When Athletes Use Their Voice For Sports, Climate Change and the Fight for the Next Generation, Former NBA Players Rick Fox and Pops Mensah-Bonsu Bring The Receipts.

Story by Bennie Randall - Editor In Chief / Photos: Vonoi Global Media

At The Nest Climate Panel in New York City, held at the Javits Center and presented by Adapt2Win.org, the conversation about climate change took an important turn. It was not simply a discussion about temperatures, rising seas, flooding or environmental policy.

It was a conversation about leadership, community, sports, youth and the power of people who have platforms to use their voices for something bigger than themselves.
Former NBA players Rick Fox and Pops Mensah-Bonsu shared personal experiences that demonstrated how climate change is becoming impossible to separate from the places where people live, work, play and grow. For Pops Mensah-Bonsu, the connection between sports and social responsibility became clear through his work in Ghana.

As a former professional basketball player, he understood the influence athletes can have because people often trust athletes and listen to them beyond the basketball court. What began as a platform created through sports became something much larger when he saw how climate change was affecting young people and the environments where they played.

Mensah-Bonsu spoke about his academy in Ghana, where basketball is used as a vehicle to empower young people across Ghana and Africa. The program is about much more than basketball. It incorporates soft skills and character development, giving young people tools they can carry with them away from the court.
Then came a realization that changed his perspective.

Ghana has limited indoor athletic facilities, meaning many young people depend on outdoor spaces to participate in sports. In a tropical country, playing outside might seem natural. However, changing climate conditions are making those outdoor environments increasingly difficult and, at times, dangerous.

Mensah-Bonsu described experiencing extreme heat firsthand, including an occasion when the heat was so intense that his shoes melted. That moment forced him to think about the young people who experience those conditions regularly. What might seem like an inconvenience to one person can become a barrier to opportunity for an entire generation. That experience pushed him deeper into climate advocacy.

​His story demonstrates how personal experience can transform awareness into action. Before experiencing the impact directly, he did not necessarily see himself as someone who occupied a space in the climate conversation. Once climate change began affecting the work he was doing with young people, he recognized that his platform as an athlete could be used to raise awareness and bring the conversation into rooms where it might not otherwise exist.

That is one of the central messages of the Adapt2Win conversation. Everyone has a role to play. Rick Fox brought another perspective to the discussion. The former NBA player, actor, entrepreneur and now public servant spoke about his home country of The Bahamas, a nation living on the front lines of climate change. For Fox, the issue is no longer something theoretical or distant. It is something experienced directly by communities.

Fox recalled returning to The Bahamas following Hurricane Dorian in 2019, a devastating storm that severely affected the country. That experience changed the way he viewed his own responsibility. Earlier in his life, he had contributed to causes financially. This time, he wanted to get physically involved and become part of the solution.
Fox described the first 50 years of his life as being heavily focused on his own goals and aspirations. Having achieved a level of success, he began looking at the next chapter differently. The power of his platform, his experiences as an athlete, his business career, his entertainment background and his relationships could all be used in service of something larger. For Fox, leadership began with lessons he learned through sports.

Sports taught him that teams succeed together. They also taught him that leadership is not simply about being the most talented person in the room. It is about understanding that everyone has a role and that the outcome depends on collective commitment. That philosophy now extends beyond the basketball court.
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Fox explained how his career moved from athletics into entertainment, business and eventually public service. Each chapter gave him another set of tools to use. Story telling taught him the emotional power of narratives. Business taught him about investment and innovation. Sports taught him teamwork and leadership. Public service gave him an opportunity to participate in policy conversations.

Climate change brought all of those experiences together. One of the most powerful moments of the conversation centered on something as simple as playing basketball outdoors. For generations, young athletes have played sports outside because that is where the courts and fields were. In many communities around the world, outdoor sports are not simply recreation. They are gathering places. They are where young people build friendships, learn discipline, develop confidence and discover their talents.

But what happens when the outdoor environment becomes too hot? Fox shared an experience from the United Arab Emirates, where he had been working with his company, on carbon negative building materials. During his time there, temperatures became so extreme that simply walking outside felt dangerous. He noticed basketball courts and tennis courts sitting empty during the hottest parts of the day.

Then he noticed something else. People were playing basketball at 2 o'clock in the morning. The temperature was still around 102 degrees. That observation raised a larger question. If extreme temperatures push young people indoors or into the middle of the night simply to participate in sports, what happens to those who do not have safe facilities available? What happens when flooding destroys athletic fields? What happens when storms damage community facilities? What happens when children lose one of the places where they would normally spend their afternoons? The consequences can extend far beyond sports.

For young people, organized sports can provide structure, mentorship, community and positive alternatives. When those opportunities disappear, communities have to consider what replaces them. Fox connected that reality to his experience in The Bahamas, where flooding and damaged facilities can leave young people without places to participate in sports. For him, the issue is not simply about whether someone can play basketball. It is about what opportunities exist for young people to make positive choices.

The panel also emphasized that climate change does not look the same everywhere. A community in Ghana may face different challenges than a community in The Bahamas. Jamaica may face different challenges from the United Arab Emirates. One place may be dealing with extreme heat while another is dealing with flooding, hurricanes, drought or damaged infrastructure. The people living in those communities understand those challenges firsthand. That is why local knowledge matters.
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The panel highlighted the importance of listening to communities rather than assuming that one solution can work everywhere. Climate adaptation requires understanding the specific realities of each location and giving the people who live there a voice in developing solutions.

For Mensah-Bonsu, that means using his platform to make sure people hear what is happening in Ghana and across Africa. For Fox, it means using his experience and position to bring greater attention to what is happening in The Bahamas and other vulnerable communities.

Both men represent a larger evolution taking place among athletes. Athletes have always had influence. Their platforms traditionally revolved around competition, entertainment and performance. Today, many athletes are also using their visibility to discuss education, community development, environmental issues, business, social responsibility and the future of younger generations.

The power of that platform comes from connection. People watched these athletes compete. They followed their careers. They celebrated their victories. They watched them travel the world. That relationship creates an opportunity to communicate ideas that extend beyond sports. The challenge is turning that influence into action.
The panel made clear that awareness alone is not enough. Conversations have to lead to execution. Communities need solutions, investment, infrastructure, education and people willing to participate in the work.

Climate change is also not a problem that can simply be handed to the next generation. That was another important message from the conversation. The idea that climate change is something future generations will have to solve ignores what is already happening today. Young people are already experiencing extreme heat, flooding, changing weather patterns and disruptions to the environments where they live and play. The responsibility therefore belongs to the current generation as well.

Rick Fox and Pops Mensah-Bonsu are demonstrating that an athlete's greatest contribution may not always happen on the court. Sometimes the most important game is the one being played in the community. -Vonoi Magazine

The Adapt2Win conversation at the Javits Center offered a different way of looking at climate leadership. It showed what can happen when athletes take the lessons they learned through competition and apply them to the challenges facing their communities.

​The willingness to keep playing even when the conditions change. Those are lessons athletes have understood for generations. Now, those same lessons are being brought into the climate conversation. 

Where the stakes involve young people's futures, safe places to live and play, and the ability of communities to adapt to a changing world. The message coming from this panel was clear, climate change is already affecting communities around the world, and the people with platforms have an opportunity to help move the conversation forward. Athletes have the ability to reach people, inspire action and connect global issues to personal experiences.

The next generation is watching, and the question is not simply whether we can adapt. It is whether we are willing to use everything we have learned, every platform we have built and every voice we have been given to help create a future where the next generation still has a place to play, grow, lead and win.

Vonoi Magazine