Robert Redford, MLB in business

• The power of distraction...and the popularity of meaningless self-flagellation.

(By Filip Bondy, NY Daily News, 4/21-4/22/08): "Tonight at Fenway, ...a public service video,

• narrated by (Robert) Redford and co-sponsored by MLB, will be shown."...

• "SPORTS AND THE SUNDANCE KID

(Bondy): "It was at a 2003 meeting of the NRDC board at Sundance that actor and conservationist Robert Redford first devised this new strategy.

• "We have to go to sports," Redford said.

He told members in attendance that sports was the new opiate of the people, that it was a prime reason masses weren't revolting in the street. At the same time, sports provided a unique opportunity to connect to nontraditional allies, who might adopt a greener attitude.

• "We help the leagues, and at the same time use them as leverage with companies that were not responsive," (Dr. Allen) Hershkowitz (NRDC scientist) said.

"It's difficult to compete, because $1 trillion, four percent of our GNP, subsidizes global warming - the coal plants, the mines, the virgin paper mills, pesticides based on petroleum. But we ask, 'How can we get you rich while advancing environmental efforts?' And these are changes that can't be rolled back by an uncooperative administration or president."

• Selig embraced the alliance.

Recycling bins were set up in ballparks around the country.Programs were printed with recycled paper. Soon companies such as Coke and Aramark were making adjustments - like turning off vending machines for several hours per day whenever there was no game in progress.

• ...Athletes infamous for their big cars and substantial lifestyles are being recruited to the cause of environmentalism, which is

• good for anyone's public image....

Tonight at Fenway, the president of NRDC, John Adams, will throw out the first pitch.

• A public service video, narrated by Redford and co-sponsored by MLB, will be shown.

It is a night game, however, and the lights will glare....Five or six dozen baseballs will be used. Bats from precious ash trees will be smashed into shards. At 10 p.m. or so, thousands will drive home in gas-guzzling cars to the distant Boston suburbs."

• (Oh, the "eco-ignorant masses").

• (Earlier in the same article):

(Bondy): "It is an ecological horror show, and the one good thing that can be said about our favorite pastimes is that these sports are becoming fresh laboratories for reform. People in high and visible places - from Robert Redford to Bud Selig - have come to understand* that America's

• games can spur change among corporate partners and

• even among the eco-ignorant masses.

"We're not going to get rid of night games," said Dr. Allen Hershkowitz, senior scientist at the National Resources Defense Council. "We're not going to change how the business works. This is going to take a long time. But getting baseball to embrace ecology allows us to take all politics out of the discussion of climate change, and it allows us to reach out to nontraditional allies."

• (Right). sm

From NY Daily News article by Filip Bondy, "Shea, Meadowlands Among Facilities Helping Spread Green Message," 4/22/08

• *This presumes it's something Bondy "understands."

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