The Best Investment in Women’s Sports – Science

Last week served up a rollercoaster of emotions for the National Women’s Soccer League. Paraphrasing Billy Joel, it was both sadness and euphoria.

Euphoria

On November 9, 2023 Jessica Berman, Commissioner of the NWSL, announced a new high water mark for women’s sports media rights when she inked a deal with CBS, ESPN, Amazon’s Prime Video and Scripps for $240M over four years. High fives across the land.

Nov 11, 2023; San Diego, California, USA; New Jersey/New York Gotham FC defender Ali Krieger (11) celebrates with the championship trophy at Snapdragon Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Amber Searls-USA TODAY Sports

                                                          

Saturday was appointment viewing for fans of women’s sports, women’s soccer, and “football in general” on national television in prime time. The National Women’s Soccer League Championship featured a Hollywood scripted matchup between two titans on either side of the pitch – Megan Rapinoe and Ali Krieger playing their last professional matches.

Sadness

OL Reign’s Megan Rapinoe suffered a non-contact injury just minutes into the NWSL championship game against Gotham FC at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego on Nov. 11, 2023. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP) (ROBYN BECK via Getty Images)

Crushingly, at minute three, Pinoe went down with a non-contact injury she suspected was her Achilles. A heartbreaking end to her career – as she rooted for her team from the sidelines.

While investment and interest in women’s sports is on the rise, investment in women’s sports medicine is still woefully immature. As the financial stakes rise for professional franchises, collegiate programs, and at the incubators of middle and high school sports, protecting female athletes from injuries becomes not only a medical imperative but an economic one as well.

Pesky Hormones

Historically, females whether they were humans, rats or pigs were considered bad research subjects because their physiology included all those pesky hormones which were thought to screw up tidy studies. It was not until 1994, that the NIH mandated a policy that all funded research must include women and minorities in the grant application.

Since then it has been a slog. As athletes have become more talented the injuries, have become more acute. ACL injuries in particular have beset players at all levels; sidelining a stunning 25 footballers from last summer’s World Cup, to robbing top collegiate basketball players like UCONN’s Paige Bueckers of two seasons with two successive ACL tears, to UCLA Health declaring back in 2019 that ACL tears in young female athletes at epidemic levels.

HI Barbie

HOPE

Barbie, there is hope. Female forces are aligning to study female athletes from Gen Alpha to Boomers across the spectrum of female variables and performance. Champion rower, Dr. Kathryn Ackerman, MD, MPH, a sports medicine physician, endocrinologist, and the medical director of the Boston Children’s Hospital Female Athlete Program is also the founder of a biennial conference on Female Sports Medicine. In a recent TEDx talk, Kate outlined seven areas of study she and her colleagues are focused on: Sex and Menstrual Cycle Effects on Performance, Injury Prevention and Recovery, RED-S (relative energy deficiency in sport), Pregnancy and Post-partum, Effects of Menopause, Intersection of Race, Gender, Sexual Orientation, Class, and Ability, and Psychological Resilience. Researchers at institutions like Stamford, John Hopkins, UCLA, and the University of Oregon are in the game as well.

A new book by journalist and athlete Christine Yu, Up To Speed, examines the institutions of sport and science and how the research gap is closing to benefit female athletes at every stage of their athletic journey.

2023 The Year of Women’s Sports

Nebraska’s Harper Murray serves against the Omaha Mavericks in front of a record crowd of 92,003 at Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium.
Steven Branscombe / Getty Images

Yes, Barbie, many have noted 2023 has been the year of women’s sports. Attendance records at women’s sports events across the globe have been smashed. 357,542 fans attended the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championships. Nearly 2M people attended the 64 matches played Down Under at the FIFA Women’s World Cup. The University of Nebraska’s volleyball game against Omaha broke records with a crowd of over 92,000.

Tickets on the secondary market behind home plate for the Women’s College World Series fetched $623.

Livvy Dunne, LSU Gymnast, had the third highest collegiate NIL valuation ($3.2M) behind two dudes with dad’s known by a single appellation #1 Bronny James $6.1M and #2 Shedeur Sanders $4.1M.

The NWSL’s new Bay Area expansion team was purchased for $53M, vs the $2M and $5M the most recent ownership groups paid.  

Coco Gauff’s US Open win delivered 3.4 M viewers on ESPN, up +92% vs the previous year. According to FIFA, the global TV audience for the Women’s World Cup Final was close to 1.5B.

Investing in Female’s Sport Science

Photo by sanjeri/Getty Images

2024 The Year of Record Investment in Female Physiology

According to a 2022 article by Chloe Bird for The Rand Foundation, doubling NIH Funding for women’s health would yield a substantial ROI. As investors flock to the gold rush on the women’s sports frontier, lest they not forget the riches that lie in investing in research to keep their sisters, daughters, mothers, and grandmothers in the game. Pinoe, you are the truest of champions.  Godspeed for a full recovery.

