2010 Deutsche Bank Championship - A PR Case Study

I've seen quite a few articles describing the green efforts at this weekends PGA events at TPC Boston. Although I was impressed to see the following initiatives on the events website (even though some of them have nothing to do with golf) I couldn't help but notice they left out a number of accomplishments and initiatives that should have  been the main focus.

Is Golf Unethical?

A recent New York Times article by acclaimed writer Andy Cohen, previously from Late Night with David Letterman, asks the question "Is Golf Unethical"? This unfortunately is not a comedic sketch, Cohen claims the IOC should evaluate golf's "questionable environmental ethics" when considering the sport for the 2016 games. I can't help to think this question is becoming out dated. Okay, I agree with getting rid of the golf courses in Venezuela so people have a place to live. Restricting water use in countries that are in severe drought should be an obvious conclusion that golf's governing bodies should be pushing harder than some international tournaments, but of course that goes for all industries who rely on non-renewable resources.


Canada's golf industry is showing many benefits, NAGA recently released the first ever Canadian Golf Economic Impact Study which claims golf generates $11.3 Billion in economic benefits. Within this report is a small factoid claiming Canada's golf courses provide over 200,000 hectares of green space, bigger than the Island of Maui! If this were all maintained turfgrass it would sequester approximately 395,368,610 Tons of Carbon per year, nearly the equivalent of all of Australia's native Bush vegetation! But it's not all maintained, the study showed that 41,000 Hectares of the land is actually managed as wildlife habitat, the equivalent to over 120 Central Parks! These meadows, wetlands and woodlands help sequester more carbon per acre than maintained turfgrass. I fail to see what is unethical about a land use stratgey that does all this, while making billions. I will say yes, we can improve the use of our natural resources, everybody can and everybody has to in order to accommodate a growing population, but i think it's time golf gets the credit it deserves.

From the New York Times article:
Although not explicitly mentioned by Chávez or the I.O.C., golf entails questionable environmental ethics. Unesco warns of the lamentable consequences of building golf courses to attract international tourists: “An average golf course in a tropical country such as Thailand needs 1500 kg. of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides per year and uses as much water as 60,000 rural villagers.” Some courses have become more frugal with water, and a team of British scientists argues in “The Biologist” that “many golf courses actively promote nature conservation and harbour some of our rarest plant and animal species.” But it is hard to believe that the best-designed nature preserve includes 18 putting greens, or that even the most sophisticated golf course is better for the environment than no golf course at all. These considerations are putatively important to the Olympic Movement, which declares its intent “to encourage and support a responsible concern for environmental issues, to promote sustainable development in sport.”

Find the whole article here.

EcoAid Helps Make Golf Even Greener!

After learning of the Frys.com Open, late October in Scotsdale Arizona, making the commitment to become "Carbon Neutral" I had to learn more. I'll be speaking with tournament director Scott Reid soon about the motivations behind this project, but first I want to provide some background information on Carbon Offsetting. For this I went to Baron Bruno of EcoAid, the Arizona based company that was chosen to oversee the Frys.com project. But before we dive into what Carbon Offsetting is, first lets look at EcoAid.


EcoAid promotes corporate and personal social responsibility by developing sustainability plans and green doctrines for companies to help them implement more eco-friendly business practices to lessen their carbon emissions/footprint. This helps them to run more efficiently and save money. EcoAid then helps these businesses to become fully carbon neutral by offsetting the company’s remaining carbon emissions not lessened though 'reduce, reuse and recycle' efforts by offering certified and verified carbon offsets that support a wide range of environmental projects like clean energy, reforestation and gas capture.

So what is all this Carbon stuff anyways? For that we go to Brendan Cook, Sustainability Director at EcoAid who'll be coordinating the Frys.com Open project.

Climate Change. Carbon Credits. Cap & Trade. Carbon Footprint. Greenhouse Gas. Confused? Don't be! There are a lot of buzzwords flying around lately when it comes to the science and business of Climate Change. In order to clear things up, here's a brief explanation about what it means to be Carbon Neutral. To determine your “carbon footprint” means to measure the amount of greenhouse gases that are being added to the atmosphere.

The term was coined from carbon dioxide, The primary human contributor to climate change. Other Greenhouse Gases include Methane and Nitrous Oxide. CO2 is a Greenhouse Gas which means it traps solar heat in our atmosphere 'changing' our climate's typical patterns. Whenever you use energy created from fossil fuels, you're generating carbon emissions. To offset your carbon emissions, or become Carbon Neutral, simply means to neutralize your part in the polluting of our environment.

Since carbon dioxide emissions are the principal human cause of climate change, carbon offsets are the key to promoting a greener environment. A carbon offset represents the carbon dioxide emissions accounted for in a certified project. EcoAid's goal is to show that environmental activism is smart, proactive and part of a good business model. That’s why we are addressing Climate Change from all angles and actively offsetting the Carbon footprint for the Frys.com Open in October.

Interested in learning more? To determine your own carbon footprint and how you can shrink it, visit the EcoAid Carbon Calculator at www.ecoaidnow.com.