I started my career in finance, working in credit analysis. It was structured, predictable, and grounded in data—where what gets measured is what gets recognized. That mindset shaped how I understood performance, progress, and value.

It also shapes how we are currently thinking about sustainability—and that is part of the problem.

We have become highly efficient at measuring environmental impact. We track emissions, optimize energy use, and set increasingly ambitious targets around sourcing and waste. While these steps are necessary, they have also narrowed our definition of what sustainability is.

Because while we have been focused on what can be measured, we have been overlooking what is visibly eroding around us.

The spaces people rely on every day.

Skate parks. Beaches. Open courts. Community environments where people gather, move, and create without structure or permission. These are not secondary to culture—they are where it begins.

And yet, they are becoming harder to access, harder to sustain, and easier to ignore.

That should concern us more than it does.

At the same time, the systems shaping what we pay attention to are changing. With the rise of AI and generative systems, visibility is increasingly determined by what has already been amplified.

This is not a neutral shift.

It is a systemic reordering of what we prioritize.

We are building systems that reward visibility—and then allowing those systems to influence what we protect.

In doing so, we risk overlooking the environments that sustain everyday participation, simply because they are not designed to surface.

Because sustainability is not just about reducing harm.

It is about preserving access.

If environments degrade, participation declines. If participation declines, community weakens. And if community weakens, culture follows.

That progression is not hypothetical—it is already underway in ways we have not fully acknowledged.

At DICK’S Sporting Goods, sustainability is not a parallel priority—it is central to how we operate and how we think about our responsibility as a company.

Reducing our environmental impact is not limited to efficiency within our operations; it extends to protecting the broader ecosystems that make everyday life and community possible.

We have made meaningful progress in reducing our environmental impact—improving energy efficiency, advancing more responsible sourcing, and reducing waste across our operations.

But our approach has also expanded beyond operational improvements to focus on protecting the environments that communities rely on every day.

Through initiatives like Ground We Share, we’ve invested in restoring and maintaining shared spaces where people gather.

Through the Open Access Project, we’ve focused on ensuring that these environments remain accessible and usable over time.

And through Built for Here, we’ve partnered with local communities to support the spaces that already exist—recognizing that preservation is often more important than replacement.

Sustainability is not just about reducing impact.

It is about protecting what enables participation in the first place.

What we’re doing now builds on that foundation.

Our current work—including the DICK’S Sneaker Truck Activation—is not about creating culture. It is about showing up where it already exists and reinforcing the importance of the spaces that sustain it.

By centering real people—skateboarders, dancers, and creators who rely on these environments—we are not just amplifying their stories; we are underscoring the urgency of protecting the spaces they depend on.

The next generation is choosing experiences that are real, shared, and grounded in physical space, seeking connection in ways that cannot be replicated digitally.

But that expectation depends on environments that are increasingly fragile.

If we fail to protect them, we are not just limiting access to the outdoors.

We are limiting the ability to participate at all.

But there is still time to act.

What we choose to protect now will define what future generations are able to experience, create, and belong to.

Strategy Note

This thought-leadership piece adopts a tone of controlled frustration and urgency, rather than neutrality, to reflect the scale of the issue being addressed. While Lauren Hobart’s typical communication style is measured, reflective, and people-first, this piece intentionally elevates that voice to express a more direct dissatisfaction with how sustainability is currently defined and prioritized. The tone is not reactive or emotional, but it is more assertive than her usual style—signaling that the erosion of shared physical environments is not a peripheral concern, but a critical gap in how both businesses and society approach environmental responsibility.

The argument aligns closely with Hobart’s leadership priorities. Since becoming CEO of DICK’S Sporting Goods, she has consistently focused on access, participation, and community-building, rather than elite performance. Her values-driven leadership—such as the decision to remove assault-style weapons from stores—further reinforces a willingness to take principled stances on issues that extend beyond immediate business outcomes.

This piece builds on that foundation by extending her focus on participation into an environmental context. It reframes sustainability as a prerequisite for access—arguing that community, culture, and participation cannot exist without the preservation of shared, physical environments. The initiatives referenced in the piece—Ground We Share, Open Access Project, and Built for Here—are conceptually developed to illustrate how DICK’S Sporting Goods could expand its sustainability efforts beyond operational improvements into the protection of shared environments. These programs are not existing public initiatives but are intentionally designed to align with the brand’s positioning, values, and ESG priorities. The DICK’S Sneaker Truck Activation is positioned as an extension of these efforts, serving as a platform that brings attention back to real-world spaces and the communities that rely on them.

Overall, the piece maintains Hobart’s clear, structured, and purpose-driven writing style, while introducing a stronger sense of urgency and critique. This balance allows the argument to feel both credible to her voice and differentiated enough to stand out as a compelling, high-level thought-leadership perspective.