Green Tennis Balls

US Open – Attended the US Open yesterday and was able to view first hand more of what hasn’t been done, then done in the tournament’s attempt to “green” practices. The only real green here seemed to be the tennis balls. First off, there were more plastic beverage bottles available than a Coca Cola plant. Evian, which turns out is a tournament sponsor, did strategically locate a couple dozen recycle bins throughout the grounds. Additionally, all food items served seemed to be in plastic and more plastic that all went straight into trash bins. One piece of good news I did experience, was the fight over one squeezable bottle of mustard that the waitress in one food court kept needing for other tables (guess this is better than tons of plastic mustard containers or whatever those packets are made from). Lexus is another official sponsor of the tournament and their contribution to touting their hybrid vehicles was to pass out thousands of plastic hand fans with the Lexus logo. These pieces of crap had to end up scattered everywhere in the facility by the end of the day as no one would cart these home. I think the best thing the US Open could provide in the future is shade. The grounds have way too much exposed surface (Yes, I realize it’s a tennis center) and the common spaces and food court could use a serious planting of trees. I suggest the USTA contact Mayor Bloomberg’s office which should be able to direct them to trees. It’s like a vicious cycle at this facility as the lack of any shade or coverage feeds into the need for drinks coming in plastic vessels. So I guess overall, I was hardly impressed. I appreciate the fact the USTA bought some wind offsets, but it seems they could do a hell of a lot more in their immediate zone of influence.

Kids & Tennis- When Flavia Pennetta, who is ranked 19th in women’s tennis, continually needed to glare at the stands in Louis Armstrong Stadium in annoyance to the crying, screaming babies throughout her match yesterday, then something should be done about this. I am convinced some important game serves were blown due to this issue. What parent in his/her right mind would bring mere infants to a game like tennis, where silent spectators are the norm? Additionally, it was 85 degrees with zero shelter I was bummed by that, let alone a 12 month old kid. Parents please use common sense and enjoy a day out as a couple and leave the kids behind.

Green Campuses: According to Princeton Review’s green rating in ranking of the best colleges the below colleges scored 99 out of 100, base on how “environmental friendly, responsible and committed the universities are”:

Arizona State University, Tempe (Really? In a desert?)
Bates College
Binghamton University
College of the Atlantic
Emory University
Georgia Institute of Technology
Harvard University
University of New Hampshire
University of Oregon
University of Washington
Yale University