Berea College
IN-27: Innovation D

In Kentucky, basketball is taken extremely seriously. Between the University of Kentucky (UK), and the University of Louisville (UofL) consistently being two of the top basketball teams in the country – Kentuckians take pride and avidly follow all things related to college basketball. To leverage this passion in the pursuit of sustainability, in 2015 Berea College hosted its first carbon neutral basketball game against one of its chief rival Alice Lloyd College. This represented only the 2nd carbon neutral college basketball game ever played in the country and the first for Kentucky. This game was marketed and had over 500 attendees – as opposed to the normal Berea College basketball games which draws around 50. At the game, the college took the opportunity to educate the students about carbon neutrality and to explain that the game was being offset by trees that would be planted in the spring. These 24 planted trees were calculated to absorb the entire games worth of carbon – including the travel of the opposing team - in their first year. Meaning that these trees would continue to sequester a Berea College basketball game’s worth of carbon every year going forward. In addition to these trees, and the excitement the game and tree planting ceremony generated, Berea College hired an outside consultant to develop a carbon calculator specifically for the event. This calculator was branded for Berea college and could be utilized going forward to calculate the carbon associated with similar types of sporting events. Berea College made this calculator free to use and other colleges have utilized it throughout Kentucky to plan, calculate and host their own carbon neutral sporting events since. This basketball game was so successful, the Berea College hosts the event each February – along with the additional trees being planted to offset each game. This event is a perfect example of how a school can take a traditionally non-sustainable activity and make it sustainable and fun educational event.