It’s silly, but the more you start thinking about every purchase, the more you start thinking about every purchase…to the point where I haven’t played basketball, one of my main favorite forms of exercise, much except at the Rec for a few years. Why? ‘Cause my old basketballs were…old…worn down, worn out (usually a good outdoor bball lasts a season or two, depending on how much you play). And so, a year or so ago, when it came time to buy a new ball…I couldn’t do it. First of all, there’s nowhere to buy a ball except at Target or some other big box chain. McGuckin’s, our great local indie hardware store, only offers a few balls, literally–and they’re none to good (you really want a ball that has good grip). Secondly, all balls I know of are made in…you guessed it. China. Mao’s homeland. Right. The same Mao who killed more than Hitler and Stalin combined. The same country where Tibetans are oppressed, and Chinese only slightly less so.

So, for two years, I didn’t buy a ball.

Finally, last week, I caved. I’m crazy, I thought to myself—go to Target, buy a ball, it’s summer, you should be out there playing with JC and all the other boys you see every day, running about in heat that’d knock Liston out and keep ‘im down.

So I go to Tarjé, for the first time in two plus years, and…lo and behold, the Green movement has reached even the flourescent-lit halls. I find the bball aisle and two Obama volunteers are spending their lunchhour, I guess, tossing a whiffle ball back and forth. Gripping a series of Made in China balls in Target, our non-local big box retailer, I see one that’s…dark green…that says something about ‘Think Globally, Hoop Locally.’ A riff, of course, off the famous hippie “Act Locally, Think Globally.”

The ball is more than green-colored–its skin consists of 40% recycled rubber. Delighted to have found an option that’ll help tilt the bball market ever so slightly toward sustainability, I dribbled off, inspired—and eager to get out on the courts.

Wilson Rebound Recycled Basketball:

• Official size
• 40% of the rubber cover is made from recycled scrap rubber
• Display box is made from 80% pre and post consumer recycled board
• Other great options. And another.