements at Children’s Mercy Park, there is a big push to engage the youth through the Sporting Club Network, which covers six Midwest states, in 35 cities, with players as young as 2 years old. “Many lifelong habits are formed at a young age. If we can educate and instill these good habits through the youth programs, the future of their world will be better off for it,” said Graham.
The success of Sporting Sustainability relies on the individual actions of people who take the pledge to reduce their household food waste. “You would be shocked at what just one person’s act of living sustainably can do,” said Graham. “All of those small acts build up to create a real impact. You may think you are a small fish in a big sea, but a collective effort can make a huge difference.” Being a part of this initiative has also made Graham more mindful of his own actions. “One thing that Sporting Sustainability has made me most aware of is how much perfectly good food is thrown away. I have been much more conscious about saving leftovers, meal planning, and buying sustainably-made products,” he said. Last year alone, participants who took the Sporting Sustainability pledge
reduced their collective household food waste by 159,360 pounds. It takes 1,752,960 square feet of cropland—or nearly 23 soccer fields—to grow this amount of food. “It makes me feel proud that Sporting Sustainability and TNC are doing what they can to educate, inspire, and change how we look and act toward food waste and its impacts on our environmental future,” said Graham. That pride is shared at TNC. “We are proud to be partners with Graham Zusi and Sporting Kansas City on this initiative,” said Adam McLane, TNC’s state director in Missouri. “It’s estimated that 40 percent of food produced is wasted at the retail and consumer level. Reduction of this percentage will have direct impacts on our water and land resources and greenhouse gas emissions.”
Join Graham Zusi, Sporting Kansas City, and TNC and take the Sporting Sustainability pledge at www.sportingkc.com/sustainability.
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THIS PAGE Graham Zusi holds the Sporting Sustainability match scarf. © Courtesy of Sporting Kansas City
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