Sustainability Spotlight: 2025 VoLo Climate Correction Conference
Sustainability leaders from across the US attended the 7th Annual VoLo Climate Correction Conference in Orlando, FL.
Leaders in Action
The rising intensity of climate change is an existential issue we as leaders in the golf industry must continue to address, prioritizing actions that break silos and build resilience across the vast network of golf industry stakeholders.
As sustainability continues to weave its way into and throughout the golf industry, it is vital sustainability leaders like myself seek community with other sustainability professionals to learn about trending issues, new solutions, and digested data to improve our preparedness and adaptability for the coming years.
2025 VoLo Climate Correction Conference (7th Annual)
On a recent trip to my home state of Florida, I attended the 7th annual Climate Correction Conference hosted by the VoLo Foundation, a private family organization based in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. The VoLo Foundation, which has been making an impact across Florida and the US for over 10 years, has a mission to accelerate change and global impact by supporting science-based climate solutions, enhancing education, and improving health.
The two-day conference featured a multitude of activities designed to strengthen the sustainability community through panel discussions and presentations, personalized breakout sessions and hands-on workshops, partner exhibitions, and even an art contest. I left the conference with a renewed sense of purpose and enthusiasm to continue my work and efforts to reimagine the golf industry as a leader in climate action. What follows are my own opinions and observations from the conference and how I think the golf industry can learn from or activate the material presented at the conference.
About the VoLo Foundation:
The VoLo Foundation, the brainchild of founders Thais Lopez Vogel and David Vogel, was formed in 2014 and envisions a planet where all beings are ensured access to a sustainable and clean environment, health services, and education. Thais and David have maintained a personal philanthropic portfolio mostly consisting of public health and education programs. As evidence of climate change became more apparent, the call to action to fund projects aimed at finding solutions to improve climate change education and address climate-related public health issues emerged as their way to positively impact their communities.
Here is a snapshot of some of VoLo’s 2024 impacts:
VoLo awarded more than $13 million in grants across 97 projects in 2024 and have awarded $63 million since 2014.
Two-thirds of the 2024 grants supported climate change awareness, research, adaptation, and mitigation with the other third focusing on health, humanitarian efforts, and community building.
Their website is a repository of climate education, research, and best management practices and I would encourage anyone interested to explore their content library for ideas and inspiration for your own sustainability projects and initiatives.
Driving the Green Takes - 7th Annual Climate Correction Conference:
Take #1 - Media plays a crucial role in discussing climate change and weakening the stigma associated with climate change. Whether it is through the daily weather report from your local news affiliate, an article from a regional or national journalist, or a blockbuster movie like ‘The Day After Tomorrow’, the media and journalistic community has a responsibility to accurately translate and report scientific data to the public. The more we as a society talk about the hard to talk about subjects, the easier it is for us to build awareness of issues like climate change and develop the necessary solutions that address the impacts of climate change across all facets of our social constructs.
How does this translate to the golf industry? With the PGA TOUR aired on broadcast TV almost every weekend of the year, there are ample opportunities to create compelling stories of triumph and resilience in almost every market where the TOUR hosts their events. The PGA of America and the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) disseminate information and current events through regular communication with their members and featured stories based on scientific facts supporting the evidence of a warming climate, the negative impacts of plastic waste, and importance of improving biodiversity and aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems could have a profound effect on educating the frontline workers of the golf industry.
Educating the next generations about climate change is vital to the meeting demands of a rapidly changing world.
Take #2 - Educating youth will have a profoundly positive effect on mitigating the effects of climate change. The more we teach students about climate change, the more prepared they will be to create solutions that will impact their specific communities and the more prepared they will be to acquire and fill the number of jobs that require green industry skills.
How does this translate to the golf industry? Programs like the GCSAA’s First Green are great ways to regularly introduce students to golf courses as living laboratories and spaces where the impacts of climate change can be addressed. The First Green program is a science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) environmental outreach program where students participate in outdoor learning stations on wildlife habitat, soil science, environmental sustainability, water quality, and career exploration.
Take #3 - To maintain climate change policy momentum in the US, we must change the tools and tactics at our disposal. In the new social climate fraught with political polarization, we must utilize new tools and tactics, like cross-agency collaboration and data democratization and dissemination, necessary to maintain climate change policy momentum.
How does this translate to the golf industry? When it comes to sustainability, golf is a very siloed industry with each of the governing bodies and associations mostly staying in their own lane serving their specific stakeholder groups. However, no single golf entity or association is immune from climate change so the need for collaboration and the sharing of best practices is needed now more than ever. Because climate change reporting, documenting, and story-telling is so reliant on scientific fact, the industry must continue to invest in academic and scientific research to show the impact climate change is having on the golf industry and the leaders of the game must come together to create solutions that preserve the game of golf for generations to come.
Whether it be through advocating for climate policy adoption, educating future generations on the impacts of climate change, or reporting on stories of climate resilience, mitigation successes, problem-solving ingenuity, or community development, it is up to us to act now and act swiftly.
