Environment, media and culture.
NASCAR racing to save our planet?
Like any good American child I spent countless hours watching sports in front of the television along side my father. While we often watched football, hockey and Americas favorite baseball it was always a given that half our Sunday’s were dedicated to watching fast cars burn circles around a track and as I would later learn burn holes in our Ozone. NASCAR isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when we think about the environment, in fact its often brought up in very unflattering light if at all in the debate over climate change and conservation. As a media literate person (hopefully) I tend to see the silver lining in this story.
NASCAR recently announced their switch from leaded gas (the standard since the sports founding in 1948) to eco friendly corn based ethanol fuel with their sponsored partnership with ethanol producer Sunoco. Sunoco is a fuel company started in Ohio that originally catered to the nations demand for natural gas and petroleum based fuels, which as we have come to understand are a leading force in global climate change and ozone depletion. With stations in twenty-six US cities the company is one of the nations largest fuel distribution companies with nearly five thousand stations nation wide. It would seem that NASCAR’s partnership with the company and its move towards a cleaner and more sustainable fuel source would be perceived as a truly positive move for the sport but like any issue there is inevitably two sides and NASCAR is meeting its fair share of resistance and criticism for their new greener approach to stock car racing.
NASCAR is being chastised for their move to more earth friendly fuel on the basis of the move being too little to late and a half-hearted attempt at eco-friendliness. The initiative to switch to ethanol is being received as nothing more than Green washing or to be more accurate a way for an environmentally harmful sport to save face in the midst of a sweeping mentality change on the topic of climate change. Mathew Kahn a guest blogger from the Christian Science Monitor (CSM) as well as current professor of Economics at UCLA wrote in his article NASCAR goes green: will fans fallow suit on Sept. 13th, 2011, “there hasn't been convincing research studying the "contagion" effect of environmentalism.” Kahn seems to be under the impression that NASCAR has little to no concern for the topic of climate change and is only making these improvements in a public relations effort to minimize NASCARS negative environmental image.
Kahn is not alone when it comes to taking sides on NASCAR’s new fuel partner and recycling effort. In an article posted on Triple Pundit by co founding CEO of Eco-Libris (a company aimed at greening up the printing and publishing industry) Raz Godelnik titled NASCAR goes green: A job well done or a lipstick on a pig” Raz took what I believe was a much more fair look into NASCAR’s new eco improvements. The article points out NASCAR’s additional steps towards a greener sporting event that were mentioned in the original article in the New York times (gentlemen start conserving) by Ken Belson. Both of these articles mentioned NASCAR’s steps with Coors and Cocoa cola to beef up recycling efforts at races as well as fuel waste, car parts and metal/oil waste recycling as new additions to the sport.
Another con is the long-term effects of racing or powering anything needing fuel on corn based ethanol fuel for an extended period of time. Ethanol production can in fact be very detrimental to the environment and when produced incorrectly can actually do my harm to the environment than good. As reported in The Economist in 2009 titled Ethanol tanks: The pros and cons of biofuels the production of corn based ethanol differs from its cousin sugar can based ethanol (which produces a net loss of harmful emission) in that when produced incorrectly ethanol burns less efficiently and more harmfully than gasoline fossil based fuels. Additionally the article went on to confirm the negative effect of clearing land in forest regions to plant corn for biofuel production, yet another environmentally damaging aspect to the production of the fuel.
While the Indy open wheel racing league has already been racing on sugar cane based ethanol world wide (produced in Brazil) with no ill effect American corn based ethanol seems to lag behind in cleanliness, harm to the environment and cost on taxpayers not to mention its effect on the world food markets and production. While the demand for ethanol fuel grows with the worlds rising population it is my hope that a solution can be found to produce enough sugar cane based ethanol to meet demand or that corn based ethanol can be refined into a safer more long-term solution. All damage aside NASCAR should be praised for taking steps to green up a dirty sport as well as stimulate the US economy by providing new jobs and a demand in new technology and industry.
