When I firsts set out to write about the world,s most eco-friendly sports stadiums I was heartened by the Washington National's brand-new super-green ballpark near the Anacostia in D.C. 

Surely, I thought to myself, this shining example of environmental architecture is just the start of my journey across America's sporting and environmental landscape. Then I found out that when it comes to eco-friendly stadiums, we've had our soft bits handed to us by other countries.

Not just that, but one sport in particular seems to be shaming us. Europeans and their beloved soccer make us look like rank amateurs when it comes to greening up stadiums.

In the United States, outside the National's Stadium, the park with the best carbon footprint is probably Fenway just because nobody can really park near it, so fans have to take public transportation.

Now let's look at Manchester City Football Club's Eastlands Stadium. 85 meter wind turbines in a plot adjoining the stadium provide ALL the power the stadium needs to operate. In addition the club has reduced landfill waste by 85%, uses electric vehicles on the stadium grounds, and uses certified eco-friendly paper products throughout.

Other stadiums throughout the Continent are also embracing the green trend. The Stade de Suisse in Bern, Switzerland recently played host to several matches at Euro 2008, which is like the World Cup (except teams other than Brazil's frequently win- haha). The stadium features solar panels all over its roof, providing almost all of the it's power needs. However nobody should congratulate the architects of the stadium, for they have committed a far greater crime against comedy. To build the Stade de Suisse they demolished a stadium called the Wankdorf, thus depriving countless adolescent minds the joy of hearing players removed from games described as having been “pulled off at the Wankdorf.” 

Of course the world's biggest international sporting events would be incomplete without an eco-friendly stadium or two. While China may not have applied their eco-friendly initiatives to the air in Beijing, the games will have some very green spaces for athletic performances. Quite a few stadiiums and gymnasiums are featuring innovative cooling and heating methods, with the Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium standing out.  The structure, which looks an awful lot like a UFO, features recycled rainwater to cool the gym during the hot summer months. 

So there you have it America. We're getting our buttss kicked by Communists and soccer players. Admittedly this is likely because most of our stadiums were built before people talked about the environment, but still I don’t want to see anymore of these environmentally unfriendly stadiiums going up. Its bad enough our carbon footprint shames everyone except our almost equally wasteful friends, the Aussies.