The Climate should not be a political football, kicked around by Republicans and Democrats. Rather, it should be a pressing concern for everyone with eyes and ears. To understand the gravity of the situation, one only needs to look at the relentless march of deforestation in the Amazon, the ceaseless melting of the polar caps, or simply look out the window.
Storms are becoming more devastating. Floods more frequent and temperatures more deadly, both here in the United States and around the globe. The stark evidence all around us makes it more galling then, when we see the impending disaster being used a culture war topic.
The time for talking is over; the time for action is upon us. Fortunately, there are organisations out there that recognise this fact and are doing something to help slow the effects of climate change, and some of them are quite surprising.
In this article we take a look at how America’s professional football league is taking a break from NFL odds, Draft picks and Super Bowl chat to help the climate. Read on to find out all about the NFL’s surprising green initiatives.
NFL Green: What is it?
The league’s environmental program was established back in 1993, long before green initiatives became part of multi-billion dollar companies marketing strategies. Known as ‘NFL Green’, the altruistic program was set up to mitigate the environmental impact of the league’s activities and create a lasting, green legacy in the communities in which it is active.
NFL Green isn’t just a program designed for PR purposes or short-term goals, it’s a program that helps to build green infrastructure and educate people about the roles that they can play in positively impacting the environment.
Here’s a look at some of the initiatives that NFL Green has played a part in.
Force Blue 100 Yards of Hope
Pollution, overfishing, the use of dynamite and cyanide by fishing companies, and an ever warming climate are just some of the reasons that we are on course to lose over 90% of global coral reefs by the year 2050.
Two years ago the NFL along with a number of other organisations and sponsors, provided the money for the 100 Yards of Hope initiative. This initiative, led by Force Blue, an organization of retired military Special Ops veterans, will see a football field size area of coral reef planted off the coast of Miami.
Once complete it will have huge benefits to local ocean biodiversity, and hopefully inspire people to take more of an interest in protecting our oceans.
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(Force Blue, with the support of NFL Green and Florida Aquarium is restoring the coral reef off the coast of Miami.)
Food Recovery
On a slightly less glamorous note, the NFL Food Recovery program is also doing its bit for the environment. This initiative sees all prepared, unserved food and packaged snacks and beverages after an event, donated to local food banks.
On average, the NFL estimates that as much as 140,000 pounds of food are donated after every game.
Community Greening
It’s no secret that we are losing our green areas at an alarming rate. Every day, planning is approved for houses, shopping malls and other buildings that require the removal of thousands, if not tens of thousands of trees, throughout the country.
Legally developers are under an obligation to replace the trees that they remove to facilitate development, but in practice this is a debt that very rarely gets repaid. NFL Green is, however, doing their bit to restore green areas in communities throughout America.
A number of special projects have seen areas the size of football pitches rewilded, thousands of saplings planted and the establishment of a number of special community gardens.
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(The NFL is restoring green areas throughout the country.)
Green Energy Procurement
The Super Bowl came under fire back in January, when online footage from a Flight Tracking app emerged, showing hundreds of private jets (882 in total), carrying celebrities leaving the game. Whilst the NFL can’t tell Taylor Swift, Elon Musk and Kim Kardashian to cut down on their private jet trips, they can offset their own carbon emissions.
Which is exactly what the NFL is doing through green energy procurement. At the end of each and every season, the league works out how much energy it uses and then buys that amount of energy in renewable energy certificates (RECs), which provide funding to help increase green electricity capacity in America.
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(Private jets leaving Las Vegas after the Super Bowl earlier this year.)
In Summary
Covering every green initiative carried out by the NFL would take too much time, as the league has contributed and founded hundreds of projects since the establishment of NFL Green back in 1993. But, rest assured that the league is doing more to reverse the effects of global warming than many world leaders…