To learn about a female sport science investment, contact me at mhanson@bardolf.org.

 Can Women’s Sports Become as Powerful as the NRA?

On June 23rd women celebrated 50 years of access to playing fields of all vestiges, thanks to the passage of Title IX in 1972.  A day later, their access to reproductive healthcare was dialed back 50 years, when SCOTUS overturned Roe v. Wade. A shocking and cruel setback for women. In this dystopian post-Roe world, where our collective sisters’ uteri are in the clammy hands of state legislators, could gains on the playing field be leveraged to take back our bodies? Can women’s sports become as powerful and influential as the NRA?

50M+ Female Athletes in the US

Since the passage of Title IX over 2.6 million female athletes graduate from colleges and universities each year with girls’ sports feeding that pipeline. NCAA women’s sports have become big business and since 1972, pro leagues like the WTA, the WNBA, the National Women’s Soccer League, and the Premier Hockey Federation, have joined the venerable LPGA in growing their fan base, viewership, sponsors, and investors. Investment in women’s sports has been notable this year with $75M being plowed into the WNBA, and USA Soccer agreeing to equal pay for its men’s and women’s national teams. The momentum of women’s sports continues to be heralded, as women continue to participate in sports well into their Medicare years.

Consider this study released on July 8th from The Sports Consultancy claims women’s sports could be a better long term investment than men’s. And the US women’s athletic apparel market is estimated to rack in over $50B in revenue in this year alone, thanks to the fact this is a 50M+ person market. With that kind of reach, imagine the pressure female athletes, if organized, could exert on state capitols.

20 Current Safe States

The 20 current safe states are Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Minnesota, Illinois, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, California, Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire. The other 30, as of this writing, either ban abortion, will see a full ban in a month, are expected to ban abortion, or are unknown.

Taking Sides

Sports has taken sides in the recent past. When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th, the sports world kicked into high gear to exclude Russia from the international athletic stage. After the Trump-backed rioters stormed the Capitol to protest the results of the 2020 election, the PGA moved the 2022 PGA Championship from Trump’s Bedminster to Southern Hills in Tulsa. And in 2021, MLB moved the All-Star Game from Atlanta to Denver in response to new election rules that made it harder to vote in urban areas.

Voting with Their Feet

Will women’s sports vote with their cleats, skates, and sneakers? According to Louise Radnofsky in her recent WSJ article For Leagues and Athletes, Boycotts Fall out of Favor, the answer is no.

Radnofsky notes the NCAA has a Board of Governors policy that requires championship host sites to demonstrate how they will provide an environment that is safe, healthy, and free of discrimination, in addition to guaranteeing there are safeguards in the place to ensure the dignity of everyone involved. According to Radnofsky, “the NCAA declined to comment on how that might be interpreted in states with strict abortion restrictions.”

Relocating?

The 2023 Women’s Final Four will be hosted in Dallas and the 2023 Women’s College World Series is slated for Florida, both huge events that deliver revenue to local and state coffers. The most profitable women’s league, the WTA, hosts 500 level events in 2023 in Miami (with the ATP), Charleston, SC in addition to events for lower ranked players. The LPGA kicks off its season with three back-to-back events in Florida and arrives at courses later in the season not on the current safe “20”. The WNBA has teams in Atlanta, Dallas, Indiana, and Phoenix.

While relocating an event is obviously less onerous and litigious than moving a team, would investor/owner Larry Gottesdiener and Renee Montgomery, the first WNBA player to co-own her team, consider moving the Atlanta Dream to a city in the safe 20? They set the tone by buying out former anti BLM owner, GOP Senator Kelli Loeffler.

Liar

In September 2021, over 500 athletes including 26 Olympians, 73 professional athletes, 275 intercollegiate athletes, and various athlete organizations submitted an amicus brief in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health asserting that the reproductive rights protected by Roe allowed women to capitalize on opportunities afforded by Title IX.

Immediate Reactions

After the ruling came down, the rapid-fire response from women’s sports came from all corners. Billie Jean King tweeted, “This decision will not end abortion. What it will end is safe and legal access to this vital medical procedure. It is a sad day in the United States.” The four-time champion Seattle Storm tweeted “Now we have come to this: people have won the freedom to buy guns with impunity while women have lost the freedom to decide their own future. Furious and ready to fight.” A statement from the WNBPA called the ruling “out of touch with the country and any sense of human dignity,” adding, “we must vote like our lives depend on it. Because they do.” TOGETHXR, founded by Alex Morgan, Chloe Kim, Simone Manuel, and Sue Bird, tweeted “Disgusted, disappointed, disturbed. But we are not done. We’ll never stop fighting.” And this tepid response from the LPGA.

