Planting a Tree for Each Home Run Hit by the Philadelphia Phillies

Major League Baseball’s Philadelphia Phillies have a new incentive for hitting home runs.

For every home run hit by a Phil, the Philadelphia Horticultural Society will plant a tree in a park or other location.

The Phillies are a new member on an ongoing campaign called “Plant One Million.” The goal of the program is to plant one million trees in and around Philadelphia, including neighboring sections of Delaware and New Jersey.

With two of their star players sidelined by injury, the Phillies haven’t been hitting many balls out, but it’s still a idea for the baseball – or other sports team – in your community.

To learn more, read this post from the Phillies website.

More US Baseball Teams Starting Variety of ‘Green’ Initiatives

Pretty soon the baseballs used by major league teams in the US will be colored green.

 Nah. But just about everything else associated with pro baseball in the US is starting to go green.

 In St. Louis the Cardinals stadium recently added solar panels. The Kansas City Royals also added solar panels.

Meanwhile in Seattle the Mariners will continue the tradition of playing a carbon-neutral game by buying renewable-energy credits and water certificates that offset the amount of energy and water the team and its fans will consume on that day.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have a new green program targeting recycling and waste reduction at the ballpark. And, as we told you last week, for every home run the Philadelphia Phillies hit this season, a local environmental group will plant a tree. (You’ll find that story right below this one.)

To learn more, read this Major League Baseball post including a video report.

New York Yankee Stars Teach Kids Environmental Lesson

When it comes to setting a good example, three members of the New York Yankees are heavy hitters. (Get it? Baseball players are heavy hitters? Yeah, we should have rewritten that line.)

Anyway, as we were saying, three Yankees – Chris Dickerson, Francisco Cervelli and Eduardo Nunez – spent a recent afternoon helping teach kids how to go green.

The players planted an evergreen tree and took part in a science experiment about acid rain and the environment.

One of the players, Dickson, told a reporter that as a kid in southern California, he’d experience polluted water and friends with asthma so bad they couldn’t play baseball on days when there was a smog alert.

To learn more at the New York Yankees website.