It’s been a very long and cold winter here in New England and the one saving grace these days is the start of the 2011 Major League Baseball season. And as a Phillies fan, I have to say The Fighten have a good chance to make it back to the playoffs but pitching will only get you so far – you still have to hit and play defense.

Once again, to celebrate the start of America’s favorite pastime, here’s an update on what some MLB teams have been doing when it comes to implementing best green practices.

The Detroit Tigers began making environmentally conscious improvements in 2007 with the installation of the Tiger Den seats, which are comprised of recycled plastic milk jugs. Excess food is also packed and then distributed to homeless shelters throughout Metro Detroit.

Phil is the “spokescan” for the Philadelphia Phillies’ Red Goes Green initiative at Citizens Bank Park. Phil, sponsored by Waste Management, is an interactive robot who speaks with fans and encourages them to dispose of their recyclable items in the appropriate ballpark containers and helps promote awareness of the Red Goes Green campaign.

Minute Maid Park, the home of the Houston Astros, uses bio-diesel fuel in select grounds crew equipment which is supplied by AgriBioFuels for research being conducted by Sam Houston State University.

To encourage car pooling, the Tampa Bay Rays offer free parking to cars with 4 or more passengers.

In 2010, Yankee Stadium recycled 8,879 gallons of cooking oil. This oil was used to produce 7,192 gallons of biodiesel fuel. When used in vehicles, this biodiesel will displace 129,455.8 pounds of carbon emissions. That is the equivalent of removing 11.76 cars from the road for a full year. 

This month, the Seattle Mariners announced they had teamed up with five other franchises to form the Green Sports Alliance. The mission of the Alliance is to reduce the environmental impacts of professional sports. Other founding members of the GSA include the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers, NHL’s Vancouver Canucks, WNBA’s Seattle Storm and MLS’ Seattle Sounders FC. The goal is to help spread the word and inspire other major sports franchises to join in on the cause.

Last year, the St. Louis Cardinals sponsored the Holiday Light Recycling Drive and collected over THREE tons of holiday lights to recycle.

The Texas Rangers Baseball Foundation has teamed up with Medical Center of Arlington to create fitness themed learning aids for Arlington Independent School District fifth graders. The Texas Rangers MCA Fitness All-Stars program uses team mascot Rangers Captain as a catalyst to get kids excited about the types of activities that lead to long term healthy lifestyles. Through texasrangers.com, kids and parents who may not have had the chance to watch the short videos in class can watch them together here.

Nationals Park in Washington D.C. is where the Nationals play and is the nation’s first major professional stadium to become LEED® Silver Certified by the U.S. Green Building Council. The project incorporates a variety of sustainable design elements.

Filed under: Green Sports