Ahead of Earth Day this Monday, we sat down with Cincinnati Reds pitcher Brent Suter, who said the environment is everything to him.
When Suter was a sophomore in high school, his mom brought home a copy of "An Inconvenient Truth," a 2006 documentary about climate change narrated by former Vice President Al Gore.
"(I) did some research. Turned out it was all true and really scary. From that point on, it was on my heart to do something about it," Suter said.
Now, as an established Major League Baseball pitcher, Suter uses his platform to advocate for the environment by sparking conversations and taking action.
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One of the organizations Suter has partnered with is La Soupe, a Cincinnati organization that rescues food set to be wasted and uses it to make soup and meals to be distributed around the city for people who need it.
Suter said he is also working with Sam Hubbard Organization, which gives cupboards, along with food and medical supplies, to schools that need it. But he is doing so with an environmental spin.
"We're gonna try to get a cupboard into a school that has a rooftop garden and try to implement that garden into the cupboard," Suter said.
MLB
Yet, on a day-to-day level, Suter said he tries to bring awareness to the environment with his own personal habits. Many ballplayers Suter is around on a daily basis notice the things he is doing and that sparks a window for Suter to talk about his cause.
"So, I noticed I have this Tupperware, and I always use Yetis or reusable bottles. But I have this Tupperware that I take everywhere that we don't have reusable dishware. I eat out of it and it sparks a lot of good conversations," Suter said. "Guys are really curious about it, 'Like what are you doing there?'"
Suter is also a part of an organization called EcoAthletes, which draws attention to and helps athletes organize their work for the environment with the hopes of recruiting more athletes to the cause.
As for what Suter would like to see change in MLB?
"I would love to see more reusable containers being sold," Suter said. "I love people drinking, having a good time at ballparks, but I would love to have some type of reusable, like a refillable drink station at ballparks rather than like the single cup of beer, single cup of soda."
Suter's final pitch to people is to look at being an environmentalist as being an "everything-ist."
"Because I care about the environment, I care about you, I care about me, I care about your kids, I care about animals, plants," Suter said. "Our economy and our man-made systems are all subject to and at the mercy of the environment and our planet. So, environmentalists would really be called an everything-ist."
