Visit Our Partner Organizations
Like Us!
- Art
- Biofuel
- Build It Green
- Citysol
- Clean Energy Connections Blog
- Cleantech
- CSO
- Dance
- Design
- East River
- Economy
- Education
- Energy
- Energy $mart Communities
- Energy Efficiency
- Film
- Food
- Global Warming
- Green Building
- Green Collar Jobs
- Green Design Lab
- green roof
- green roofs
- Housing
- I Heart PV
- Legislation
- Links
- Music
- Native Plants
- New York City
- NYSERDA
- Organic Farming
- Other Events
- Photovoltaics
- Photovoltaics
- Politics
- Pollution
- Products
- Quick Links
- Recycling
- Renewables
- Revelry By The River
- S1 in the News
- Solar 2
- Solar Power
- stormwater
- street trees
- Stuyvesant Cove Park
- Sustainability
- Technology
- Transportation
- Tru Light
- Waste
- Water
Sports Going Green
Image lifted from GreenMark Sports
The NCAA tournament is upon us and Baseball’s Opening Day is right around the corner. So why mention it here? As a leisure activity, sports are one of the things we use to escape from all the chatter and fighting about global warming, emissions, hybrids, nuclear power, and greenwashing (not to mention things like political scandals, clashes in Tibet, rocket attacks in Gaza, et. al.). But there’s a burgeoning green movement bubbling up in sports that goes well beyond whether athletes will wear masks in Beijing to combat air pollution during the Olympics. Consider:
* The Washington Nationals are set to open a new stadium next month that strives to be the first in professional sports to be certified under LEED.
* Closer to home, the Mets new field (under construction, opening in 2009) will feature numerous environmentally-friendly elements, including recycled steel, porous pavement, waterless urinals and a potential green roof for the administrative building.
* Taking things a step further, the Japanese professional baseball league is working to reduce the average length of games as part of the country’s pledge to reduce emissions under the Kyoto Protocol.
* No less an event than the Super Bowl has been taking steps in recent years to reduce its environmental footprint, using renewable energy to power the stadiums, expanding recycling programs, and effecting plans to reduce waste from food and the tons of materials used during all the hoopla surrounding the game.
* The EURO 2008 football tournament (think World Cup, only just for Europe) has a whole sustainability charter aimed at the “economic, social and cultural dimensions of the event.” These include elements such as promoting the use of public transit, incorporating energy efficiency measures, encouraging the use/sale of organic and fair trade products, and working at waste prevention.
And there are hundreds of other examples from tennis to golf to hockey. Heck, even the fuel-burners at NASCAR are looking for ways to reduce their impact. While sports still have a large overall environmental impact due to the travel, electricity, and other use of resources, this certainly seems like a positive trend – one that can make us feel a little bit better the next time we’re watching a game under the (renewably-powered) lights with (organic) popcorn and (sustainable) beer in hand. Now if we could just convince the powers that be that artificial turf is responsible for the melting icecaps….
