Eco-Friendly Initiatives and Products by Nike

1. 8 Plastic Bottles

Each Nike 2010 World Championship Football jersey is made entirely from recycled polyester. That's up to eight recycled plastic bottles per jersey. In total, that diverted nearly 13 million plastic bottles from landfills. Yes, you read right. 13 million. Plastic. Bottles.

2. NYC Plays Ball

Over the next two years, Nike is partnering with the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development to install and refurbish 25 basketball courts throughout New York City giving 10,000 kids access to do what they love. Apathy, you just got posterized.

3. Homeless World Cup

Nike supports the Homeless World Cup, a world class, annual, soccer tournament engaging players from 64 countries. A staggering 71% of participants significantly change their lives after competing in the Homeless World Cup. Hope, you have just found a new home.

4. Nike N7

Through Nike's N7 initiative, we have built an environmentally friendly performance shoe to address the specific width and fit requirements for the Native American foot. Where diabetes is prevalent in this community, this shoe will help combat it by encouraging and improving exercise. Where there's a shoe, there's a way.

5. A Better Shoebox

A new lighter, stronger shoebox comes into play in 2011. Using 23% less material in the box saves the equivalent of 200,000 trees annually. And like all of our shoeboxes since 1995, it's made with 100% recycled cardboard. Trees should be hugging us.

6. Soweto's Next Generation

In Soweto, South Africa, Nike built a football training center so 20,000 young footballers have access to a program that includes high-end training facilities, top-level coaching and HIV education. HIV, consider yourself benched.

7. Technology Exchange

We believe in saving the planet, so in partnership with the non-profit Creative Commons, we created the GreenXchange. Through it we offer patents to license, including our environmentally preferred rubber, to other footwear companies who can use the technology to lower their environmental footprint.

8. Nike Free TR Fit

The Free TR Fit is designed with a lower environmental impact using environmentally preferred rubber, water-based cementing and recycled polyester. That means every step in the multi-directional flex groove outsole replicates the foot's natural movement and helps women get more out of their workout without leaving a huge environmental footprint. Everyone's a winner.

9. Need to stop a war? Look no further than soccer. A civil war in Ivory Coast came to a cease-fire during the 2006 Football World Championship when the national soccer team progressed to the finals. Sport 1. War 0.

Nike,Inc., N. (2011, October 14). Nike, inc. awards grants to 27 local nonprofits and schools [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.nikebetterworld.com/