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How did you begin your partnership with the Red Sox? We first sat down with the Red Sox in 2007. At the time I was beginning to bring environmental issues to MLB, and when the Red Sox heard about it they reached out to the commissioner's office on their own initiative. The partnership was so successful that the NRDC and the Red Sox won the Environmental Merit Award from the EPA the following year for our work with the Fenway Greening initiative. The award ceremony took place on April 22, 2008, in conjunction with Earth Day celebrations happening around the world. NRDC founder and Red Sox fan John Adams threw the first baseball at the game that night. We also aired our PSA about greening MLB, narrated by Robert Redford. The Red Sox were the first professional sports team to broadcast an envi- ronmental PSA. When they showed it I was holding my breath, because at the time the subject of conser- vation was so politicized. Did the controversial nature of climate change create any challenges? One of the reasons I reached out to baseball and sports in general was to depoliticize the dialogue about climate change. I wanted to take it out of the political realm and make it about operational changes. MLB is not known for getting involved in partisan political debates, and environmental issues had a controversy attached to them that presented a risk for MLB when they chose to support them. The Red Sox were the first to take up this cause in a visible way. What were some of the challenges you faced at Fenway? One of the biggest hurdles is that Fenway is small, especially when you get backstage. The logistics of implementing really big improvements or even doing something simple like moving recycling around is difficult. Fenway is more than 100 years old and was not conceived with conservation in mind. How were the Red Sox able to implement an effective greening pro- gram within this historic park? Despite the challenges at Fenway, the Red Sox worked to put recycling, energy efficiency, and conservation in place immediately after our first meetings. They installed LED lighting that is 90 percent more efficient than what was there before. Part of the initial launch of the Fenway Greening pro- gram in 2008 was the unveiling of 28 solar panels on the roof of the Red Sox dugout that now provide 37 percent of the energy needed to produce hot water for the park, and they save 18 tons of CO2 emissions. Fenway also made upgrades in its plumbing to include waterless urinals and more effi- cient fixtures, which has led to a 30 percent reduction in water consumption, saving more than 360,000 gallons each year. The Red Sox also implemented the Going Green recycling program, which utilizes volunteers on game days to collect recyclables. This has been very successful at Fenway and through- out the MLB, as it gets the fans involved. Because of the success of Going Green, Fenway has installed 100 solar-powered BigBelly solar compactors around the park. Each one of these is able to hold 55 gallons of recyclables. Also, most paper used at Fenway is 100 percent recycled. That includes everything from napkins at the concessions to Red Sox Magazine. How have the Red Sox helped to change the larger conversation about greening? When the Red Sox let the baseball commissioner's office know that they were supporting what he was doing with the environment, that gave huge momentum to this work. Suddenly you had one of the most historic teams in baseball saying that they wanted to make conservation an important part of their DNA. Because the Red Sox and baseball embraced this issue, it then became okay for the NBA, the NHL, Major League Soccer, the NFL, the US Tennis Association, and now NASCAR to embrace this issue, too. I have a deep admiration for the Red Sox and their management. They were truly the first at bat when it comes to greening baseball and sports overall. BC " e Red Sox were the first to take up the environmental cause in a visible way." DR. ALLEN HERSHKOWITZ PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF BOSTON RED SOX (RECYCLING, ADAMS); JJ MILLER (SOLAR) CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Solar panels on the roof of the Red Sox dugout help save 18 tons of carbon emissions; volunteers help with recycling on game days; Wally the Green Monster, Allen Hershkowitz, Stephen Johnson, John Adams, and Larry Lucchino celebrate Earth Day at Fenway in 2008. continued from page 46 48 BOSTONCOMMON-MAGAZINE.COM THOUGHT LEADER 046-048_BC_SP_ThoughtLeader_Spring14.indd 48 2/6/14 4:50 PM