Greek Volleyballer Aristea Tontai Sees Climate Impacts at Home, Becomes EcoAthletes Champion to Lead Climate Action
To Aristea Tontai, a volleyballer from Greece who plays for the University of Miami (FL) while she finishes her master’s degree in Construction Management (after a B.S. in Environmental Science and Biology at the University of North Carolina), the impacts of extreme weather, exacerbated by the climate crisis, are hitting close to home.
Literally.
Aristea Tontai (Photo credit: @goheels)
“I grew up in Krioneri, a tiny town near Athens,” shared the newly-minted EcoAthletes Champion. “A beautiful large forest was essentially our backyard; we played there all the time. In recent years, the forest has been devastated by wildfires like we’ve never seen. They’ve been much more frequent and stronger than ever. There aren’t enough firefighters to combat them. At one point, all the residents of the town were asked to evacuate. My family left but my dad stayed to help those who remained, all this while he was recovering from COVID. This is why I want to make a difference on climate”
Long before Tontai could join the #ClimateComeback, she had to develop her volleyball skills.
“I played volleyball from 4th or 5th grade,” Tontai recalled. “Truth is I wanted to play basketball, but practice conflicted with my English tutoring. That was OK because I loved volleyball right away.”
She showed talent from the get-go and her talent flowered as Tontai grew to become the tallest girl in her high school class, topping out at 6’4”.
“Being tall can be a blessing and a curse in life,” she acknowledged. “But on the volleyball court it was definitely a plus as I became a ‘middle’ and was able to help my team control the net.”
Tontai joined a women’s club while still in high school, becoming a member of the senior team when she was 15, and was invited to a national team tryout. She looked to the United States when it came time to select a university.
“I was going to go to university in Greece, but it was easier in the States to combine volleyball and academics,” noted Tontai. “I ended up at Coastal Carolina in Conway, South Carolina. The coach was good, but the school was small and isolated. So, I transferred to the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, and I loved it. It was big, the ACC is a great volleyball league, Tar Heels’ athletics is incredible, and I LOVED my team and teammates — I played middle and right side. And the academics were great, too.”
A biology major at first, she then found a new love.
“As soon I came upon the environmental science program I said, ‘Oh, I want THIS’,” Tontai enthused. “I had been an environmentalist since elementary school. I loved nature and was the one in the family who made sure we turned the lights off. At UNC, the Introduction to Environmental Science course covered pretty much everything I was interested in — green energy, the energy transition and more. So, I became a double major and got deeply involved with the department.”
Aristea Tontai celebrates with her UNC Tar Heels teammates (Photo credit: @goheels)
Her involvement included a Spring Break 2019 trip to Chico, California where Tontai and her fellow students installed solar panels on roofs for low-income families with Grid Alternatives (“Lots of fun!”) and visited the climate-forward Sierra Nevada brewery (“Amazing, with advanced battery power and composting!”). That summer, Tontai was part of an environmental science department delegation that toured South Korea and China (including Hong Kong) to investigate environmental sustainability in that part of the world.
“It was incredible,” recalled Tontai. “We visited Songdo, an environmentally ‘smart city’ in Korea that didn’t exist a generation before, there was literally no land, just water. China is of course a complicated case from human rights, political and broader environmental perspectives. And we know they are adding new coal fired power plants every week. That said, they are also driving innovation on solar, and we saw that up close — the amount of solar at the Huawei headquarters campus was amazing. And EVs were all over Shanghai. One big reason? Drivers’ license plates are much more expensive if you drive an internal combustion engine car.”
Back in Chapel Hill, Tontai and the Tar Heels had a strong 2019 season. She looked forward to her senior campaign in 2020 but COVID had other plans.
U of Miami’s Aristea Tontai deftly drops the ball over the NC State front line in ACC play (Photo credit: @miamihurricanes)
“While we were fortunate to be able to play during COVID, my senior season at UNC was difficult,” she said. “We had to wear masks when we played, and our results were only so-so. On the other hand, we were granted an extra year of athletic eligibility because of COVID. So, I could go to graduate school and play one more season, but I had to find a school to give me a scholarship. UNC didn’t have one available, so I ended up at the University of Miami, getting a master’s in construction management with a focus on sustainability and project management. I’ll finish the 18-month program in one year.”
While the volleyball vibe at the Coral Gables, Florida school was different than in Chapel Hill, Tontai’s one season with the Hurricanes was a success.
“Miami is also an ACC school so playing at UNC was tough,” acknowledged Tontai. “Aside from that, we did really well, finishing with a 23-5 record, getting to the NCAA Tournament. Unfortunately, we ended up losing at our rivals, the University of Florida.”
After graduation this spring, Tontai hopes to play professionally in Europe, ideally in France or Germany, as well as with the Greek National Team. There, she likely would team up with Elena Karakasi, her friend, ACC rival (Syracuse) and fellow EcoAthletes Champion.
“Elena introduced me to EcoAthletes,” Tontai noted. “When I saw how the organization helps athletes use their platforms to encourage climate action among fans, I said to myself, ‘this is for me!’ If I can influence a few people — or more than a few — to make changes like eating less meat, or driving less, that will be a win.”
To EcoAthletes founder and CEO Lew Blaustein, Tontai’s addition to the Champions roster is a win already.
“Aristea’s environmental science academic background as well as her experiences in the field, combined with her ability to communicate climate solutions to fans in Greece and elsewhere, is a powerful combination indeed,” offered Blaustein. “She plays middle in volleyball, and I expect she will be in the middle of the #ClimateComeback!”