Flex Your Muscle

On the eve of the third week since Roe was overturned, it is now oddly quiet on the women’s sports front. During last weekend’s WNBA All-Star weekend, Seattle storm forward Breanna Stewart told New York Times reporter Remy Tumin, she expected there to be discussions soon about how to handle events in states where abortion is banned.  “Discussions, soon?” 

In a post Roe world, what is clear is nothing is clear. Girl’s and women’s sports are on the rise while female reproductive freedom has fallen into the murky abyss of legislative horse trading. Intelligent, strategic, and unified organizing, by all bodies representing girl’s and women’s sports is urgent and necessary to flex the muscle bestowed by Title IX. Aim high, shoot straight, and raise cash.

But Still, Like Air, They Rise

An Historic Nomination

Authenticity and character were on full display this past week as Ketanji Brown Jackson and Ashleigh Barty made headlines. Judge Jackson, President’s Biden pick to fill Justice Stephen Breyer’s seat on the Supreme Court, endured over 23 hours of questioning including abusive, hostile, and vile, grandstanding by some GOP members. The chair of the Judiciary Committee, Dick Durbin, (D-IL) characterized the attacks by Lindsay Graham, (R-SC), Josh Hawley, (R-MO) and Ted Cruz, (R-Mexico), among others, as “unfair, unrelenting and beneath the character of the Senate.”  But KBJ prevailed with grace, intelligence, humor, and humility.

Destined for the world stage

World number one Ash Barty, an Indigenous Australian, who recently captured the 2022 Australian Open, in a grueling three set nail-biter – ending a 44-year drought of Aussies winning their own Grand Slam, announced her retirement at the age of 25. She explained during an informal interview with her former doubles partner, Casey Dellacqua, “I don’t have the physical drive, the emotional want and everything it takes to challenge yourself at the very top of the level anymore. I just know I am absolutely spent, physically I have nothing more to give. That for me is success.”

A Strong North Star

Their stories intersect and diverge in unusual ways. At the core of both their narratives is a strong north star with serious women who inspired them. The obvious juxtaposition is a world number one walking away from the court at the pinnacle of her career, while a glass-shattering nominee (twice her age) plays an intense, considered, and strategic match in the US Senate.

Constance Baker Motley

It is the heft of their character that draws parallels. Until her nomination, I was not familiar with Judge Jackson. Watching and listening to her navigate the perilous waters of the Senate confirmation process with measured and respectful intellect, and an abundance of forbearance, for an excruciating length of time, is a reminder why her nomination is not only historic but necessary. Inspired by Constance Baker Motley, a trail blazer in the civil rights movement, she was the first Black woman to serve as a federal judge and won nine of the ten cases she argued before the Supreme Court. In accepting the SCOTUS nomination, Judge Jackson concluded “Today I proudly stand on Judge Motley’s shoulders, sharing not only her birthday, but also her steadfast and courageous commitment to equal justice under the law.”

Evonne Goolagong Cawley

Ash Barty is an athlete who plays without drama. She embodies the Rudyard Kipling quote from his poem IF inscribed above the players entrance to Centre Court at Wimbledon. “If you can meet Triumph and Disaster, and treat those imposters just the same…” As the world’s top player in 2021, the nation had high hopes she would hoist the trophy, and end the drought. But she faltered in a three-set match in the quarters. At her press conference she said, “you are either winning or you are learning, and the sun will come up tomorrow.” This year in the press conference after capturing the Aussie Open title, a reporter asked how it felt to finally end the drought. “I am a small part of an amazing history of tennis in Australia.” Evonne Goolagong Cawley, an Indigenous Australian, and world number one player in the 70’s and 80’s surprised Barty as the trophy presenter. Of Goolagong Cawley, Barty said, “She is an amazing human being, and I am lucky to call her a friend and experience this together.”

As they embark on new paths, I am reminded of the poem Still I Rise by Maya Angelou. The third paragraph speaks to Ash Barty, the sixth to Judge (hopefully Justice) Jackson

“Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still, I’ll rise”

“You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I’ll rise.”

The Allure of the New York Marathon

Living in New York City in the mid 80’s, “Marathon Sunday” was an excuse to barhop down First Avenue, cheering intrepid runners, while sampling bloody mary’s for blocks. It was a celebration like no other, as the city slowly recovered from the crime and chaos of the 70’s.  As one founder, George Hirsch, described it in a recent New York Times piece “it was the best and most inclusive day in the life of the city.” Why is NY still the world’s favorite marathon?

