In my excitement for today's games (go 49ers!) I got to thinking about all things football. I came across this website, detailing a project at Michigan State where students weighed the environmental costs of football:
http://environmental.jrn.msu.edu/football/index.full.ht
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The article chronicles a whole host of environmental issues related to football that I never even thought about before, including:

"Tens of thousands of people driving, eating, discarding trash, going to the bathroom, firing up grills," and the "energy, water, fertilizer to accommodate the tens of thousands of screaming fans."

Of course there are also social benefits to football, but the article points out that it is a good exercise to at least think about the environmental impacts of our everyday hobbies and passions.

Thoughts, comments?

Thanks for the link! It is true that we all get caught up in our sports or hobbies so much that we forget about the negative effects of our actions. Maybe by bringing this up we can be more conscious about the environment in the years to come.

This made me wonder about the environmental impacts of the super bowl and if anything was being done to counter the negative effects produced. It turns out that the NFL has and environmental program that has been running for the past 18 years.
“The NFL Environmental Program develops projects each year to address solid waste, food waste, material reuse, the needs for books and sports equipment for children in need and the overall climate change impact of Super Bowl events.”
http://www.greenmountainenergy.com/about-us/news-room/press-releases/1059-super-bowl-xlvi-goes- green

This year, super bowl XVLI host, Indianapolis has surpassed their goal and has planted more than 2,012 trees to help offset carbon. They also plan to recycle and reuse all materials, such as posters, banners, flags, etc., that will go around the city that promotes Super Bowel XVLI. The NFL has also selected Green Mountain Energy Company to supply 15,000 megawatt hours of renewable energy certificates (RECs). The REC’s will be used to offset greenhousegas emissions associated with the electricity used at the major NFL venues. These include Lucas OilStadium, site of Super Bowl XLVI, the Indiana Convention Center, site of the NFL Experience Football Theme Park, and all four of the major NFL hotels including the NFL Headquarters, the SuperBowl Media Center, and the AFC and NFC team hotels.

Although not all issues are dealt with directly it’s nice to know that the NFL has a program that puts in effort to offset their carbon footprint.