Check Out The Green Lantern

There's an interesting new feature over at Slate.com, introduced at the online magazine a couple of weeks ago. Called The Green Lantern, it's kind of an environmental advice column, where you can write in with a question and the column host, Brendan I. Koerner, will research it, crunch the numbers and write a comprehensive answer. Koerner has written for other publications, both print and online, including the NYT, Wired, and The Village Voice. I'm finding his column to be more entertaining than helpful, at the current time, but there's only been two weekly Q & A so far. His introduction to the feature. Raise the Green Lantern, was a convincing mission statement, in which he promises: skepticism not pessimism, ways to put our own houses in order, and avoidance of the rabbit hole (by which he seems to mean avoiding choices that appear environmentally sound at first glance often seem less so when closely scrutinized. These are all things I for one will certainly welcome, and intend to check in to the Lantern as it sheds light on future topics.

You environmentally-conscious sports fans out there may find yesterday's column, Are the Yankees Bad for the Environment?The hidden costs of heading to the stadium. of some real interest. The obvious conclusion to the question as things stand now is, quite simply: Yes! Only my favorite team's wonderful throwback stadium (Koerner calls it "antiquated"), the Red Sox' Fenway Park, can boast of being more or less environmentally friendly, due to the simple fact of its urban location and lack of parking, both of which force fans to take Boston's great mass transit systems to a game. Evidently, it's not so much the energy consumed by the stadium itself, but that which is expended by fans to get there, that makes Big Sport an environmental offender and global warming contributor.

As I learned last month, however, when I flew from Providence RI to BWI, Red Sox fans aren't always paying attention to their carbon footprint. The Southwest Airlines flight I took was almost entirely filled with Red Sox fans on their way to Baltimore's beautiful urban ballpark, Camden Yards, for a Sox/Orioles game. The guys behind me in line told me they almost always do this for a game in B'more, as it's cheaper than buying tickets for a Boston home game. Which brings me back to The Green Lantern's first column: Jet Green?How to book your flight on an environmentally responsible airline.

Technorati Tags: environmental consciousness, Green Lantern, Red Sox, sports

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