By Dan Bacher<\/p>\n
In mid-February, a dedicated crew of Kings fans associated with Third Act Sacramento braved torrential rain to protest the team\u2019s sponsorship by Shell and AM\/PM. In doing so, they joined conservationists in nine other cities simultaneously demonstrating against professional sports teams being sponsored by Big Oil and banks that finance large fossil fuel projects. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Fossil fuel companies have long used partnerships with trusted institutions like sports teams to influence the way fans perceive them, according to veteran climate advocates. This is sometimes called \u201csportswashing\u201d \u2013 a play on the term greenwashing. Critics say the tactic is intended to lull fans into forgetting that fossil fuels are\u00a0 causing deadly air pollution and the climate change experts say is contributing to catastrophic\u00a0 wildfires, floods and extreme weather events, including last year\u2019s devastating Los Angeles infernos.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are asking the Kings\u2019 owner and executives to immediately end the team\u2019s sponsorship deals with Shell, one of the world\u2019s largest oil companies, and AM\/PM\u201d said Sally Richman, a Third Act Sacramento advocate.<\/p>\n
The demonstration happened in front of Golden 1 Center during a cold, pouring rain.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur region has suffered\u00a0 devastating wildfires in recent years,\u201d Richman went on. \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t pretend that fossil fuel companies are our buddies when they are causing the climate change that worsens these disasters.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sign that protestor Pat Ferris was holding read \u201cDon\u2019t Spoil the Beam with Dirty Oil.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Kings\u2019 management also received and open letter from Third Act Sacramento arguing that their relationship with Big Oil outfits tend to \u201ccreate positive associations that are undeserved.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Kings did not respond to a request for comment by press time.<\/p>\n
February\u2019s national sportswashing protest was an expansion of a movement called Dodger Fans Against Fossil Fuels, which was started by Sierra Club members in Southern California after Phillips 66 sponsored that ball club. \u00a0<\/p>\n
As the demonstration was happening at Golden 1 Center, similar protest events were being held at Dodgers Stadium, San Francisco\u2019s Oracle Park and other competition venues around the country. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Bill McKibben, an author, environmentalist and co-founder of Third Act\/350.org, weighed in on the nationwide campaign against sportswashing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe\u00a0 greatest threat to sports in the years ahead is the rapid rise in temperature, which\u00a0 increasingly makes it too hot and stormy to play,\u201d McKibben argued. \u201cSo, you might say it\u2019s an error for those\u00a0 who enjoy \u2013 and profit from \u2013 sports, to be collaborating with the industry doing the most to\u00a0 overheat the planet.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Dan Bacher In mid-February, a dedicated crew of Kings fans associated with Third Act Sacramento braved torrential…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":200558,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122,93172,93173],"class_list":{"0":"post-200557","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sacramento","8":"tag-sacramento","9":"tag-sacramento-headlines","10":"tag-sacramento-news","11":"tag-the-sacramento-kings","12":"tag-third-act-sacramento"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}