Talk:Allen Hershkowitz/Archive 1

Archive 1

copypaste

This article appears to have been largely copy-pasted from http://www.motherearthnews.com/allen-hershkowitz.aspx --Epeefleche (talk) 06:34, 5 May 2011 (UTC)

Request edit

Hello, I would like to update this article with the text below. Please let me know if anything needs to be changed. Thank you!

Dr. Allen Hershkowitz is a Founding Director of Sport and Sustainability International (https://www.greenbiz.com/article/what-does-trumps-paris-pull-out-mean-green-sports), a non-profit organization that leverages the cultural and market influence of sports to promote healthy, sustainable and just communities, aligning itself with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. (http://sandsi.org/#/about_us).

Dr. Hershkowitz is also the co-founder and former president of the Green Sports Alliance, a nonprofit bringing together U.S. sports teams, leagues and venues to integrate environmental stewardship throughout their strategic design and operations (http://www.athleticbusiness.com/industry-press-room/green-sports-alliance-president-allen-hershkowitz-to-retire.html). Previously, Dr. Hershkowitz served as a Senior Scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council for 26 years, from 1988 to 2014 (https://www.nrdc.org/stories/greening-playing-fields).

Referred to as the "The Godfather of Greening" for his environmental work in the sports industry (http://www.documentshare.org/natural-and-physical-sciences/the-godfather-of-greening/ Yoga + Joyful Living, Fall 2009, “The Godfather of Greening,” By Anna Dubrovsky), Dr. Hershkowitz was listed as one of the "50 Most Influential People in Sports Business" in the December 2015 Sports Business Journal (http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2015/12/07/Most-Influential/Intro.aspx) and as one of “The 60 Most Powerful People In Sports” in the March 2016 Worth magazine (http://www.worth.com/sports60/).

Career Dr. Hershkowitz joined the NRDC senior staff in 1988 (http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/07/allen-hershkowitz-green-sports), focusing on organizational initiatives including sustainable development, recycling, forestry, paper industry impacts, mountaintop coal mining, waste incineration, and medical wastes. While at NRDC, Dr. Hershkowitz was the director of the Sports and Entertainment Greening Project, the Solid Waste Project and the Paper Industry Project (https://www.nrdc.org/stories/greening-playing-fields). His work on the Sports Greening Project in 2012 earned the Beyond Sport “Sport and the Environment Award” at a pre-Olympics event in London. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQv1Nds9ZB4&feature=youtube_gdata, @1:25)

Dr. Hershkowitz is also the co-founder of the Broadway Green Alliance (http://stage-directions.com/news/30-industry-news/5770-broadway-green-alliance-launches-theatre-greening-advisor-and-greener-lighting-guide.html), where he currently serves on the Steering Committee of the “Broadway Goes Green” initiative (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/allen-hershkowitz). He helped lead the greening of Warner Music Group (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/allen-hershkowitz). He is also the environmental advisor to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Oscars telecast and launched the greening of the GRAMMY Awards (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2011/02/stepping-out-onto-the-100-post-consumer-waste-recycled-red-carpet.html). Dr. Hershkowitz designed the greening of the 2007 - 2013 Academy Awards (https://www.nrdc.org/stories/greening-playing-fields), and the 50th, 51st and 52nd GRAMMY Awards (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2011/02/stepping-out-onto-the-100-post-consumer-waste-recycled-red-carpet.html).

