Is America's National Pastime Also Its Greenest?
by Sean Fisher, Cincinnati, Ohio on 07.12.07
First, it was San Francisco setting up a 590 panel solar array at their major league baseball field. Then the Rockies out of Denver, Colorado followed in the act setting up a small solar system to help with their energy consumption. The Cincinnati Reds teamed up with a local utility company to make their opening day celebration carbon neutral. Now, baseball's all-star game is getting hip to the green by giving away a hybrid instead of the usual fuel-gage emptying vehicle. As Sarah over at Grist points out (after thoroughly belittling my beloved National League), All-Star MVP Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners drove off in a 2008 hybrid Chevy Tahoe for his performance, rather than the appropriately huge sounding Chevy Avalanche given to last year's MVP. Now, it is certainly no Tesla or even Chevrolet's own Volt, however the small, but meaningful, steps Major League Baseball is taking to become a bit less wasteful is certainly appreciated around here. After all, TreeHuggerness should be as American as baseball, hot dogs, apple pie...and yes, Chevrolet. ::Via Grist
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Since they draw the attention from a diverse cross-section of society, professional sports events offer a promising venue for exposing the masses to the ideas of sustainability. It's good that these gestures are being made today, but it would be great to see a move away from single events towards overall team and league activity (lots of air miles!!). There's a NY times article on the US's first carbon-neutral soccer team, a move that was quickly emulated in England by a professional team. Hopefully the trend continues... next stop, NASCAR.
http://tinyurl.com/2549dp
I happended on to your website as I was looking for sustainability info for a promotion during a Lake Elsinore Storm minor league baseball game.
I saw your article about what major league baseball is doing so I wanted to make you aware of a minor league team that is promoting a goin' green event on July 20.
Our stadium has switched to waterless urinals and we have upgraded our field irrigaition in the ballpark to be more water efficient. We are in the process of hiring a green consultant to help us upgrade our stadium in every possible way. Our goal is to become the first LEED certified stadium.
I would appreciate any help people could give us in getting the word out for this event. Our hope is to create an awareness for all sports facilites and our fans to become more ecologically efficient. Our website is www.stormbaseball.com. There is information on the site that outlines our goin' green promotion.
Thank you to anyone that puts some energy into our project or has a suggestion. We know we have a long way to go put we feel this is a positive start.
Dave Oster
President
Lake Elsinore Storm