American sport hasn’t been doing too well on the green stakes of late.  American football’s NY Giants and Miami Dolphins flew across the Atlantic for a match against each other at Wembley in October last year.  A little over a fortnight before basketball did the same with the Boston Celtics playing the Minnesota Timberwolves in London’s O2 Arena.  It seems that the teams don’t get enough money.

That said, according to Sign On San Diego “baseball’s All-Stars will be gathering for tonight’s midsummer classic in Yankee Stadium, where they’ll participate in what organizers are billing as the “greenest” event in Major League Baseball history.”

The planners, it seems are trying to shrink the game’s footprint and encourage its fans to lead eco-friendly lives. Coordinators are:

Ordering a giant red carpet made of recycled fibers, handing out reuseable tote bags and sponsoring a playground made largely from recycled materials.

It’s hardly the biggest gesture but it’s a start.  Speaking to the San Diego paper Mark Andrew,  president of the marketing company GreenMark in Minneapolis state:

“(Teams) will bring the issue . . . to the general public in a way that is far more efficient than most other industries.  It’s like mainlining education and inspiration into the public consciousness.”

“Frequently, sports buildings are the highest-profile buildings a community,” he said. “As such, they are a platform from which you can not only transmit . . . messages of environmental sustainability but also develop new commercial opportunities.”

As noble as it is Greenbang still cannot get the Chargers environmental programme out of her head.  The slogan is really rather tacky “Blue + Gold = Green.”