Dr. Hershkowitz is the environmental advisor to many professional sports leagues, including the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League, NASCAR, the USTA, Major League Baseball, and many individual professional teams (https://www.nrdc.org/stories/greening-playing-fields). Dr. Hershkowitz helped establish environmental programs for Major League Baseball (http://m.mlb.com/news/article/2616746), the National Basketball Association (http://www.nba.com/official/nba_tips_off_nba_green_week_20_2010_04_01.html), the U.S. Tennis Association (http://web.archive.org/web/20110722145031/www.reuse.li/reuse-long-island-blog-long-island-state-of-mind-material-reuse-building-deconstruction-construction-recycling/?Tag=usta), the National Hockey League (https://www.nhl.com/news/mike-richter-goes-green-with-nhl-panel-at-fenway/c-512477) and Major League Soccer (https://www.nrdc.org/stories/greening-playing-fields). This work involved coordinating supply chain management with the head of league operations and the commissioners of MLB, the NBA, the USTA and the NHL and supplying environmental information resources specific for each of these professional sports leagues. This work earned him the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2008 Environmental Merit Award (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/allen-hershkowitz). Dr. Hershkowitz also served on the 2011 NCAA Final Four Sustainability Committee (https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/ncaafinalfoursustainability.pdf).

The 21st United Nations Climate Conference of Parties (COP21) In December 2015 Dr. Hershkowitz co-directed and curated two summits at the United Nations’ COP 21 climate negotiations in Paris: the Sustainable Innovation in Sport summit held at the Stade de France and the Solutions COP platform held at the Grand Palais (https://greensportsblog.com/2015/11/20/the-paris-tragedy-cop21-and-the-sustainable-innovation-in-sport-symposium/; http://greensportsalliance.org/tag/blog/page/2/). Representatives from the international sports industry, including the NFL, NHL, Roland Garros, and UEFA, made presentations on their efforts to address climate change. These summits marked the first time the sports industry participated in a United Nations Climate Conference of Parties, underscoring the urgency with which the $1.3 trillion global sports industry, among the world’s most influential economic and cultural sectors, views the urgent threat of climate change (http://www.sportspromedia.com/magazine_features/sustainable_innovation_in_sport).

The Vatican “Sports At the Service of Humanity” Conference In October 2016 Dr. Hershkowitz was the only environmental scientist invited to present at the “Sports At the Service of Humanity” conference, which was hosted by Pope Frances at the Vatican. The meeting convened faith and sports leaders from around the world to discuss how sports can promote peace, inclusion and environmental stewardship (https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2016/10/06/pope-tells-sports-summit-integrity-matters-victory/).

Corporate and Governmental Advisory Work Dr. Hershkowitz has served as an environmental advisor to corporations such as Delos, DuPont, Disney, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Hugo Neu and Sims Metal Management in their sustainability initiatives. His international public policy work includes protecting ecologically compromised areas in Belize (https://www.nrdc.org/media/2001/010410-0), fragile Appalachian ecosystems threatened by mountaintop removal coal mining, the boreal forest (http://web.archive.org/web/20101009233703/http://livinggreenmag.com/archives/climate_nature/toilet_paper.html) and other ecologically threatened areas. Dr. Hershkowitz led negotiations in NRDC’s 2006 forestry protection settlement with Bowater Paper Company (http://www.whartonmilan12.com/milan12/StaffDetailsac83.html?Id=1306), which led to protection of the Cumberland Plateau region. He founded “Testing the Waters,” NRDC’s annual documentation of beach closures (https://www.nrdc.org/experts/sarah-chasis/20-years-protecting-nations-beaches). In 1989 Dr. Hershkowitz was a delegate to the United Nations Treaty Convention on the Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes, where he worked to prevent the dumping by first world nations of hazardous wastes into less developed countries. Dr. Hershkowitz regularly advises government, NGO and corporate officials in the U.S., Europe, Central America and Japan and testifies frequently before government agencies, House and Senate Congressional committees, and state and local agencies (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/allen-hershkowitz).

Teaching Dr. Hershkowitz served as Distinguished Visiting Faculty in Sustainability Management in the 2014-2015 academic year at the Presidio Graduate School, where he taught an MBA-level course on Sustainability and Sports (http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/07/allen-hershkowitz-green-sports/). He has lectured at universities throughout the U.S. and Europe, including the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, Yale University Graduate School of Organization and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan Business School, Columbia University Graduate School of Business, Haas Business School at Berkeley, Duke University Law School, University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Economics, Princeton University, the University of London, New York University, Tufts University Filene Center for Environmental Science, AISTS, and many other universities.

