Game. Set. Match.

On Monday, we took a field trip to the opening games of the 2008 US Open Tennis Tournament. Purely for business, of course. (That James Blake-- fresh off his Olympic effort in Beijing-- was playing Center Court was purely coincidental.) We went to see what the USTA was up to on the green front.

After all, the press release looked promising:

> Recycling program from Evian
> Renewable energy
> Lexus Hybrid vehicles for 20% of the transportation fleet
> Recycling of tennis ball cans and the donation of thousands of used tennis balls
> Reduction in the number of servers used
> Organic souvenir clothing
> PSAs on the video boards
> Wallet cards featuring "eco tips" from the NRDC

Needless to say, we were quite excited to see all the green action in motion. But it was awfully hard to find. Recycling program from Evian, CHECK.

These babies were everywhere. Good for you (and us) USTA.

The rest of the list remained behind the scenes. No literature or signage. No wallet cards featuring eco-tips and no PSA's focused on sustainability. Blast!

Perhaps it was just the first day, or we hit it on an off night. But to us, it felt like a double fault. Let's hope an opportunity isn't lost here. Last year, more than 700-thousand attended the two-week event.

So if you happen to go, try the foot-long hot dogs, see if you can spot Paula Abdul from across the stadium (hint: her trademark clapping is a dead give-away), and by all means, track down your wallet card.

What's Blowing in the Wind?

You may have seen the recent advertising campaign from Vestas, the U.S. wind energy company. The $100 MM "No. 1 in Modern Energy" campaign is running largely in consumer media. The message "America has some of the world's most abundant wind resources, and Vestas is here to help harness them" is certainly timely and welcomed.

But why would Vestas bother talking to consumers? That's what Dow Jones asked, too. The answer is simple: Things are not always what they seem.

As we told Dow Jones Newswire, "Consumers aren't going to run out and buy wind turbines, but they do influence government and politicians. If politicians feel that constituents support alternative energies like this, they're more likely to support legislation that allows these technologies to grow more quickly."

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200808251045DOWJONESDJONLINE000270_FORTUNE5.htm

To read the article, just follow the link. To follow the progress of this campaign, just read this blog. More in the coming weeks.