Foul Ball

Why environmentalists should love the NFL.

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A game’s CO2 footprint depends on team size, travel, stadium size and energy use, and concessions. Game frequency, though, makes the biggest difference: One baseball game is a carbon lightweight. But all those doubleheaders add up, landing mlb in overall last place. Here’s how the big four score.

SPORT

GAMES PER SEASON

EMISSIONS PER TEAM PER GAME (TONS)*

TOTAL TEAM EMISSIONS PER SEASON (TONS)

OFFSET EFFORTS

NFL

16

716

11,448

The Philadelphia Eagles’ home games are 100% wind powered; team subsidizes renewable energy for employees’ homes; emissions cuts equal 1,500 cars per year.

NHL

82

232

18,983

More than 500 players pledged to offset their share of the league’s jet travel.

NBA

82

225

18,409

At a Houston Rockets “green game” this year, hybrids parked free; mascot Clutch the bear was dyed emerald.

MLB

162

179

28,998

The San Francisco Giants installed 590 solar panels in their stadium, enough to run the scoreboard for a season.

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We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

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