If things look a little greener around here this April, there's a good reason. Our editorial staff is busy expanding the ideals of Earth Day into a month-long celebration of energy conservation, alternative transportation, recycling tips and about a million ways you can be a better friend to the planet. Welcome to Green Month, Milwaukee.

Back in 1994, the Brewers altered their long-standing royal blue and athletic gold color scheme in favor of one that featured navy, metallic gold and a touch of green.

The road uniforms had green piping, green belts and green socks against the backdrop of greenish-gray jerseys and pants.

After two strike-interrupted seasons, the green was de-emphasized.

Unless you have an old T-shirt, road cap or an affinity for Greg Vaughn and Daryl Hamilton baseball cards, chances are you've forgotten all about the Brewers and the color green.

That may change soon.

Though they are happy with their current color scheme, the Brewers -- along with the other 29 teams -- are placing new emphasis on the "green" movement.

Major League Baseball and the Natural Resources Defense Council recently announced the creation of a Team Greening Program, which was developed to support and coordinate environmentally-sensitive practices.

"Baseball is a social institution with social responsibilities and caring for the environment is inextricably linked to all aspects of our game," Commissioner Bud Selig said in announcing the plan. "Sound environmental practices make sense in every way and protect our natural resources for future generations of baseball fans."

While several clubs held "Earth Day" events to create awareness for Team Greening, the Brewers opted to hold off until they have a more cohesive plan in place.

"We're going to do something more integrated in '09," said Rick Schlesinger, the team's vice president of business operations. "I didn't want to do something half-baked this year. I want to be able to have some real meaningful environmentally positive initiatives so I can say we're not just doing optics."

With an average of 32,000 people passing through the turnstile for each home game, the Brewers and their customers create a lot of waste. Though the club already makes an effort to recycle, Schlesinger expects to expand that in the next year.

"We do some things already. I've asked our stadium operations people and Johnson Controls (which has a facility management contract with the stadium) for a report on what we can do in terms of improving recycling and improving the efficiency of our systems.

"There is more we can do. We've been looking at it. We've had some internal meetings. But, we haven't come to anything concrete."

The Team Greening Program was not designed to be a mandate. Instead, it is a system to encourage the sharing of ideas between the clubs on things like operations, concessions, travel, air quality, waste, water, recycling and office products.

The Washington Nationals' new $311 million stadium, built by the District of Columbia, is the first major league ballpark to meet standards set by the U.S. Green Building Council. Features include energy-efficient lighting, ultra low-flow lavatory faucets, low-flush toilets, recycling bins, a green roof, bike racks and preferential parking for hybrid / high-mileage cars.

The Pittsburgh Pirates use corn-based cups and game programs printed with soy-based ink. The Mariners recently played a "carbon-neutral" game and the San Francisco Giants had a promotional giveaway in which fans received reusable grocery bags.

"I think Pittsburgh, Seattle and San Francisco are doing the most so far," Schlesinger said. "I know the Nationals' park uses solar and obviously we can't retrofit our ballpark, but there is more that we can do."