A Bond

The pull of the marathon is gripping, when you witness people of all shapes, sizes, ages, outfits, speeds, form, and delirium – average joes and josies – running through all five boroughs, cheered by an equally diverse crowd of New Yorkers. An extraordinary bond between participants and spectators, a joyous epoxy.

It’s Personal

My marathon moment was 20 years ago in 2001, 54 days after the terrorist attacks. Waiting on the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge for the race to begin, exposed to the heavens, I was not alone in observing we were a colorful ribbon, an exquisite target, despite the stepped-up security.  Once we were off, pounding the pavement from borough to borough, the most profound juxtaposition took place.  Fire companies with their equipment bedecked in flags, cheered us on as we passed their houses. It felt fraudulent to be lauded for running 26.2 miles by these heroes, whose efforts were herculean.  I squared the equation by coming to the mile-by-mile realization that our footsteps were a show of defiance, healing a distraught and devastated city.  

Why is New York the World’s Fave?

In its 50th year, why does New York endure as the world’s favorite marathon? Boston is older and tougher to qualify for (which offers bragging rights).  London is well, London. Who doesn’t want to run by Buckingham Palace? And the Marine Corps Marathon is flat with stunning vistas of DC’s monuments, finishing in Arlington National Cemetery.

People

It is people who make the difference. That was the genius of founder and race director Fred Lebow, an immigrant from Transylvania. The race was as much about running as it was about celebrating New York and all its diversity. No other race attracted as many international runners from a spectrum of countries. He created a big event atmosphere with crowds who flooded the streets to cajole, entertain and motivate the runners.  The runners, in turn, boomeranged the energy back, with boundless appreciation, as they ran from one diverse neighborhood through the next.  Fred understood, palaces and monuments are grand, but the symbiosis of people in New York is electric.  Happy Anniversary – and welcome back.

In Her Own Brand

Allyson Felix celebrates after her second place finish in the women’s 400-meter run with her daughter Camryn at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials Sunday, June 20, 2021, in Eugene, Ore.(AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

On Sunday, Allyson Felix, the most decorated female track and field star in the US, qualified for her fifth Olympics in the 400. Yesterday, she announced she will be donning track spikes made by her new footwear company, Saysh. She will be the first track and field athlete to compete in her own brand. A remarkable, pandemic fueled story.

Phil Knight Out of Step with Women

The story begins in 2018, when Felix was pregnant and negotiating a renewal of her Nike contract, a tricky balance familiar to women in many industries. In early 2019, after baby Camryn was born, Nike offered her 70% less with a huge push to return to peak racing form asap despite a difficult delivery with serious complications.

Telling Her Truth

In a powerful New York Times Op-Ed, she repudiated the deal and castigated Nike for their complicity in an all-too-familiar sports apparel practice of diminished support and compensation for pregnant female athletes. Thanks to her advocacy, and that of fellow former Nike athletes, Alysia Montaño and Kara Goucher, Nike and other brands eventually reversed course and put contractual guarantees in place for 18 months around pregnancy. However, when she initiated conversations with other footwear brands, she could not reach a deal. Then the pandemic hit.

Shrink It and Pink It, NOT

With the Olympics on pause, Felix and her brother, Wes decided to launch their own female footwear brand, Saysh. Initially cautioned by their business advisor not to jump into the saturated market, a deeper dive revealed an underserved female lifestyle market. In an interview with Time, she described the women’s footwear market as “shrink it and pink it.” They raised $3M in seed funding from a broad range of investors. Saysh designed track spikes for Felix’s Olympic quest in Tokyo, giving her ownership of the ultimate brand stage.

I Know My Place

Saysh’s debut generated buzz across a wide swath of pubs including Time, USA Today, Vogue, and Sporting News, among others. She also announced she will donate her winnings from the Olympic Trials, and the Tokyo Games to Right to Play, which increases access to sports in disadvantaged areas around the world.  And she is raising awareness about healthcare inequities facing Black mothers. Athleta, which signed her as their first sponsored athlete, (followed by Simone Biles) will carry Saysh One shoes in the fall.  

Take Up Space

The Saysh marketing campaign, “I Know My Place” sums up her journey in her own words.” Like so many of us, I was told to know my place, that runners have to run. This is a similar experience for many women, who are often shrinking themselves to fit into roles or spaces. This campaign reminds us to take up space. To live our greatness and fight for what we believe in.”

Amen.

Pandemic Lessons for Recycling

In April 2020, as COVID-19 ravaged ER’s and ICU’s, the federal response was dismal and deadly. The national stockpile was under-stocked and international supply chains were broken, leaving states scrambling for supplies, often bidding against each other for PPE and ventilators.   The White House’s misinformation fueled confusion and skepticism. We were living a dystopian nightmare.  Failed leadership gave credence to why a federal, informed, and equitable strategy is mission critical to tackling a national and global crisis.  As we approach the 51st anniversary of Earth Day, here are pandemic lessons for recycling.  

