Fenway Goes Green
See a game for free by helping the Sox recycle
The Celtics may be on a roll, but the TD Banknorth Garden isn’t the only place sports fans can go green this summer. Fenway Park is giving between 30 and 50 Boston University students the chance to help promote a new recycling program sponsored by Poland Spring. On Wednesday, June 25, the Boston Red Sox Green Team will arrive at the park two and a half hours before the game to promote the program and then walk through the aisles during the game to collect recyclable containers from fans.
The program began last September as part of a five-year collaboration between the Red Sox and the environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). In addition to the Green Team, the plan includes the park’s adoption of solar power, as well as several new environmental practices to take care of the field.
Red Sox Green Team volunteers receive free T-shirts and hats to wear during the game and coupons for meals at the concession stands, and after they finish their work in the eighth inning, they can enjoy the game. BU volunteer Adam Soliman (SAR’09) says his only task was to walk up and down the aisles to pick up, or ask for, plastics to collect for recycling.
“It wasn’t very difficult,” he says. “Many appreciated the idea of recycling, or going green.”
Soliman says he was able to watch most of the game, since the security guards wanted the volunteers to walk through the aisles only between innings. He says it was a great experience working with other BU students and he will be volunteering again soon.
Although the program is geared towards students, faculty and staff are also welcome to sign up as volunteers. Michele Naughton, a staff coordinator for the Educational Resource Center, volunteered with the Green Team back in May and plans on going again on June 25.
“It was a really good experience,” says Naughton, who volunteered at the game where Sox players Mike Lowell and J. D. Drew both hit grand slams. “I got a lot of positive feedback from the fans. The best part was that you got to see the game from a variety of areas, from back in the standing-room-only section all the way up to season ticket holder seats right next to the field. I got to see the game up close for a little, and the fans were really supportive.”
The program is being coordinated through Boston University’s Office of the Dean of Students. To sign up to volunteer for the Green Team for the June 25 game, e-mail dos@bu.edu and include your phone number.
Davide Nardi can be reached at dnardi@bu.edu.
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