Inter and WWF Italia have teamed up
for an Earth Day initiative to show that the environmental
crisis affects everyone and needs addressing, with special
shirts with 'Th3 Ext1nction Numb3rs' on that the players will
wear for Monday's crunch derby match against AC Milan.
Runaway leaders Inter will claim the 20th Serie A title of their
history if they win Monday's game and earn the right to wear a
second star on their shirts in the process.
During the match a patch will be on the sleeve of each players'
shirt, featuring a fact or a rallying cry related to their
number.
Turkey midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu's number 20, for example,
points to the 20,000 deaths registered in Europe in 2022 due to
extreme heat.
Marcus Thuram's number 9 shirt alludes to the fact that 9
hectares of forest are destroyed every minute, while the number
10 worn by Lautaro Martinez highlights the average 10% decline
in biodiversity over the last 14 years.
"We're very proud of this collaboration, which allows us to act
as a sounding board for a very important issue," said Inter Vice
President Javier Zanetti.
"The language of sport and its universal values are capable of
promoting change and reaching the hearts of millions of fans.
"We're convinced that this appeal will not fall on deaf ears."
The initiative is part of WWF's 'We Are The Panda' campaign,
which seeks to highlight the fact that the environmental crisis
is a serious danger to humans, not just endangered species of
animals.
"The climate and biodiversity crises affect us all," said WWF
Italia Director General Alessandra Prampolini,
"They're relevant to both our present and future, which is in
danger of being extremely different from how we imagine it.
"Science tells us how our lives are at risk of changing in the
coming years, with numbers that unequivocally indicate how we
are compromising our natural systems.
"We're delighted that Inter have chosen to make their shirt
numbers available to communicate our message - in a simple and
direct way, through a major sporting event - that the impact of
our lifestyles and our production models are 'bankrupting'
nature and the services it freely offers us.
"Becoming aware of this and becoming part of the change is the
starting point for saving our planet's habitats, together with
the species that inhabit them. That includes the human race,
which too often forgets that it's a part of nature".
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