Greening America's Pastime

The outfield grass isn't the only green thing in baseball this year. There is also an effort to make the game more environmentally friendly. Major League Baseball partnered with the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) this season to reach this goal.

MLB and the NRDC teamed up to create the Team Greening Program to help each team go green. The Program assigns a dedicated Team Greening Advisor to each club to assist them in their eco-efforts, and provides a software tool to help organizations track their progress.

Teams do not feel that they are being forced into going green. A survey was conducted in 2006, which showed a high level of interest in investigating more eco-friendly practices. Teams recognize that this is not only the responsible thing to do, but can be financially savvy as well. 

Some of the practices that the Team Greening Program encourages include:

• Pursuing renewable energy (Cincinnati is planning a new scoreboard powered by solar panels; in Boston they are heating water with a solar thermal system).
• Purchasing carbon offsets (many clubs are doing this).
• Promoting recycling at the ballpark
• Reducing paper use, and using recycled paper
• Building new parks that conform to green building standards (The new stadium in Washington D.C. is green certified, and the planned stadium in Minneapolis will be as well).
• Pursuing energy efficiency (In Pittsburgh they've installed energy efficient lighbulbs around the park).

As MLB Commissioner Bud Selig has said, "Baseball is a social institution with social responsibilities and caring for the environment is inextricably linked to all aspects of our game." We can only hope that other sports take the proactive approach to climate change that baseball has.