Green Daily

Boy do those folks at PETA love a superlative. Their latest? America's top vegetarian-friendly ball parks.

For many of us eating and drinking is the best part of going to the game. Apparently there is a growing demand for a Boca burger or veggie dog to go with that $10 light beer.

The smart people at these ball parks understand that more choices equal more profit. Now the whole family can enjoy a day at the ball park, even the (formerly weird) kid who doesn't like Fenway Franks.

The winning parks:

1. Citizens Bank Park (Philadelphia Phillies)
2. AT&T Park (San Francisco Giants)
3. Safeco Field (Seattle Mariners)
4. PETCO Park (San Diego Padres)
5. U.S. Cellular Field (Chicago White Sox)
6. Busch Stadium (St. Louis Cardinals)
7. Comerica Park (Detroit Tigers)
8. Coors Field (Colorado Rockies)
9. Turner Field (Atlanta Braves)
10. (tie). Tropicana Field (Tampa Bay Rays)
    (tie). Chase Field (Arizona Diamondbacks)

Next up? PETA's top 10 minor league ball parks. Please tell us that the top 10 naked vegetarian baseball players are on deck.

In March, Major League Baseball partnered with the National Resource Defense Council to reduce the league's environmental impact. Each team was issued a Team Greening Adviser, and will be taking steps over the course of season to make their organizations more sustainable. We'll be checking in with a new team every Tuesday to see how our favorite ball clubs are working toward a better planet. Check out the full series here.

The Mariners made a very high-profile move this past Earth Day and played a game that was completely carbon neutral. By purchasing offsets for all emissions produced by the game (including plane flights of the visiting team, transportation for fans and the Mariners players, even hotel accommodation for the visiting team and crew of umpires) and some aggressive recycling and composting efforts, the team was able to cancel out 230 short tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution associated with their Earth Day match up against the Orioles.

But this wasn't the only eco-friendly initiative by the Mariners. In fact, the team has been going green for years -- check out the gallery to see how.

In March, Major League Baseball partnered with the National Resource Defense Council to reduce the league's environmental impact. Each team was issued a Team Greening Adviser, and will be taking steps over the course of season to make their organizations more sustainable. We'll be checking in with a new team every Tuesday to see how our favorite ball clubs are working toward a better planet. Check out the full series here.



As you can see in the video, the Twins are building an impressive new stadium in downtown Minneapolis. However, instead of merely making a place for baseball fans to enjoy their favorite game, the organization is taking an environmentally sound approach to creating the ballpark -- an approach that, if it comes together as planned, could serve as a blueprint for other teams interested in more sustainable operations and business practices.

The Weather Channel has put together a nice piece on the new park's eco-friendly qualifications which you can view here, or check out the gallery below to see some of the highlights, as well as a few notes from a conversation I had with a Twins spokesman on what the team is doing currently.

In March, Major League Baseball partnered with the National Resource Defense Council to reduce the league's environmental impact. Each team was issued a Team Greening Adviser, and will be taking steps over the course of season to make their organizations more sustainable. We'll be checking in with a new team every Tuesday to see how our favorite ball clubs are working toward a better planet. Check out the full series here.

By all accounts Tampa Bay is having a fantastic season. They're only a couple games behind Boston in the competitive AL East division, and as this post is being written, have the second-best record in the American League. But the Rays are having a winning season in more ways than one, as this is their first year operating a new green initiative called Teaming Up for the Environment. The team is working towards sustainability in their business practices, ballpark operations and more.

Check out a few of the team's eco-friendly efforts:

In March, Major League Baseball partnered with the National Resource Defense Council to reduce the league's environmental impact. Each team was issued a Team Greening Adviser, and will be taking steps over the course of season to make their organizations more sustainable. We'll be checking in with a new team every Tuesday to see how our favorite ball clubs are working toward a better planet. Check out the full series here.

Cleveland may not be the first city that comes to mind when you think of clean energy. Smack dab in the middle of the rust belt, the city is still living down the times when its river was so polluted that it caught on fire, and local novelty shops currently sell t-shirts adorned with smoke stacks that read: "Cleveland, you gotta be tough." But whether Clevelanders have become hardened by the city's environmental shortcomings, or just because their beloved baseball team can't quite win the big one, some new green initiatives by the Tribe should soften the city's image.

Here's some of the Indians' eco-friendly efforts:

Now if the Indians could just get over some injuries and whip their pitching staff into shape they could turn this team around!

In March, Major League Baseball partnered with the National Resource Defense Council to reduce the league's environmental impact. Each team was issued a Team Greening Adviser, and will be taking steps over the course of season to make their organizations more sustainable. We'll be checking in with a new team every Tuesday to see how our favorite ball clubs are working toward a better planet.

The Blue Jays play at the Rogers Centre in Toronto (a venue you may know by its former name, the SkyDome). This enormous entertainment center has played host to over 2,000 events and 50 million people since it first opened in 1989, and the tireless efforts of staff to make the facility more eco-friendly continue to make it an industry leader.