A Federal Approach

Last year many bills were sidelined due to the pandemic. But like many 2021 do-overs, recycling is now well represented on the Hill. Recently, five new bills have been introduced, or reintroduced to tackle various aspects of recycling. According to Megan Quinn and Cole Rosengren in an article published in Waste Dive, “the anticipated bills could dramatically change the way the U.S. handles recycling in the next few years, whether it’s through infrastructure investments, education, product bans, or bottle bills and extended producer responsibility initiatives.” https://www.wastedive.com/news/tracking-the-future-of-us-recycling-policy-in-congress/570778/

A garbage patch off the coast of Hawaii –  Steven Guerrisi/Flickr

Act Before the Crisis Metastasizes

The five bills: Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act, the Clean Future Act, the Plastic Waste Reduction and Recycling Act, (expected to be reintroduced in 2021), the Recover Act, and the Recycle Act, are generating enthusiasm from a pro-environmental White House and new leadership in Congress. Pandemics and environmental crises share a similar Achilles’ heel. They are dismissed, because the prognostication is hard to fathom – until it plays out in real time – which is too late. Scientists acknowledge if the lockdown had occurred even a week earlier and distancing measures had been put into place, 36,000 lives could have been saved in the US. A 2016 report by the Ellen McArthur Foundation estimates, that without a serious course correction, there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050. The New Plastics Economy Global Commitment is that 100% of plastic packaging will be reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2025. 

Equitable Access

During the pandemic, a tapestry of social injustice, rooted in access, was exposed in underserved communities. Access to recycling is an issue as well. According to the 2020 State of Curbside Recycling Report authored by The Recycling Partnership, the nation’s leading recycling think tank, “there is not equal access to recycling as there is to trash, and an estimated $9.8 billion in investment is needed to create a truly robust system” The Recover Act offers up to $500 million in matching federal grants for improvements to curbside collection and other related activities. Hopefully, the upcoming infrastructure bill could address the shortfall.

Ingenuity Helicopter, Mars, NASA

International “Mars-like” Ambitions

International cooperation from researchers, scientists, national health organizations, universities, and governments was unprecedented, and produced efficacious vaccines in record time. Replicating the urgency, funding, and scientific/technological razzle dazzle to create multiple eco-friendly materials as durable and inexpensive as plastic and other packaging materials, in 12-18 months, would be a worthy encore. The breath of human imagination is unlimited, as we were reminded today with the flight of Ingenuity on Mars.

Smokey The Bear Clarity

The divergent messaging between the science-based guidance provided by Drs. Fauci and Birx against the cacophony of untruths, mistruths and half-truths from the administration and its echo-chambers, divided rather than unified the nation, and hamstrung efforts to battle the virus.  We needed a Covid version of Smokey The Bear; iconic, apolitical, science-based, transparent, memorable, and coordinated from hyper local to national – harnessing all media/pr/social resources. Recycling will need its own Smokey The Bear. Three of the five pieces of legislation specifically set aside money for education. There may be as much confusion around recycling as there is around Covid – a result of the disparate approaches taken by cities, towns, and states. Systemic change offers an opportunity to reimagine and rebrand recycling post pandemic.   

Ellen McArthur Foundation

A New Normal

We are not returning to normal. We are taking this moment to reinvent a new normal across our society. The Recycling Partnership has laid the path forward with Recycling 2.0 and the Bridge To Circularity. As Keefe Harrison, Founder, and CEO of TRP explains, “Recycling is and has been the gateway for a circular economy worldview to take hold in our society.” In the circular economy, materials are intentionally designed to create something new, taking pollution and waste out of the equation.   Harrison explains, “the shift to the circular economy is underway, and should be amplified. The public is calling for public-private solutions to address the climate crisis and a critical component of that work is overhauling the way we manufacture goods. It’s an economic shift that could pay back environmental dividends for generations to come. It is also doable. We can commit to this better way of doing things.”

America, the land of…. Friluftslivers?

The pandemic taught us the vital nature of nature. Fresh air and green spaces – those naturally majestic or inventively urban, became critical to our national mental health and physical well-being.  Our new appreciation for the outdoors offers an inflection point. Scandinavians embrace a tradition called friluftsliv (pronounced free loofts liv) literally translated, free air life. Nineteenth century Norwegian playwright and poet Henrik Ibsen is credited for coining the term, which has evolved from a full immersion in nature, to spending quality time outdoors. Does friluftsliv explain why Scandinavians are happier, healthier, and greener? Could Americans become happier, healthier and greener as friluftslivers? Lets look at the numbers.