Affiliations Hershkowitz served as a member of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Science Advisory Board Subcommittee on Sludge Incineration (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/allen-hershkowitz). Other appointments include the Principal Contractor for the United States Congressional Office of Technology Assessment's Report to Congress on Municipal Solid Waste Management (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/allen-hershkowitz).

Personal Life Dr. Hershkowitz grew up in Brooklyn and currently resides in Waccabuc, New York. He is married to Dale Clearwater. He has three children, Dylan, Lea, and Connor.

Publications

• Champions of Game Day Food: Professional Sports Venues Help Advance More Sustainable Food Systems (New York: NRDC, 2015)

• Lessons from the Field: New York Yankees Path to LED (Place: Portland, OR, Green Sports Alliance, Date: July 2015) http://greensportsalliance.org/resources/LessonsFromTheField-LEDYankeesCaseStudy.pdf

• Lessons from the Field: Seattle Mariners Path to LED (Place: Portland, OR Green Sports Alliance, Date: March 2015) http://greensportsalliance.org/resources/LessonsFromTheField-LEDMarinersCaseStudy.pdf

• Guide to Composting at Sports Venues (New York: NRDC, 2014). http://greensportsalliance.org/resources/NRDC%20sports-venue-composting-guide.pdf

• Collegiate Game Changers: How Campus Sport is Going Green (New York: NRDC, 2013) https://www.nrdc.org/resources/collegiate-game-changers-how-campus-sport-going-green

• Solar Electric Guide For Your Stadium Arena (New York: NRDC, 2013)

• Game Changer: How the Sports Industry is Saving the Environment (New York: NRDC, 2012) https://www.nrdc.org/media/2012/120905-0

• Trash Landings: How Airports Can Clean Up Their Recycling Programs (New York: NRDC, 2006) https://www.nrdc.org/resources/trash-landings-how-airlines-and-airports-can-clean-their-recycling-programs

• Bronx Ecology: A Blueprint for a New Environmentalism, Island Press, 2002, ISBN 9781559638647

• Allen Hershkowitz (2011), "Life is God's Masterpiece", in J. Henry Fair, The Day After Tomorrow: Images of Our Earth in Crisis, powerHouse Books, ISBN 9781576875605

• Waste Incineration & Public Health (Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 2002)

• Too Good to Throw Away: Recycling's Proven Record, (New York: NRDC, 1997) http://infohouse.p2ric.org/ref/33/32477.htm

• “Testing The Waters” beach closure report (New York: NRDC, 1991)

• Garbage: Practices, Problems and Remedies (New York: INFORM, 1988)

• Garbage Management in Japan (New York: INFORM, 1987)

Garbage Burning: Lessons from Europe (New York: INFORM, 1986)

This edit request was originally made on the Talk page of Davidbmuller, in this diff, and was moved here by Alex Shih in this diff. Jytdog (talk) 17:42, 24 August 2017 (UTC)

--— Preceding unsigned comment added by Davidbmuller (talk • contribs) 17:32, 23 August 2017 (UTC)

Thanks for posting a request to amend the article, instead of directly editing. I have declined this for two main reasons. First, would you please format the citations? We strongly discourage bare URLs per WP:BAREURL. There is a really, really easy way to format them using an automated tool available in the menus above the editing window. See User:Jytdog/How#Formatting_citations for a very brief description.

Secondly, many of these sources are poor. We strongly prefer independent sources (not written by the person or the organization they work for) in high quality publications. Think "New York Times" or books published by quality publishers. So before you spend time formatting the citations, please rethink the content above.

