Green Options

Are gender differences inborn? Does my son like trucks because he’s as different from girls as cats are from dogs? Boys come out of the womb clutching footballs, girls cuddling dolls?

Probably not, but young kids seem to believe that.

In a U.S. study of 450 kids aged 5-college aged, researchers found that the young ones were more likely to believe that gender differences were nature, not nurture. As in: differences are there because they’re born into you, as species is. The differences are innate, they think.

Interestingly, over time children’s beliefs on gender differences fade, not grow stronger.

After the Phoenix Suns NBA basketball team announced last week that they were installing solar panels as part of a new green initiative, now things only seem to be getting better for the environment when it comes to the efforts of professional sports teams.

The Philadelphia Eagles NFL football team announced on Sunday that they have paid a company for enough wind power to cover their energy needs for this year as part of their ongoing “Go Green” initiative. These needs include powering their stadium, Lincoln Financial Field, and also their training complex. The Eagles claim that they are the first team in the NFL to obtain all of their energy from a sustainable source (and we aren’t talking about Campbell’s Chunky Soup).

“Over 500,000 tons of feces are openly defecated every day to the environment around the world. That’s enough to fill the 30,000-seat Stade de Genève, where the Euro 2008 football tournament kicks off this weekend, three times over. But the global sanitation crisis is not a mere game: it pollutes the very environment upon which humans depend. Providing toilets and protecting the environment would be a winning combination for people and planet”, says the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC).

The above was an opening line from an email communication sent out this week from Geneva, Switzerland by David Trouba, communications officer of WSSCC to mark events around the World Environment Day on 5 June, and the Euro 2008 football tournament.

We are told that each year, more than 200 million tons of human waste go uncollected and untreated around the world, fouling the environment and exposing millions of people to disease and squalor.

And England aren’t even playing

“The lakeside of Zürich will be one big toilet during the month of June“, remarked my colleague as we discussed the forthcoming Euro 2008 football championship - the highlight for many European sport’s fans until the 2010 Football World Cup -  which is being hosted in Switzerland and Austria this year.

Having seen the aftermath last year’s World Cup hosted in Germany, I fully appreciated his warning on the amount of sick, urine and broken glass that is likely to be left in the wake of thousands of high (and sometimes low) spirited fans. Living in the epicentre of this event I’m looking forwards to some aspects of the revelry, although I’ll be closing the shutters on the windows and I’ve increased the insurance on the car should it be turned into a bonfire.

South Africa has hosted major international sporting events in the past, so I do not know why people write negative comments about the 2010 FIFA World Cup to come.

Since South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994, the country has fruitfully hosted major sporting events. For example…

Editor’s note: Football season is almost here, so Lighter Footstep’s Chris Baskind shares some tips for greening your tailgate party before the big game. Originally published on August 24, 2007.

Labor Day Weekend is just around the corner — and with it, the football and tailgating season in the United States.

It’s an annual ritual: head out to the game, break out the barbecue, and enjoy an afternoon with friends and family.

[...]