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COPA Sapporeño
June 2007 - The Japan-Honduras Friendship Soccer Tournament
Greeting From The Children of Intibuca.
Thank you so much for your wonderful work in raising the funds for sending Mr. Sakai and his group to Intibuca. I know how many hours all of you put in to develop the project. How much work went into collecting recyclable and making items to sell. Then the hours preparing to sell them. You are truly leaders in a world that need caring and sharing leaders.
I would like to invite all of you to become members of Soccer for Life, a non profit organization in the USA. We have as our mission statement enabling all the children of Honduras to play soccer. As part of this we have a tree planting project that works with our soccer donation program. Students collected new and used soccer gear and we plant trees here depending on the amount of donated goods.
Q. What is the Honduras Youth Soccer Project?
A. This is a program created and supported by Soccer for Life, Inc to enable the young people of Honduras to have the needed gear for playing soccer. Soccer for Life will serve as a collection nexus for collecting soccer gear in the USA. In addition, it will support the development of tournaments such as the Soccer Against Global Warming Tournament, training for coaches and players and support for soccer camps in Honduras. The Honduras Youth Soccer Project has at its ultimate goal the development of a Intibuca Youth Soccer Center as a residential soccer academy and complex.
Q. Why Does the Soccer Gear Donation Project Focus on Planting Trees?
A. As we watch the Tsunami roll across the Indian Ocean, killing over 200,000 people we begin to wonder if Global Warming is setting in. Four hurricanes cross Florida in one year. The Blizzard of '05 with record snow. Droughts in the Far West. All this wild weather could be the beginning of a change in the Earth's climate equilibrium. Soccer Moms in Their SUVs are being blamed for Global Warming. Soccer Moms have soccer kids who do care about the environment. Planting trees is our best ways to combat global warming at this time. Find out more about global warming on these webpages:
Nothing We Do Matters if Global Warming Kicks In. Find Out More About Halting Global Warming. Other pages include Global Warming, Before Global Warming, and During Global Warming.
Q. What is Global Warming and What Does It Have To Do With Soccer?
A. The soccer youth of today will be the leaders of tomorrow. They will inherit the world we are creating today. But they can do more than just passively wait to inherit a world changed by global warming. They can become leaders now by fighting global warming through planting trees. Soccer players add to Global Warming by the trips their parents take in their SUVs to soccer practice and soccer games. With 17,000,000 children playing organized soccer, that's a lot of automobiles trips, a lot of gasoline burned and a lot of gases emitted into the atmosphere. Every tree we plant offsets these emissions.
Q. Why Should We Plant Trees?
A. Tree planting is our number one tool for combating global warming at this time. And since the world weather system is all one system, planting trees in one place can offset global warming thousands of miles away. Here are some reasons trees are so vital:
 | In 50 years one tree recycles more than $37,000 worth of water, provides $31,000 worth of erosion control, $62,000 worth of air pollution control, and produces $37,000 worth of oxygen. |
| Two mature trees provide enough oxygen for a family of four. |
| Trees help reduce the "greenhouse effect" by absorbing CO2. |
| Forest planting is one of the most cost-effective ways of reducing CO2. To remove 1 pound of CO2, planting tree costs less than 1 cent, developing more energy efficient appliances costs about 2 1/2 cents, and developing more fuel-efficient cars costs about 10 cents. |
| By cooling the air and ground around them, the shade from trees helps cool the Earth's temperature. |
| Trees are good noise barriers, making a city and neighborhood quieter. |
| Trees help prevent city flooding by catching raindrops and offsetting runoff caused by buildings and parking lots. |
| Hospital patients heal faster, require shorter stays and less painkillers if room windows face trees. |
| A tree-line buffer between fields and streams helps remove farming pollutants before they reach the water. |
| Well placed trees help cut energy costs and consumption by decreasing air conditioning costs 10-50% & reducing heating costs as much as 4-22%. |
| Trees are the longest living and largest living organisms on Earth. |
| People who plant trees become healthier, better looking, richer, and have more friends (well maybe that's stretching it a bit) - plant a tree and find out! |
| In deserts, leaves absorb moisture from the dew and frost of the cool nights and release it to cool the air during the warm days. |
| Trees enhance the aesthetics of our environment. Their grandeur, tenacity, and beauty are probably the most enjoyable aspect of trees. |
| Tree bark and fruit have many medicinal properties, which are still being discovered. |
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