If you want to revise this, here is what you should do:

1. look for independent sources that comply with WP:MEDRS for anything related to health, and WP:RS for everything else, that give serious discussion to the topic, not just passing mentions. Start with great sources. Think New York Times not "some blog" and not the company website, and think New England Journal of Medicine, not Biology and Medicine. (The latter is published by OMICS Publishing Group which is the most often discussed predatory publisher . Be aware that predatory publishers exist, and don't use articles in journals they publish; you can check publishers at Beall's list.) Also beware of churnalism sources that look like they independent but are lightly edited press releases. Once you have seen a few of these they are very easy to spot.
2. Read the sources you found, and identify the main and minor themes to guide you with regard to WP:WEIGHT - be wary of distortions in weight due to WP:RECENTISM
3. Be mindful of the manual of style in all things (WP:MOS) but also go look at manual of style guideline created by the relevant WikiProject, to guide the sectioning and other subject-specific style matters (you can look at articles on similar topics but be ginger b/c WP has lots of bad content) - create an outline. (For example, for biographies, the relevant project is WP:WikiProject Biography)
4. Start writing the body, based only on what is in the sources you have, and provide an inline citation for each sentence as you go. Set up the References section and click "preview" plenty as you go, so you can see how it is going.
5. Make sure you write in neutral language. The most rigorous way to do this is to use no adjectives at your first go-round (!) and add them back only as needed. Also write simply, in plain English. Not informally, but simply. Try to write so that anybody with a decent education can understand.
6. When you are done, write the lead and add infobox, external links, categories, etc (for external links, please be sure to follow WP:ELNO - we only do one "personal" external link, so don't include their own website and their facebook page and their twitter feed etc. Just one.)
7. The completed work should have nothing unsourced (because the sources drove everything you wrote, not prior knowledge or personal experiences); there should be no original research nor WP:PROMO in it.

Also it is way better to offer small chunks of text a bit at a time, instead of a huge dollop like this. I set up a "sandbox" in your userspace, at User:Davidbmuller/sandbox, where you can work on stuff. Jytdog (talk) 18:11, 24 August 2017 (UTC)

Requested edit 2

Hello, I would like to update/clarify the section in this article on the Green Sports Alliance with the text below. Please let me know if anything needs to be changed. Thank you!

The Green Sports Alliance got started in the late 2000s by major league sports teams and venues in the Pacific Northwest, with material and logistical support from the NRDC, with Hershkowitz leading the effort. Team and venue representatives, along with environmental experts including Hershkowitz, met informally to discuss how to improve their sustainability initiatives. The Green Sports Alliance formally launched in the spring of 2011. In 2014 Hershkowitz left the NRDC and became president of the GSA.

References

--— Preceding unsigned comment added by Davidbmuller (talk • contribs) 19:25, 28 August 2017 {UTC (UTC)}

The content you propose about H's involvement is unsupported by the two sources cited. Zero support.

I actually spent a lot of time looking for indpendent sources talking about the origin of the GSA and I cited the best two I could find - the mother jones piece and the Athletic Business piece.

Please see your talk page. Jytdog (talk) 19:44, 28 August 2017 (UTC)

Requested edit 3

This article is currently inaccurate in saying that the Green Sports Alliance got started by team owners. The founding members were all represented by members of the teams' venue operations groups, and owners were not involved beyond granting approval. It also omits the NRDC's role (Hershkowitz, specifically) in convening the people and contributing foundational funding for the organization to get off the ground. This is what the 'About' section of the Green Sports Alliance's website reads: 'The Green Sports Alliance was conceived and founded by the Seattle Seahawks, Portland Trail Blazers, Seattle Sounders FC, Seattle Mariners, Seattle Storm, Vancouver Canucks and the Natural Resources Defense Council' (http://greensportsalliance.org/about/). Here are a couple of other reputable sources supporting the edit I am requesting: https://www.forbes.com/sites/csr/2011/03/24/the-green-league-csr-hits-pro-sports/#1110d9a51e42; https://www.greenbiz.com/news/2011/07/14/red-sox-chiefs-among-20-pro-teams-joining-green-sports-alliance; http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20110321&content_id=17053284&vkey=pr_sea&fext=.jsp&c_id=sea Davidbmuller (talk) 21:51, 28 August 2017 (UTC)

I would also like to add the following publications to the list in this article:

Bronx Ecology: Blueprint for a New Environmentalism, published by Island Press in 2002, and reviewed by the New York Times.

"How Garbage Could Meet its Maker", The Atlantic Monthly, June 1993, pp. 108-109.