We must remember that NASCAR like all professional sports is largely a for profit business aimed at making a profit while providing a sporting spectacle to its 75 million fans worldwide. But making a profit shouldn’t detract from the positive progress the sport is making for the environment and climate change awareness
. Large corporations serve as examples for the rest of the world. As an advertising major I understand the leadership and outreach that large corporations actions have. While auto racing is still largely unsustainable due to its fans propensity for driving large gas guzzling RV’s, trucks across the nation to fallow races as well as the fact that ethanol production drives food prices up and takes away land for food production to meet the fuel demand it isn’t all bad. People are learning to care about climate change from the example companies like Sunoco and NASCAR. Fans will come to positively associate climate change with their favorite sport. They may recycle more or convert to driving on ethanol like their favorite drivers.
Yes the improvements may not be long term solutions to the daunting problem of climate change but their positive first steps to change a sport, an industry and promote awareness and concern for our changing world. At the end of the day I’m glad NASCAR is making the improvements it is to racing and the world. Any step towards slowing the damage of automobiles on the environment should be praised for the attention it will bring to the topic as well as the habits it will inspire and reinforce among its fan base.
So I give a big thumbs up to the good old boys in NASCAR and say with hopeful optimism “gentlemen start your engines” the race to stop climate change has just begun and I for one am glad to have NASCAR on the right track.
For more interactive information check out this video on NASCARS switch of fuels and some of the problems arising in the switch to cleaner fuel.
Sources
The New York Times: Gentlemen start conserving – Ken Belson
Triple Pundit: NASCAR goes green: a job well done or lipstick on a pig? – Raz Godelnik
The Christian Science Monitor: NASCAR goes green: will fan fallow suit? – Mathew Kahn
The Economist: Ethanol tanks: the pros and cons of biofuels – no author listed (just that it was printed in (London and Nairobi)
VIDEO – Youtube
- Energy Now News – NASCAR goes green: corn fueled race cars
As a person who had no interest in Nascar or anything relating to Nascar this post gave me a new perspective on the Nascar industry itself. I applaud the nascar industry for taking the initiative to make their enterprise a more environmentally friendly system by using an ethanol based system of gasoline . I really appreciate your insight as well as the youtube video provided on this issue. But I have a few concerns with this matter. You mentioned that Nascar and other businesses like Nascar are the leaders of the world. As a leader of the world does nascar and other entities alike have a social responsibility to ensure that ethanol based cars are used by the mass populace? To avoid the claims that the sole purpose of this switch was just for a green advertising campaign I would think that the people of nascar would promote this switch in a more than a publicity matter. Furthermore how does nascar address the issue that the lower grade of gas burned the dirtier the emissions are to the environment ? In 10 years will Nascar be able to stand by this decision or will it regret the switch because it seemed to be the most green option of the time? I know very little about this issue but these are some of the things I would like to see addressed. It would be wonderful for me to believe that nascar is trying to trickle down the message of being environmentally friendly with this switch but as currently being one of the most hazardous sports for the environment I have a hard time believing that this is more than just an attempt for positive publicity in an age where going green seems to be the more hip option for industries. I appreciate this post for grabbing my attention to this issue.
ReplyDeleteWhether or not this switch will be positive ten years from now only time will tell. Obviously Nascar is gaining economically from the switch as well as gaining positive brand association. I do believe NASCAR has a social responsibility as a world leader and think they are finally making moves in the right direction whether they stay the course will be the real test for the sport. glad you enjoyed the video.
ReplyDeleteBeing someone that has never watched NASCAR, (unless you count the Pixar Cars version, if that is NASCAR...) I had no idea the cars ran on leaded gas in the first place, or that they were working to fix their outputs. I think that the articles you cited have some good info and it sounds like there are two sides to this fix on what type of fuel to put in the cars. Why is it that they aren't using the sugar cane based ethonol in all the cars? That seems like a pretty good idea to me. And as you pointed out, the idea of the jobs being created and the environment being saved, that is a win win situation for sure.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I sat along side my dad and watched Drag Racing as a youngster, do you know what kind of fuel they use to run those cars?
Well done!
-Lynia Paylor
Dragsters primarily use leaded gas or alcohol which is unstable and pro to explosion causing countless deaths. Not the best future for that fuel source. My father actually drag raced until I was born, ill have to ask him how he'd feel about a sugar cane Ethanol dragster, probably not good unless its american ethanol.
ReplyDelete