Happiest Nations….

The UN World Happiness Report, a survey of 156 countries and cities, initiated in 2011 invited nations to consider happiness and well-being as a measure of social and economic development. In 2020, Scandinavian countries once again dominated with Denmark ranked 2nd, Norway, 5th, Sweden 7th with Finland three-peating at #1. The US ranked 18th, its worst showing yet. While Nordic exceptionalism is explained by a virtuous cycle of high trust, and generous social welfare benefits. Environment was added as a function of happiness.    “Activities that are typically undertaken outdoors and in nature have the largest effects. Walking or hiking predicts an increase of two percentage points in happiness, while gardening, nature watching, and sporting activities each add on between four and seven points. Finally, simply being outside has a positive association of its own, on top of the environmental interaction effects mentioned above: outdoor responses are just over 1.5 percentage points happier than indoor ones.”

Healthiest Nations….

The Bloomberg Global Health Index ranks the 169 healthiest/unhealthiest economies by a multiplicity of factors including pollution, life expectancy, clean water, obesity, access to good health care and others on a 100-point scale. The 2020 rankings found Spain at the top (92.75) despite their penchant for late nights, and good wine. This is a country of walkers (40%) who enjoy a Mediterranean diet. Sweden came in 6th (90.24), Norway 9th (90.09) and Finland 14th (85.89). The US was 35th (73.02) primarily due to obesity. For countries in the top 10, outdoor exercise was more popular than indoor gyms.

The Greenest Nations…

The Environmental Performance Index “provides a quantitative basis for comparing, analyzing, and understanding environmental performance for 180 countries.”  In 2020, on a scale of 100, Denmark was first with an EPI of 82.5, Finland 7th, 78.9, Sweden 8th, 78.7 and Norway 9th 77.7.  The US was 24th 69.3.

How do we move (literally) from outdoor toe-dippers to full-fledged friluftslivers?

Shelton Johnson, from Detroit, Michigan

Make Parks More Inclusive

Ensure our parks are welcoming to all.  Recognize people of color have legitimate concerns and feel neither welcome, or safe. That extends to women and people from the LGBTQ community Recruit and promote diverse candidates at all levels into the National Park Service and other conservation, park-based, and outdoor organizations to bring representation, perspective, and newcomers to the outdoor experience.  

In a powerful article for National Geographic,  https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/national-parks/more-diversity-how-to-make-national-parks-anti-racist/  journalist and author James Edward Mills  recounts how prior to the end of WWII, Jim Crow segregation was in full force in the National Park Service parks, campgrounds and picnic areas.  Black Americans, wishing to hike or camp, encountered, “For Whites Only” signs in theses sanctuaries preserved with federal tax dollars.   In 1945 Interior Secretary Harold Ickes issued a mandate desegregating all national parks, but change was glacial, and Black and brown Americans never felt welcome or frankly safe.

Mills acknowledges times are changing. “People of color across the U.S. are empowering themselves and others to become outdoor enthusiasts.”  Numerous organizations like Outdoor Afro, Latino Outdoors, and Venture Outdoors are among the many groups welcoming folks to experience joy in the natural world.

Historic Pick

US Representative Debra Haaland, (D-New Mexico)
Biden Nominee for Secretary of the Interior

Tomorrow, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will vet President Biden’s nominee to head the Department of the Interior.  If confirmed, New Mexico Representative Debra Haaland, would be the first Native American to lead a cabinet agency, a huge step forward.  DOI oversees the National Park Service as well as tribal affairs and energy.  

Turning Industrial Ruins into Imaginative Green Spaces

The High Line, NYC

Expand access to parks. Over 100 million people do not have easy access to green space according to The Trust for Public Land.  TPL embarked on an ambitious initiative to work with cities and towns to create a park within a 10-minute walk of every citizen.  Since the program’s inception in 2017, over 200 US mayors have taken the 10-minute walk pledge for their cities.  Allocating funding and creating public/private initiatives have turned  brownfields and industrial ruins into lush parks across the country improving quality of life and increasing economic prosperity.  

Just 120 minutes a week

Scientists in the journal Nature report spending just 120 minutes a week in nature improves good health and well-being.  Yet employees cite work as the biggest obstacle to getting fresh air. In Scandinavia, friluftsliv policies give employers tax breaks for creating opportunities for people to get outside. Whether WFH or frontline employees, rewarding outdoor exercise makes good business sense.

Start Early

Continue to add outdoor, conservation and environmental education into K-12 curriculums. Dr. Nicole Ardin, Stanford University Graduate School of Education and Woods Institute for the Environment, and her colleagues reviewed over 119 studies over 20 years to determine the impact of environmental education.  They concluded it goes deeper than the knowledge. It positively impacts academic achievement, critical thinking, civic engagement, and personal growth. One teacher explained, before using the environment-based approach, she heard, “Why are we learning this? When are we going to finish? Now when we are out in the field and sorting macro-invertebrates, I have to make them stop after four hours for lunch.

