Can Talking Trash Actually Make Sports More Sustainable?

By Lew Blaustein, GreenBiz Kelsey Hallowell is a professional trash talker.

She plies that unusual trade for Reduction In Motion, a forward-leaning waste reduction consultancy in Baltimore. One of Kelsey’s clients is the Maryland Stadium Authority which, among other things, owns Camden Yards (home of baseball’s Orioles) and M&T Bank Stadium (home of the NFL’s Ravens).We talked to Kelsey, whose official title is communications and outreach coordinator, about the unique aspects of working with sports venues. And talking trash.

‍Lew Blaustein: I love your job title. How does one get to be a professional trash talker?

Kelsey Hallowell: For me it started out as a little girl in Duxbury, Massachusetts. I was always outside playing — the joke with my family is as a toddler, my parents would set me beside them as they gardened, and I would eat handfuls of dirt.

‍Blaustein: Uh … another way of saying you have "an appreciation for the environment."

Hallowell: Yes. Then I ended up attending Washington College, a small liberal arts school in Chestertown on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

‍Blaustein: Sounds like an outdoorsy place.

Hallowell: It is. In fact, I got to be a part of the first cohort of something called the Chesapeake Semester. It was amazing. Rather than being stuck in a classroom, we went out into the environment, into the field to learn. Talked to and worked with farmers, scientists and historians for environmental causes throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

‍Blaustein: What a great program. I can see how you would end up in the trash talking, waste reduction business.

Hallowell: Actually, I started in the recycling and waste world while at Washington College. I worked with the Center for Environment & Society (CES), which is linked with the college and Chestertown. CES focuses on social and environmental issues.