References

Davidbmuller (talk) 22:27, 28 August 2017 (UTC)

What you wrote above it a mess. Please provide a concise, well-formatted, neutrally worded proposal for consideration. Please use independent reliable sources. If you don't understand what "independent, reliable sources" are, please ask. Thanks. Jytdog (talk) 22:37, 28 August 2017 (UTC)

I will add here again that i spent a bunch of time looking into the actual origins of the GSA. It ~appears~ that it started in informal discussions among teams in the pacific northwest. There is this sense in the content that has been in this article and proposed for it, that some people want to claim that Hershkowitz was something like the Sole Driving Force for greening of sports, but if you read sources it was clear that this arose from a lot of places. it is very clear that Hershkowitz was a leader in all that, and maybe the most important one, but trying to put him at the roots of every movement toward greening is a bit... much. Please actually read the two sources used currently - they do not give NDRC nor Herkowitz credit for the very beginnings of the GSA - the informal discussions. Both of those pieces are remarkable for a) discussing both Hershkowitz/NDRC and the GSA; b) saying that that GSA originated in informal discussions; c) being from around the time that GSA came into being (so this is not retrospect but people talking about what was actually happening)

We can maybe say that NDRC was a founding member when the organization formalized in 2011. That is well-supported I think. Jytdog (talk) 22:51, 28 August 2017 (UTC)

The Fast Company piece also says "..the GSA is the 2009 brainchild of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and representatives from Vulcan, Paul Allen’s Seattle-based company. (Allen owns the Trail Blazers and the Seahawks and is a co-owner of the Sounders.)" It is unclear if this is separate from the informal meetings among management, along side it, or what. This is kind of murky. And I am being careful with it, because the sources are unclear and there is promotional pressure here. Jytdog (talk) 23:06, 28 August 2017 (UTC)

Thanks for your help. All I am really trying to clarify here is that the NRDC convened, or at the very least participated in, those original discussions that led to the formation of the GSA. That is reported in all the sources I cited above. Hershkowitz, who "ran the Sports Greening Initiative at the NRDC" (as reported currently in the article), was the principal actor from NRDC in these discussions. It is inaccurate to report that representatives of these teams came together solely of their own accord, and that they formed the Green Sports Alliance without involvement from independent environmental experts. The NRDC/Hershkowitz played this role, as reported by various sources. Davidbmuller (talk) 23:15, 28 August 2017 (UTC)

How's this?:

The Green Sports Alliance got started in the late 2000s by professional sports teams and venues in the Pacific Northwest, as well as the NRDC Sports Greening Initiative, which was led by Hershkowitz. Team representatives and environmental experts including Hershkowitz met informally to discuss how to improve their sustainability initiatives.[1][2] The Green Sports Alliance formally launched in the spring of 2011.[3] In 2014 Hershkowitz left the NRDC and became president of the GSA.[4] Davidbmuller (talk) 23:21, 28 August 2017 (UTC)

That is not supported by the sources we have.

Above you just wrote: "It is inaccurate to report that representatives of these teams came together solely of their own accord," but this is exactly what the Mother Jones and Athletic Business sources say. I have no idea on what basis you are claiming the current content is "inaccurate" -- and I ask you to think about that basis very hard in light of Wikipedia's policies and guidelines with respect to content, which I remind you again, you are obligated to follow. But please, describe your actual basis for making this claim. Jytdog (talk) 23:28, 28 August 2017 (UTC)

Below are a number of reliable sources corroborating my edit. Credit for conceiving/launching the Green Sports Alliance should also clearly include Vulcan Inc. Here is another attempt at the edit:

"The Green Sports Alliance got started in the late 2000s by professional sports teams and venues in the Pacific Northwest, the brainchild of the NRDC and Vulcan Inc. Team representatives and environmental experts met informally to discuss how to improve their sustainability initiatives. The Green Sports Alliance formally launched in the spring of 2011. In 2014 Hershkowitz left the NRDC and became president of the GSA."