Yosemite National Park, California,

Build on the investment momentum of  The Great American Outdoors Act, passed last summer, which provides  billions of dollars to national parks and public lands for overdue maintenance and ongoing conservation work including a  guarantee that the $900 million dollar Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) be codified to park spending.

In an article for The Atlantic, a diverse group of outdoor executives created a road map for change including economic accessibility. Their strategies included investments in subsidized or free transportation for low-income families, more affordable housing options, and free admission for first timers.

Friluftsliv, America’s NEXT Best Idea

A more friluftsliv-centered approach to living is attainable and necessary. Who would have predicted, it would take a global pandemic to awake us to the wonders and benefits of Mother Nature?  Importing friluftsliv is America’s NEXT best idea.

The Vax Arrived! Who Will Take It?

Margaret Keenan, 90, was given the first shot

Today, Margaret Keenan, 90, became the first person in the UK to receive Pfizer/BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine as Britain kicks off the global effort to fight COVID-19.  The FDA is expected to issue an emergency approval this week. Developed by US and German researchers, British and European regulators were able to move more quickly with approvals, because they rely on the Pfizer’s findings, while American regulators validate the results independently. The latter approach may have a secondary benefit when marketing the vaccine, as trust is paramount to a successful roll-out. How do we convince the nation to take the vaccine?

1 in 5 US Adults Do Not Intend to Get Vaccinated

In a Pew Research Poll released last week, 60% of Americans said they would “definitely” or “probably” get a vaccine. This is an improvement over skepticism earlier in the fall, over a rushed vaccine.  In September, Pew Research found only 50% of Americans surveyed said they would get the treatment.  Clearly the trial results from the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna full, late stage data showing a 95% effective rate resonated with the public.

A lab technician sorts blood samples for a Covid-19 vaccination study

Herd Immunity

As the virus continues to wreak havoc across the US, especially in the West and Midwest, “Covid-19 Dismissers” may be inching towards an acknowledgement of the science. According to Infectious Disease Expert Michael Osterholm, we will reach herd immunity when 60% of the population is immune. https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/want-herd-immunity-pay-people-to-take-the-vaccine/

With trial vaccines proving to be over 90% effective, that means about 70% of the US population (60 percent divided by 90%) must be vaccinated.  

Give Each Community Agency

As we manage the roll-out, work from the inside out, to give each community agency.  

Black adults are the most skeptical about the vaccine, and for good cause. In 1932, the federally run Tuskegee syphilis study of Black men, ostensibly slated for six months, lasted forty years, and allowed Black men to die of untreated syphilis, creating a lasting fall-out of trust.

A White House nurse prepares to administer the H1N1 vaccine to President Barack Obama at the White House on Sunday, Dec. 20, 2009. (Official White House photo by Pete Souza)

Former President Barack Obama said he would publicly take the vaccine. An article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-vaccine-athletes-sports-early-11607215654 suggested athletes like LeBron James could also provide shade for the vaccine in the Black community. However, the Elvis lesson is still relevant. The Black community is not a monolithic group. Different approaches will resonate with different sectors. Combine trusted sources, with indisputable facts, along with compelling grassroots story-telling and community-based initiatives.  

Address Anti-Vaxxers with Respect and Facts

Another  headwind comes from anti-vaxxers who distrust government vaccines outright, and the vaccine hesitant, who are unconvinced the R & D is sound, and concerned about greedy pharma, like Perdue and the Sackler family, who fueled the opioid crisis, which cost the lives of over 500,000 people, many of them young.   

It is important not to marginalize them. Behavioral studies suggest Americans tend to be more interested in their personal security than in the collective good. Further, a study at Arizona State University in 2015, found the group exposed to vivid anecdotes about the ravages of a disease were more likely to change their attitudes towards vaccines. Social media will be an important distribution platform to reach this community, as their movement has been fueled online. Tech firms Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube need to remove posts and add warning labels to anti-vaccination posts containing clearly harmful information, while redirecting users to reliable sites.  

Join The Resistance

The rallying cry in the UK today was Join The Resistance. Here in the US, the Ad Council is mounting a $50 million campaign to convince Americans to get vaccinated. These are the folks who brought iconic national campaigns like Rosie the Riveter, Smokey the Bear, Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk, and more. However, Americans in 2020 have never been more skeptical, less trusting, and more difficult to reach. The approach of the Ad Council and others must be coordinated, layered, nuanced, and targeted – with underpinnings that are powerful, authentic, fact-based, and community endorsed.   To convince the nation to take the vaccine, will be the most important public service campaign of our time. All hands on deck.

