Champions of Change book launch
Global Sports Alliance USA in collaboration with the UN DPI
launched on Wednesday 4 November the book Champions
of Change at the UN Headquarter in New York. The book brings together 38
athletes and explorers sharing their own experience with climate change. Eric
Falt from UN DPI led the press conference, which was opened with an address
from the USG for Communication and Public Information, Kiyo Akasaka.
The author, Jane Poynter, most famous for the Biosphere 2 project, were present together with five of the athletes - cyclist and Tour de France champion Greg LeMond, US soccer star Natalie Spilger, ultra distance swimmer Marcos Díaz, ocean rower Anne Quéméré and baseball player Chris Dickerson. Each of the contributors highlighted close encounters with human-induced impacts on the environment; Marcos Díaz described his surprise when needing to wear a cooling cap for the first time ever in a race in Florida, whereas Anna Quéméré conveyed her shock when she mid-Atlantic rowed into a mile-long garbage patch of plastic bags. Lastly, each athlete received a UNEP Seal the Deal recognition sculpture by Mr. Akasaka, and subsequently stamped and signed the Seal the Deal petition.
About some of the contributors
Marcos Díazwas born in the Dominican Republic and started swimming at the age of 6 as a recommendation from his medical doctor to treat asthma. Almost three decades later he has participated in swimming competitions worldwide, mostly in long-distance races. He swam twice around the Island of Manhattan of New York in 2007, spending 22 hours on the 96-kilometer distance. In 2004 he started the Marcos Díaz Foundation (Fundación Marcos Díaz), an initiative to the benefit of children and youths of limited economic resources of the Dominican Republic.
Turning to global environmental awareness, Diaz is planning a new initiative next year. Quoting from his webpage: “In the summer of 2010, one man will swim across all continents raising the voices of the world to show that, after all, we are not that far apart…To inspire us to view all countries as one, to stand up and act, to make a difference and demand real changes to humanity”.The initiative was launched at a press conference at the UN on 29 October 2009. Diaz emphasizes it is“his responsibility as an athlete, as a Dominican and as a person to help eradicate extreme poverty around the world”, and stresses the initiative comes at the right time since 2010 is a crucial year for the Millennium Development Goals, with only five years left to 2015. Right after finishing the last stageof the inter-continental swim in August 2010 - from Asia to Europe - Diaz will swim during the week of the September 2010 Millennium Development Summit being held at the United Nations in New York, from the Hudson River to the East River. The idea is to finish at the front of the United Nations Headquarter to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Millennium Development Goals.
NathaliaBentz
– Project Director
Cell: +1 809
293 5557
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Other relevant links:
http://www.un.org/News/briefings/docs/2009/091029_Sports.doc.htm
http://www.marcosdiaz.net/app/do/intro.aspx
www.swimacrossthecontinents.com
Anne Quéméré from Brittany, France, is still the only woman to
have rowed solo and without assistance across the Atlantic Ocean both ways. She
completed these feats by rowing the Trade Winds route in 2002 and then the
Northern route in 2004. During the summer of 2006, Anne Quéméré succeeded a yet
unseen method of crossing the Atlantic Ocean. She set out from New York,
heading to Ouessant (France), again sailing solo and without assistance on a
distance of 4000 nautical miles, relying on the Oceankite, a five meter
prototype propelled by a kite. This was a World's first.In an attempt to cross
the Pacific Ocean in 2008, she had to abandon her kite sailer after getting
stuck in the Intertropical Convergence Zone, which is know for its calm winds.
Contact information:
Cell: +33
(0)2 98 53 13 60
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Relevant links:
http://www.anne-quemere.com/
http://www.theblueproject.org/188
Natalie Spilgeris a professional soccer player with the Chicago Red Stars, and founder of Green Laces, a non-profit that seeks to activate the global athletic community to improve our planet.
Relevant links:
http://www.greenlaces.org/promise/Home.html
Jane Poynter was a crewmember of Biosphere 2, the
self-sustaining mini-world where 8 people were sealed for two years. She is
currently the President of a firm that develops technologies for extreme
environments, and President of Global Sports Alliance ASA, a non-profit that
promotes environmental education and action through sports.
Relevant links:
http://www.janepoynter.com/
*Image courtersy of http://www.marcosdiaz.net/
