Thursday, April 23, 2015

Make every day Earth Day

Wednesday marked the 45th annual celebration of Earth Day and Twitter feeds and Facebook pages were buzzing with facts about golf and the environment. You would almost wonder how anyone could not understand the relationship between the two.

In my home state of Oregon, the Golf Alliance of Oregon (GAO) just completed their second economic impact study through the Stanford Research Institute. The numbers look good for just coming out of the recession. The GAO decided that in addition to hosting an “Oregon Golf Day” reception, they would request that Governor Kate Brown declares the month of May as Oregon Golf Month. Since I am on the GAO committee, I was able to help craft the recommended declaration. Of course, I felt that an environmental statement was imperative.

The following proclamation is what was officially declared by the governor:


The GAO couldn't have been more excited when we received the proclamation, then I took a closer look and noticed something missing. The one statement that superintendents are most passionate about and a statement that I took care to include in the proposal, for some reason, was not included by the governor's office in the official declaration:

WHEREAS: Golf courses are responsible users of green space, providing wildlife habitat, a filter for runoff and a cooling effect on developed areas

I had extracted the statement directly from the WE ARE GOLF's "Benefits of Golf" card. It was obvious that the environmental statement was left off because someone in the governor's office felt that the statement was somehow too political and not factual. Some of the members of the GAO even felt the same way. Only after providing evidence of research that backed the statement was I able to convince the other members of the GAO to understand the truth of the statement.

This story should only reinforce the need for GCSAA members to be proactive in communicating the environmental benefits of golf, not only to our lawmakers, but to our own allies as well. Many allied associations understand golf's positive environmental impact, but not all do. Just on the heels of Earth Day, we should ask ourselves what have we done lately to promote golf's environmental benefits.

Many of us are now looking toward social media to convey the message. If you blog or tweet about the great things you are doing, keep it up. I don't believe we can all rest on the good work of others. We all need to step up and treat every day like Earth Day to keep the positive message moving.

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