Green Summer Choices: Boxed Wine and Canned Beer

Why are boxed wine and canned beer better for the environment, more economical, more convenient?

• They have much lower carbon footprints thanks to the reduced weight of the packaging (glass bottles make up 35% of the weight of a full bottle of beer & 40% of a full the weight of a full bottle of wine). That also makes them much lighter to carry to the party or picnic.
• They're more affordable - a box of wine hold four bottles worth of wine but may cost about the same as one mid-range bottle, and unless you're a hardcore oenophile you won't taste much difference. For beer, a 24-pack of cans usually costs the same as an 18-pack of bottles.
• Don't drink that much wine in one sitting? All the more reason to go with a box, which keeps the wine fresh up to 45 days compared with just a day or two for an opened bottle and also avoids cork taint. Similarly, beer cans block the sunlight that can skunk bottled beer.

Check out the New York Times' in-depth review of higher-end boxed wines and CraftCans.com for reviews of canned beer.

"Our Courts Are Blue, But We're Thinking Green"

The U.S. Open tennis tournament is continuing to take more steps to reduce its environmental impact:

Working in conjunction with its partners at the National Resources Defense Council, GreenSlam and Flushing Meadows Corona Park, the USTA will once again conduct an extensive consumer-waste recycling program for all plastic and cans throughout the grounds of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

In addition, approximately 18,000 to 20,000 Wilson tennis ball cans will be recycled. As for the 60,000 balls contained in these cans and used during the 2010 US Open, they will be reused for tennis programming at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center and then donated to other community and youth programs.

Hybrid vehicles will make up almost 60 percent of the Mercedes-Benz player transportation fleet, and Constellation Energy, the US Open's energy provider, will supply Green-e certified wind renewable energy certificates to match the electricity consumption generated during the 2010 US Open.

Venus Williams will join Billie Jean King among the effort's spokespeople. Venus has shown her willingness to break with the trend of corporate athletes silent on political issues by speaking out for equal pay. And the GreenSlam initiative is led by King, one of Venus' idols. Might Venus be willing to be active on clean energy & environmental issues off the court? Maybe join the board of Green for All? Could be quite a game-changer.