Here's a few green initiatives the organizations has underway:

In March, Major League Baseball partnered with the National Resource Defense Council to reduce the league's environmental impact. Each team was issued a Team Greening Adviser, and will be taking steps over the course of season to make their organizations more sustainable. We'll be checking in with a new team every Tuesday to see how our favorite ball clubs are working toward a better planet.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have taken the bull by the horns when it comes to greening their organization -- both on the field and off. Labeling the initiative "Let's Go Bucs. Let's go Green," the team has laid out a plan that includes more eco-friendly nights at the ballpark, sustainable business practices, and even education outreach in conjunction with the City of Pittsburgh.

It started in January of last year, when the club signed on Bob Nutting as Chairman of the Board. He led a "detailed, exhaustive review of their operating procedures at the ballpark," including taking part in the NRDC's Team Greening program. In the months following that review, the Pirates began a number of eco-friendly programs, such as:

In March, Major League Baseball partnered with the National Resource Defense Council to reduce the league's environmental impact. Each team was issued a Team Greening Adviser, and will be taking steps over the course of season to make their organizations more sustainable. We'll be checking in with a new team every Tuesday to see how our favorite ball clubs are working toward a better planet.

The Red Sox are celebrating Earth Day in style this year. For starters, all players and on-field staff will be dressed in special uniforms adorned with the club's snazzy new greening logo -- nice. But this wardrobe adaptation is just one part of a larger ceremony in which the Red Sox will receive an Environmental Merit award from the EPA in recognition of their efforts to run a greener organization. Very nice.

In return, the Sox are letting the Administrator of the EPA and the Founding Director of the NRDC through out a joint ceremonial first pitch. Now, if I worked at the EPA, that would've been reason enough to give the team whatever award they wanted -- whether they'd started any new environmental programs or not. But rest assured, Boston has been taking significant steps to making their operations more eco-friendly. Here's just a few of the new green initiatives you'll see at Fenway this year:

As many Americans attempt to buck the stereotype of being fat, wasteful, and unhealthy, America's favorite pastime is striving to achieve new heights in the field of excess and binge-eating. Over the last year, America's professional sports organizations have seen a surge in attendance and ticket sales with a brilliant new marketing concept: all you can eat seating. What a great idea, right?

With all you can eat seating, fans no longer have to stand in line to gorge themselves full of hotdogs, nachos, and peanuts -- in fact, they don't even have to stand up at all. In the all you can eat section of your local ballpark, the food comes to you. We know that stadium food isn't exactly eco-friendly, so we have to assume that allowing people to eat limitless quantities of factory-farmed pork and beef is not sending a very green message -- or a healthy one at that.

As Dalene mentioned in her news round-up last week, Major League Baseball is making amends with the environment. The league first announced the news on their website, and yesterday the National Resources Defense Council -- the environmental group behind the initiative -- followed up with a press release outlining the ins and outs of the program.

The central component of the green effort is a Team Greening Program, in which each MLB team will get a Team Greening Adviser. At first this sounds like corporate speak for "we want to look like we're trying, buy really we'll keep sitting on our asses when the boss is turned around" -- but it's actually pretty exciting. The adviser isn't a nerdy environmentalist sent to pester disinterested General Managers, but rather a "web-based software tool featuring advice and resources for every aspect of a Club's operations."

According to the NRDC, "This unprecedented program, more than two years in development, will expand on the industry's best practices, offering specific local advice concerning such topics as energy use, purchasing, concession operations, water use, recycling and transportation."

Of course, while the league is touting the "social responsibility" involved with going green, it's worth noting that it's also not bad for their bottom line. Says Frances Beinecke, NRDC President, "Their work will save energy, reduce waste, and make the organization, the teams, and the stadiums all run more efficiently."

Full release after the jump.

You're probably wondering whether or not Boston should've kept Tim Wakefield on the roster, or if nine days off is going to cool down the seemingly unbeatable Rockies. But what you're probably not thinking is: how will my World Series watching affect the environment?

The truth is that the extra energy you'll use watching the game on TV, reading about pitching match-ups online, or ordering game night appetizers is relatively small -- but multiply that by the millions of other people who are also obsessing over baseball this October, and the numbers become much more significant.

Here's a few tips on how you can reduce your impact:

Pro sports teams are some of the most high profile businesses on the planet -- so it's encouraging to see teams like the Philadelphia Eagles setting an example with their efforts in building a greener, more sustainable organization. While there don't seem to be any baseball clubs that have that kind of dramatic reduction to their environmental impact, the league on the whole is certainly showing signs of moving in the right direction.

The Cincinnati Reds, for instance, made a strong gesture on opening day by purchasing 96 tons of carbons offsets. Not only did this make the game carbon neutral, it will help fund wind and solar power around the world. Plus, both the San Fransisco Giants and Colorado Rockies put up solar arrays, which will serve part of their stadiums' power needs. Even the car given to this year's All-Star MVP was green -- a hybrid Chevy Tahoe instead last year's gas guzzling Chevy Avalanche.

So, while none of it's Earth-shattering, at least it's a start.