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Can Super Bowl XLII teach sports fans about global warming?
The biggest teach-in in the U.S. is the Super Bowl, when almost 100 million of us gather around TV sets from coast to coast and enjoy the show.
We will learn lessons of dedication: how Tom Brady wakes up early in the morning to practice hard enough to unleash his potential and be this year’s MVP and one of the best quarterbacks in history as he chases his fourth Bowl title. We will learn lessons of teamwork: where each player trusts and relies on each other to achieve common goals, something the New England Patriots have perfected so far this year in their winningest undefeated run. And we will learn lessons of hope: how a NY Giants team has overcome tough odds and a mediocre early season to vie for the title. Thanks to some recent steps by the NFL, the Super Bowl may also share some lessons on how our country can tackle one of the biggest public policy challenges of this century, global warming.
Under the leadership of Jack Groh, the NFL Environmental Program is, for the third straight year, reducing the carbon footprint of the big game. While federal policymakers drag their feet, the NFL is fighting climate change next Sunday by offsetting 500 tons of greenhouse gas emissions through support of wind, solar, geothermal and landfill power as well as planting dozens of acres of trees in the host state of Arizona. They also have recycling initiatives and source many of the products locally. Their website has some info on the effort (including the image to the right). But the big question is whether they prioritize the climate mitigation lesson to the enormous audience. If viewers are inspired to purchase efficient light bulbs, carpool, and support new wind turbines rather than coal plants, then we can get our emissions falling and join Europe as climate leaders rather than laggards.
The more we can make all big events climate responsible, the more we can grow a culture that transforms our country. For further progress, I would love to hear that the NFL and other professional sports leagues commit in 2008 to reducing the emissions of all of their games, not just the championship. The NFL can join Google, 480 universities who are dedicated to climate neutrality, and others who promote climate responsibility throughout their powerful institutions and help it become a part of mainstream culture.
Mitigation efforts in one of the biggest annual games in all of sports are definitely a step in the right direction. Here’s to many more steps that take advantage of the educational opportunity to inspire our country full of sports fans to be climate responsible!
Dave,
You make an important point. The travel to and from major events is a large contributor of greenhouse gas emissions. A key question is who we make responsible for those emissions - are those the emissions of individuals who ride on the jets or the companies who charter them or the NFL itself?
I tend to think that the event organizer is responsible for the emissions of staff travel, energy consumption in the stadium, and energy embedded in the products used by the game (from the Gatorade consumed by players to the bleachers used by spectators). I believe those of us who travel to major events are responsible for traveling in the most sustainable way we can, and if we have to fly - I think verified carbon offsets are a good decision.
We'll continue to get better at climate mitigation as long as we keep raising its priority level in society - through governmental policy and voluntary action. We'll see what we can do!
This is a fabulous story and of <i>course</i> the NFL is surpassing the Feds in responding to global warming. Being the behavioral junkie I am, I was immediately drawn not to the NFL's methods of greening but the endless opportunities to <b>message</b> to those millions of fans about a wide range of environmental issues, the most pressing of which is <i>guess what</i>...
I'd love to see the NFL follow the lead of the <a href="http://www.cerc04.org/">Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Conventions</a> and, in addition to climate change reductions, find a way to avoid using the zillions of disposable toxic-laden forest products used in take-out in every venue I see (including our local coffee giant). Again, here's another connection with losing forests and poorly regulated toxics in products.
I agree with Dennis that reducing the climate footprint of the NFL should be integral to their operations and not just saved for the championship. But again, I was struck by just how the NFL, in the midst of a crazed crunchy food and libations-fest, would be able to insert a global warming message. Through its advertisers? What would happen if the NFL managed to convince the networks that all its advertisers had to incorporate some green message, indelibly linked with some consumer product? Unlikely indeed.
What about using social networks to promote the NFL's Environmental program? I found a veritable goody bag of research about <a href="http://www.infotoday.com/online/jan08/Stoss.shtml">communicating about climate change</a> and thought about the different ways to reach the infinitely diverse demographic watching the Superbowl (it's more likely my mother will be watching rather than myself). Still shocking to many of us, most Americans still get their <a href="http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind04/pdf/c07.pdf">information about science</a> (opens a PDF) and technology from television, followed by newspapers and the internet. Whatever the method chosen, it'll have to be easy, funny, downloadable and capable of <a href="http://www.marketingterms.com/dictionary/viral_marketing/">going viral</a>, in the newly emerging lexicon of professional advertisers and marketing mavens.
Even though I am a die-hard Football Fan, I am also a die-hard Environmentalist, and when the square off the good person in me always chooses the die-hard Environmentalist within me.
Just another big business company using carbon offsets and not making a complete commitment to get away with destroying our world. There is more to a sick world than just the positives of a world of less carbon involvement can solve. A complete commitment would have be proactive action of the owners coming together and passing rules that make every NFL event environmentally friendly/green.
We definitely need some national attention focused on addressing our carbon emissions. <a href="http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2006/2006-04-18-02.asp">With only 5% of the world's population, we produce one-quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions.</a> While there is growing public awareness about the need to address our disproportionate impact, most folks seem to give more thought to "paper or plastic" than where their electricity comes from. Hopefully the Super Bowl's green message will help to heighten the focus on carbon emissions,... assuming you can hear the message over the din of advertisements encouraging us to consume more beer and pickup trucks.
The Super Bowl is making the effort to <a href="http://www.azsuperbowl.com/outreach_program_detail.aspx?id=11">offset emissions.</a> Looking at the Super Bowl <a href="http://www.azsuperbowl.com/outreach_program_detail.aspx?id=2">environmental program site</a>, it seems they are also working hard to recycle and reuse waste.
If they are serious about their green efforts, they need to find ways to use less. Could they invest in improving the energy efficiency (or water - Phoenix isn't known for its many lakes) of the stadium? Food recovery is a start, but what about composting? Before recycling could they work with vendors to create less cardboard, paper, aluminum, plastic and other waste? Donating required materials reduces waste and is helpful to recipients, but could they be more careful to order only what they need?
By the way, how did a sports equipment and book donation project make the "environmental program" page? ...are they thinking it's a reuse activity?
