Baseball Goes Green
America's Sport Leads the Eco-Friendly Field
Well, Major League Baseball is playing the game in a greener, more socially responsible way this year, and that makes them all winners in my book.
It all started with the Cincinnati Reds. On opening day back in April of this year, the Reds took a dramatic stand for the good of the earth and bought carbon offset credits from Carbon Solutions to offset the approximately 96 tons of emissions caused by the electricity and natural gas usage in the stadium during the game. The credits are to be used to fund a wind power farm in India and other solar-and-wind-power projects. Carbon offsets are a new and promising trend in trying to achieve an ecological balance in the world. The Reds won their opening game, but even if they hadn't, they would still have been heroes for inspiring their legions of fans through this example.
But the trend to the greening of America's pastime didn't stop there. Also in April, the Colorado Rockies became the first team to install solar panels in their stadium. The 46 panels are used to power the Rockpile LED board, which will use over 14,000 kilowatts of solar energy. Below the LED board, a monitor displays the actual real time energy usage of the board and the solar-power usage. An educational display in the ballpark will allow fans to learn more about solar energy.
Not to be outdone, the San Francisco Giants then one-upped the Rockies by working with PG&E to install solar panels in three places on their stadium, including the roof, the Port Walk, and a new canopy over the Willie Mays pedestrian ramp. They were the first team to install ramps on the actual stadium itself. Altogether, the Giants organization installed 590 solar panels at AT&T Park. These panels will provide solar energy for PG&E customers all over San Franciso and in Northern and Central San Francisco.
In addition, the Giants are working with PG&E to try to find other ways to be more ecologically responsible. Their new Diamond Vision scoreboard, for instance, uses 78% less energy than the old one. And they have committed to educating their fans about responsible energy use.
Even Fox Sports got into the act, using biodiesel to power the July 10th Major League All-Stars game. Fox says it will use the 20% biodiesel and 80% diesel blend called B20 to power all of its trucks, generators, and other diesel equipment for the World Series, the Super Bowl, and the Bowl Championships, too.
In a press release, Michael Davis, who is the director of Field Operations for Fox Sports, explained,"This initiative is an attempt to reduce our carbon footprint to neutral by 2010."
Our country loves baseball, and these impressive actions show that baseball's representatives are interested in repaying that love.
Published by Rhetta Akamatsu
Rhetta is the author of The Irish Slaves, published October 2010, and Haunted Marietta, published by History Press in September, 2009. She also has several other books, Ghost to Coast,Ghost to Coast Tours a... View profile
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5 Comments
Post a CommentThanks, all! I'm pleased about the front page; it's almost as exciting as getting my book in print!
Ardeth,I agree that they don't serve the "green" foods, but really, there would be very little market for them, at this point. And every step toward taking care of our world is a positive step!
Fantastic article. I'm a big fan of Major League Baseball, and am also concerned about Earth's environment. It's nice to see that the MLB is doing something about pollution, and hopefully everyone else that hasn't done the same will do so as well.
I hear they are now making aluminum baseball bats out of recycled aluminum beer cans. So fans, donate your cans!
Excellent article and congrats on the front page!
OK, impressive, but how many baseball stadia feature "green" foods, like veggie burgers or tofu franks? Factory farming is one of the biggest polluters on the planet.