Green Blog: As Arenas Go Green, Will Fans Follow?

Can sports make environmentalism more popular?

In a new report titled ?Game Changer: How the Sports Industry Is Saving the Environment,? the Natural Resources Defense Council presents case studies of greening initiatives by sports leagues and franchises like switching from fossil fuels to solar energy, installing low-flush toilets to save water and conspicuously displaying recycling bins. We learn that:

As of last year, 17 percent of court surfaces at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens were made of post-industrial recycled content. Ultra-low-flow faucets there have reduced water flow by 75 percent.

The National Hockey League purchased certified carbon offsets to compensate for all of the energy consumed at the 2011 Winter Classic at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh and recycled all of the cardboard, bottles and cans used at the game.

Before the N.C.A.A. Final Four events at Reliant Stadium in Houston in the spring of 2011, the conference and its partners organized an e-waste collection event in which more than 25,000 pounds of electronics were taken there to be disassembled and processed.

In the summer of 2010, a 25-acre solar array was installed in a former parking lot at the Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa.

How these measures stack up against the resources consumed by the sports industry is not spelled out. Certainly the energy savings are modest by comparison with the industry?s enormous energy expenditures. But then, said Allen Hershkowitz, a senior scientist with the council who collaborates with the sports industry on greening initiatives, that?s not really the point for now. The goal, he said, is to raise the public?s consciousness about environmentally responsible behavior.

In recent years Dr. Hershkowitz, has also focused on reducing the carbon footprint of high-profile cultural events like the Grammys and the Oscars in the hope of setting an example for fans across the nation.

Like performing artists, prominent sports figures have often been pathbreakers in the arena of social change. Earvin ?Magic? Johnson blunted the stigma of AIDS when he announced in 1991 that he was H.I.V.-positive and has since campaigned against discrimination against those who are infected with the virus. Billie Jean King promoted equal treatment for women in 1973 by beating Bobby Riggs on the tennis court. And, of course, Jackie Robinson shored up a nascent civil rights movement by breaking the color barrier in major league baseball in 1947.

The Natural Resources Defense Council?s effort to green the sports industry began in 2003. First it approached individual teams before expanding the campaign to entire leagues.

There is no reliable way to quantify the overall impact on sports fans, but Dr. Hershkowitz maintains that the industry has made a big difference. ?Now it is about baseball, motherhood, apple pie and environmental protection,? he said.

Source: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/05/as-arenas-go-green-will-fans-follow/?partner=rss&emc=rss

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