Ruth Meet Gayle

This past week we lost two giants in their respective worlds, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Chicago Bears Hall of Famer, Gayle Sayers. Imagine if they met in heaven.

Chief Justice John Roberts, in a powerful eulogy, described his longtime colleague, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as “tough, brave, a fighter, a winner, but also thoughtful, careful, compassionate, and honest. When it came to opera, insightful, passionate. When it came to sports, clueless.” Gayle may kindle her connection to sports. Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Gayle Sayers have much in common.

Exceptional Talent

The Kansas Comet meet the Notorious RBG. In 1966, when Sayers transformed the position of running back from “bruiser” to “poetry in motion,” with an effortless combination of speed and guile, Ginsburg was blazing a trail as one of 19 female law professors in the country, after struggling to find work – despite graduating #1 from her Columbia Law School class.  

Unlikely Friendships

Sayers and Brian Piccolo, a taxi squad running back, were one of the first interracial roommates in the NFL. While they possessed opposite personalities – Sayers, soft spoken, except on matters of social justice, and Piccolo, a carefree, garrulous jokester, they forged an unlikely, but deep friendship – immortalized in the heart-wrenching movie “Brian’s Song”, based on Sayers book, I Am Third.

Justice Ginsburg’s renowned friendship with the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was equally as unlikely. Ideological opposites, they disagreed on everything from same-sex marriage to gun rights, Ginsburg was soft-spoken and thoughtful, interpreting the Constitution as a “living” document, while Scalia was brash and burly, believing in a narrow, strict interpretation. Away from the bench however, they bonded over wine, opera, and travel, as evidenced in this iconic photo in Rajasthan, India from 1994.

Moral Activism

While Ginsburg’s legacy is expansive, especially as it relates to the quotidian aspects of women’s lives, Sayers used his football acclaim to start and fund Chicago-based youth initiatives.  They both shared a deep faith, hers Judaism, and his Christianity.

If Chief Justice Roberts were to eulogize Gayle Sayers, the exact words he chose for Justice Ginsburg would resonate for #40, “tough, brave, a fighter, a winner, but also thoughtful, careful, compassionate, and honest.”

During his playing days, Gayle Sayers famously said, “give me 18” of daylight – that is all I need,” He will only need 10” of light to spot a diminutive angel wearing a lace jabot, and perhaps humming Nora Jones’ American Anthem, which RBG friend and opera star, Denyce Graves, sang today as her casket historically lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda.

What shall be our legacy?
What will our children say?
Let them say of me
I was one who believed
In sharing the blessings
I received
Let me know in my heart
When my days are through
America
America
I gave my best to you

Thank You, NBA!

Who does not have anecdotal evidence about the Covid-19 testing failures? It is an immediate Zoom cocktail party conversation starter. This week, we learned hope abounds, or perhaps “rebounds” with the announcement that SalivaDirect’s COVID-19 test received emergency FDA approval. The test, developed in partnership between the NBA and Yale University’s school of public health, has been used in the NBA’s Orlando bubble since mid-July. The NBA and NBA Players Association donated over $500,000 to trial this new COVID test.  The test is cheaper ($10 vs $150), less invasive, (spit vs nasal proctology) and faster (30 minutes vs my 13 day wait). According to FORBES MAGAZINE, “what makes this test unique is that you don’t have to take an extra step to separate the genetic material or nucleic acid from the sample. Therefore, to perform the test, labs don’t need special nucleic acid extraction kits, which have been, surprise, surprise, in short supply during the pandemic.”

Hailed as a game-changer, Nathan Grubaugh, an Assistant Professor at the Yale School of Public Health, remarked to Fierce Biotech “if cheap alternatives like SalivaDirect can be implemented across the country, we may finally get a handle on this pandemic, even before a vaccine.” https://www.fiercebiotech.com/medtech/fda-green-lights-game-changing-covid-19-saliva-test-used-by-nba

This breakthrough is even more remarkable because neither Yale, nor the NBA intend to profit from the protocol. Imagine a $500,000 investment and the ROI could be safer in-school learning, and greater peace of mind for teachers, parents, and students. Or a lifeline for small businesses trying to navigate their retail shops or restaurants through these unchartered waters. Or more reassurance for healthcare workers and essential workers bracing for the dreaded next wave.

During the pandemic, while MLB bickered over money, the NBA took this extraordinary step to protect its players, its staff and now, perhaps the rest of the country. Adam Silver and NBA players, we are profoundly grateful for your leadership and investment. Yale scientists, we are humbled by your brilliance and munificence.  Thank you.  Give everyone a star and a cookie.