In Burlington, Vermont, a scrappy amateur soccer team is drawing crowds and taking climate action one game at a time.
Cara Buckley reports for The New York Times.
In short:
- The Vermont Green Football Club blends sports and sustainability, offering recycled uniforms, vegan food trucks, and compost bins at every game.
- The team’s climate-first mission includes donations to environmental groups, low-carbon operations, and partnerships with brands like Ben & Jerry’s and Seventh Generation.
- Players and fans alike are embracing the team’s ethos, from biking to games to rethinking personal habits — and even free vegan ice cream.
Key quote:
“It infuses everyone’s awareness in a way that’s much more joyful, much more connected, much more community oriented. When people experience climate action and environmental focus in that way, they see that joy can be a part of the work.”
— Eli Scheer, Vermont Green fan
Why this matters:
This semi-pro team has quickly become a cult favorite not just for its play, but for its unapologetically bold mission: to use the beautiful game to champion environmental justice. As extreme weather intensifies and air quality declines, Vermont Green offers a playbook for climate action that’s local, joyful, and infectious. It shows how sports — often carbon-heavy enterprises — can flip the script and become platforms for public engagement, behavior change, and community resilience. For fans disillusioned with corporate sports greenwashing, it's climate action in cleats.
