Australia’s Test and ODI cricket captain Pat Cummings is taking a stand against climate change, in the most effective way possible. He is refusing to endorse Cricket Australia’s major sponsor Alinta Energy, a company providing Australian homes with electricity and gas.

The problem is pretty clear to all who care about the future of the one planet we all have to live on. It has been revealed that Alinta are not exactly using solar panels, wind farms or waves to create the electricity or indeed the gas they are selling to those homes.

The use of fossil fuels has been identified by climate scientists as one of the key contributors to the climate crisis. More disturbingly for Cummins is the news that Australia is responsible for just over one percent of the world’s total emissions.

The move by Cummins looks likely to stop an extension of the Alinta sponsorship deal, saving the company millions of dollars whilst simultaneously embarrassing them into abandoning coal fired power stations and natural gas reserves for more carbon neutral methods of powering the country.

From there we can only assume that Cummins will take aim at another major contributor to the climate crisis, that being India. India is the third largest source of global pollution, in a neck and neck race with China and the USA. Cummins plays international cricket against India as well as partaking in the lucrative Indian Premier League, when national duties allow. A boycott of all interactions with India until they clean up their act could make a tremendous difference to the ailing health of our atmosphere.

Aside from burning fossil fuels, another major contributor to the climate crisis has been proven to escape from the back ends of cattle. It’s why vegans today no longer have to rely on protecting animals from a horrible death as their sole source of moral superiority. By refusing to eat meat or dairy products, vegans are also reducing the number of flatulent methane belchers needed. We can only assume that Cummins is a full vegan and will soon make a stand against the use of leather in the manufacturing of all sports equipment, particularly in producing cricket balls. He should soon inform Cricket Australia that they will have to end their association with Kookaburra and find a partner who manufactures a more environmentally friendly six stitcher.

Another key contributor to the climate crisis is deforestation. Trees are the earth’s lungs, they happily convert harmful CO2 into oxygen. As the jungles of this world continue to shrink due to man’s expanding presence, the number of trees available to process CO2 continues to fall. All trees perform this incredible service, from the mightiest redwoods, to Australia’s gums, to English and Kashmir willows. Yes, the willow that your cricket bat is made from was once a tree, sucking harmful CO2 out of the air and returning life giving oxygen, except at night when the process is reversed. Annually hundreds of thousands of these mighty trees are felled to produce millions of cricket bats, a practice that Cummins will no doubt want to see change.

Another fairly obvious step Cummins could take to reduce Cricket Australia’s carbon footprint would be to refuse to play in any night games, at least until major venues around Australia convert to climate friendly power sources. Lighting the MCG for an ODI burns through an enormous amount of electricity, and the world can no longer afford for that electricity to come from reckless companies such as the aforementioned Alinta.

To many it might not seem that one man could make much of a difference in the grand scheme of things environmentally, but we’re not just talking about any man. We are talking about the Australia cricket captain, only slightly behind the Prime Minister in terms of standing in this country. Helping turn away a team sponsor is just the beginning of his influence. His upcoming boycotts of India, leather balls and wooden bats as well as a refusal to travel in any vehicles burning fossil fuels will not only raise his stature as global crusader, it might just save us all from extinction.

Thank you Pat.