The Ball hits the road again…
On March 5th 2023 Vietnam became the first stop of the second part of our journey to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in New Zealand and Australia. Spirit of Football’s team of four ball-carriers are aware of our carbon footprint and therefore we are trying to travel as much as possible by train or bus and limit flying whenever possible. Even if it sometimes takes more than 20 hours on a train or a bus to get to the next destination.
Vietnam Schedule
Hanoi: 5.3. – 11.3.2023
Hue: 12.3. – 15.3.2023
Hoi An: 16.3 – 18.3.2023
Saigon: 19.3.2023
Climate talking points from the Cool Down Network
Freddie Daley, from our network partner Cool Down – the sport for climate action network has been helping The Ball crew prepare for each country they will visit by providing them with climate facts and information. Here is a story written by Freddie about solar power in Vietnam. It is full of facts and figures and shows how Vietnam is world-leading in their deployment of solar energy and creating the right policy mix to encourage its growth.
Freddie provided us with talking points for Vietnam:
- The country is extremely vulnerable to extreme weather – it’s one of the top five most vulnerable countries to climate change (droughts, floods, landslides, typhoons etc.).
- Ask the members of your workshop about how they are preparing for these continued impacts would be fruitful. The Global Climate Risk Index 2020 ranked Vietnam as the sixth country in the world most affected by climate variability and extreme weather events over the period 1999-2018.
- Most of the industry, as well as population, in Vietnam is along the coast. Rising sea-levels are a big threat to development.
- Big youth population -> 25% of the population is between 16-30. Clearly there’s a need for building youth engagement with climate action as future leaders/decision-makers emerge.
- Increasing temperatures and variable weather patterns are already increasing instances of climate-related disease and health impacts, such as influenza, dengue, etc. There is a clear need to highlight the health benefits of rapid climate action as well as sport.