Take me out to a Green Ballgame …

This Saturday, going out to a local ball park could be a fun evening with a “green” theme. Bethesda Green, a non-profit working to help Bethesda, Maryland, green itself is having a fundraising event with the semi-pro Bethesda Big Train. The Big Train is truly that ‘family friendly park’, small, low cost, and almost always with things going on.

This will be quite a busy night at that ballpark. Putting aside watching a game, Bethesda Green will be joined by The Big Green Bus, which is a Dartmouth College student project taking a vegetable oil powered bus around the country for climate change awareness (and action) and The Honest Tea company.

Putting aside that Green element, this will be a busy evening with “Carnival Night”, Teacher Appreciation Night, Great Book night with a number of authors …

Much more pleasant then going to the Nationals’ “green” stadium.

Sigh … if the stadium were only at a Metro stop …

Two sweet things in one sweet package

anne havemann at strike out exxonThis is your last chance to get a free ticket to see the Nats this season AND a great opportunity to express your concerns about Exxon Mobil’s insidious advertising.

Please contact Lisa (lisaATchesapeakeclimate.org) about which game you’d like to see:

  • Tuesday, Sept. 16th – game time 7:10, volunteer time 6pm
  • Wednesday, Sept. 17th – game time 7:10, volunteer time 6pm
  • Thursday, Sept. 18th – game time 7:10, volunteer time 6pm
  • Friday, Sept. 19th – game time 7:35, volunteer time 6:30pm
  • Saturday, Sept. 20th – game time 7:10, volunteer time 6pm
  • Sunday, Sept. 21st – game time 1:35, volunteer time 12:30pm
  • Tuesday, Sept. 23rd

D.C.'s newest baseball team: The Washington Exxons

Protesters object to a green baseball stadium sponsored by the world’s dirtiest corporation
Essay by Mike Tidwell
Crossposted from Grist.org

Imagine a Major League Baseball stadium constructed to actually fight lung disease. Imagine engineers eschewing asbestos in every form, using only materials approved by the American Lung Association. Imagine emergency inhalers at every seat, with team officials aggressively marketing the “healthy-lung” park to conscientious fans.

Then imagine your surprise, in visiting the park, to see a huge Marlboro cigarettes ad plastered across the left field fence. Imagine another Marlboro ad behind home plate so TV viewers can’t look away. Imagine, finally, being asked to stand and sing Take Me Out To the Ball Game during the “Marlboro Cigarettes 7th Inning Stretch.”

Sounds absurd, right? Well, welcome to Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., for an inconceivable variation on this theme. With public alarm over global warming at an all-time high, team owners of the Nationals baseball team spent millions for a “healthy Earth” park, with environmental features like low-flow plumbing and energy-efficient lighting. The new park has been officially declared a “green facility” by the National Green Building Council, the first of its kind in American sports.

But visiting fans know the rest: Strike Marlboro cigarettes and substitute “ExxonMobil” and you have the astonishing reality at Nationals Park. Oil giant ExxonMobil, the biggest contributor to global warming of any company in the world, has its name splashed across the left field fence and, intermittently, behind home plate. ExxonMobil, which invests almost nothing in clean energy while gasoline goes to $4 per gallon, is the feel-good sponsor of the 7th-inning stretch, so your child can happily sing about peanuts and Cracker Jacks while the company logo sparkles on the biggest scoreboard in baseball. Continue reading

Hit the showers, Exxon!

Launched! The campaign to get Exxon’s advertising dollars out of Nationals Park is officially underway. There was a healthy press turnout, with FOX News, WJLA and WAMU radio among those present to get the scoop on the campaign to Strike Exxon Out at Nationals Park.

A successful and well attended event with representatives from CCAN, Greenpeace, Hip Hop Caucus, Friends of the Earth and Oil Change International addressing Exxon’s attempt to piggyback on the Nationals’ LEED Silver Certified stadium to “green-wash” their brand. Not on our watch! Keep Nationals Park truly green!

Now we’ve got to keep the ball rolling. The first five volunteers to sign up to hand out literature at Nationals home games will get free tickets to the game. You read correctly, free tickets. To Nationals home games. For the rest of the season. If you want to help educate the public about Exxon’s long history of environmental destruction and funding of global warming denial groups AND get free tickets to a Nationals home game, this volunteer opportunity is for you. But you’ve got to act soon, spots are filling up. Here’s where you sign up.

Strike Out Exxon at Nationals Park…and get a free ticket!

Strike out Exxon
Strike Exxon Out of Nationals Park. Volunteer>>

Do you want to have fun protesting global warming this summer? Do you want to feel like you’re making a difference despite your busy schedule? Want to do all this AND get a free ticket to a Nationals game?

Then we have you covered. Join us this summer as we protest ExxonMobil’s presence at DC’s new “green” ball park by passing out literature outside the stadium. Why protest? Because ExxonMobil is the single biggest contributor to global warming of any corporation. Period. And because the oil giant is the dominant advertiser at DC’s new LEED-certified ballpark.

Learn more at www.strikeoutexxon.org!

Join us starting on June 20th to creatively protest ExxonMobil’s dominant advertising presence at the new “green” ball park. Plus, the first five volunteers for any home game will get a free ticket! Sign up by contacting volunteer coordinator Lisa Lincoln at lisa@chesapeakeclimate.org.

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