In an effort never before seen on a global level, top athletes and explorers will join United Nations officials and sustainability expert Jane Poynter (former Biosphere 2crewmember) in an effort to educate and motivate the world community to join in the fight against climate change and environmental degradation. Jane Poynter, who is President of both Paragon Space Development Corporation (a technology firm) and Global Sports Alliance USA, a non-profit dedicated to environmental education and action, has flown experiments into space, sailed the world’s oceans and worked with the World Bank on projects to mitigate climate change. Her new book Champions for Change: Athletes Making a World of Difference was created with the support of the United Nations Department of Public Information and dozens of athletes and explorers who shared their personal experiences in the book that is being launched at the press conference. Proceeds from Champions for Change go to sports and environmental education projects around the world. As shocking examples of global warming, a picture of Lewis Gordon Pugh (world record holder for swimming in the planet’s coldest seas) shows him about to dive off an iceberg to swim across the North Pole, which until recently was frozen over for millennia.
“I’ve seen glaciers retreat up valleys. I’ve swum in places where there used to be glaciers.But the biggest change is the sea ice; every year it’s getting thinner and thinner,” he says. Mike Williams, Alaskan, Iditarod musher, and representative of over 200 Alaskan tribes, (testified before the U.S. congress about his region’s transformation) reports his beloved wilderness has changed since his first race. Insufficient snow has twice moved the race’s starting point northward.
Our fish are running later, the migration of caribou is different, we’re seeing more of our hunters go through the ice because it’s thinner,” said Mike.
These and other riveting firsthand accounts from extreme sports athletes that enter some of the most isolated places on Earth, as well as from more conventional Olympic gold medalists, reveal a deeply connected and quickly changing world. French explorer Anne Quéméré describes the massive garbage patches she traversed as she rowed across the Atlantic, and Cincinnati Reds outfielder Chris Dickerson shares his efforts to rid Baseball of the plastic that washed out to sea and into Quéméré’s path.
Gorgeous full-color photographs take you into the floating villages of Bangladesh,through the living wall holding back the Gobi Desert, and over the rapidly heating metropolises of the United States to explore how global warming is reshaping our world.
Revealing quotes bring you up close to sports legends like Andrea Jaeger and current stars like Jack Johnson and NASCAR driver Brian Vickers, to their hopes and fears for our planet’s future. In-depth profiles showcase athletes and athlete organizations that are actively combating climate change, including the Philadelphia Eagles’ “Go Green” initiative, Natalie Spilger’s Green Laces project, and Conrad Humphreys’ BLUE Project. The book also features a foreword by United Nations Under-Secretary-General Kiyo Akasaka.
It is the hope of all involved in this project that the world community will be made aware of the severity of the consequences of global warming and climate changes.
I just checked out your site after one of your interns contacted me and I see huge potential here. I love what you’re doing–keep it up! I look forward to getting in touch!
And go A’s!