-Fast Company:

"The GSA came from good stock. Its founding members are from across the sporting spectrum: MLB’s Seattle Mariners, the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers, the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks, the WNBA’s Seattle Storm, and MLS’s Seattle Sounders. If that lineup of franchises betrays a geographic bias, it’s partly because the GSA is headquartered in ultra-green Portland, Oregon. The other reasons that the GSA is the 2009 brainchild of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and representatives from Vulcan, Paul Allen’s Seattle-based company. (Allen owns the Trail Blazers and the Seahawks and is a co-owner of the Sounders.)"

-UPENN:

"In 2010, Hershkowitz and the NRDC conceived of and co-founded the Green Sports Alliance with Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen’s Vulcan Inc. The Alliance is a nonprofit organization with a mission to help sports teams, venues and leagues enhance their environmental performance. Inaugural Alliance members besides NRDC included the Portland Trail Blazers, Seattle Seahawks, Seattle Sounders FC, Seattle Mariners, Seattle Storm and the Vancouver Canucks."

-Sustainable Brands:

"The idea of forming an inter-league alliance focused on environmental stewardship was originally conceived and initiated by representatives of Paul G. Allen's sports teams and the Natural Resources Defense Council in the fall of 2009. Mr. Allen owns the Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trail Blazers and is co-owner of the Seattle Sounders FC."

-GreenBiz:

"In development for about 18 months, the alliance grew from a concept that originated with the NRDC and representatives of sport teams owned by Paul G. Allen"

-Earth Times:

"The Green Sports Alliance is the brainchild of representatives of the Seattle Seahawks, the Portland Trail Blazers, the Seattle Storm and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)."

-NRDC:

"Riding on that momentum, Hershkowitz met in Seattle with staff members from the Seattle Seahawks, the Seattle Sounders, and the Portland Trail Blazers. The three pro teams, all owned by Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, were already making individual efforts to recycle, reduce waste, and work with eco-friendly vendors, says Justin Zeulner, former sustainability director for the Trail Blazers. "We realized that, working together, we could be a lot stronger and scale up our initiatives more than we'd been doing alone," Zeulner says. Having NRDC's support was critical, he adds. "It helped connect us with research about environmental best practices, so we could articulate what it meant and what the benefits would be. Without that leverage, I don't know if our vision would have gotten off the ground."

During that meeting in Seattle, NRDC and Allen's holding company, Vulcan Inc., formed the nonprofit Green Sports Alliance, or GSA. In 2014, Hershkowitz and Zeulner left their jobs at NRDC and the Trail Blazers to serve as president and chief operating officer, respectively, of the GSA, which has turned out to be one of the most influential collaborations of the environmental movement."

From Inventor Spot: "Northwestern sports teams have joined forces to launch the fist ever "Green Sports Alliance." Teams from the MLB, NFL, NHL, NBA, WNBA, and MLS (Major League Soccer, that is) are collaborating on a common goal: reduce their carbon footprints. Publicly endorsed by league commissioners and EPA administrator, Lisa Jackson, the GSA is the 2009 brainchild of the National Resources Defense Council along with representatives of Paul G. Allen's sports teams."

Huffpost: "The GSA was conceived of and initiated by NRDC and representatives of Paul G. Allen’s sports teams in the fall of 2009."

References

Davidbmuller (talk) 16:37, 29 August 2017 (UTC)

One of your sources above says " The three pro teams, all owned by Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, were already making individual efforts to recycle, reduce waste, and work with eco-friendly vendors".

I am not contesting, at all, that formaliation of the GSA involved Hershkowtiz and the NDRC. I will add that, which I should have done earlier. Jytdog (talk) 03:40, 30 August 2017 (UTC)

Requested Edit 4

"In December 2016 the Sports and Sustainability Initiative was formally launched;" --> Should read: "In December 2016, Sport and Sustainability International (SandSI) was formally launched;" ; Davidbmuller (talk) 17:03, 30 August 2017 (UTC)

fixed. Jytdog (talk) 00:40, 31 August 2017 (UTC)