Fair Trade Sports
The Charger’s lost yesterday. So I’m bummed out- But the Super Bowl is coming up and you can still prepare and have a Green Super Bowl Party!
But Football is a year round sport and certainly an American pastime. Most people don’t think about the environmental impact of playing football
1.) At the game- the amount of trash generated from cups, food packaging, wasted food.
- Sept. 22 game UCD v.s Northeastern Univ. 400 pounds of trash, 700 pounds of compostable items and 335 pounds of bottles and cans collected.
- For the football games, we predicted to collect 16 tons of recyclables for the year from tailgating locations on the Ohio State campus. However, in just two games we already have collected 7.2 tons.”
- At the Sept. 7 game vs. Akron, 22.76 tons of trash was taken from Ohio Stadium to a recycling company. From the waste, 17.47 tons of recyclable items were pulled out so only 5.28 tons of trash was actually sent to the landfill.
3.) Energy (gas) expended to get to the stadium
4.) Amount of plastics used for helmuts, pads, footballs, and other equipment.
5.) Plastic Bottles used and discarded.
6.) Uniforms ruined and replaced
7.) Toxic Cleaning of dirty, sweaty uniforms.
8.) If Real Grass- amount of energy, pesticides and water spent on upkeep. If Turf- amount petroleum products used to produce.
9.) Amount of water used flushing toilets- especially those who drink alot of beer.
10.) Amount of toxic cleaners used to clean the stadium
11.) Amount of Greenhouse Gases from vehicles and travel.
- From SuperBowl 2007 “While the reforestation effort will offset the 350 tons of greenhouse gas produced by the NFL’s 3,000- vehicle ground-transportation fleet, the program fails to account for air travel by NFL staff, teams and the thousands of fans who will fly into the Phoenix area during Super Bowl week. The game will be played in nearby Glendale.”
That said, as you are preparing for your Super Bowl Party- Try to Keep it as eco friendly as possible.
10 Tips to an Eco Friendly SuperBowl Party:
1.) Invite by Email or phone
2.) Serve Eco Friendly Beer
More on Green Beer from TreeHugger. And these few are just a taste (hic!)
• New Belgium Brewing
• Mountain Goat
• Green Man
• Long Tail
• Adnams
3.) Recycle the Bottles.
4. Buy products in bulk and less packaging.
5.) Serve Organic and Fair Trade Food
6.) Keep the heat down and have plenty of blankets and sweatshirts to give out
7.) Don’t use paper plates and plastic utensils.
8.) Have guests bring some old sports equipment they don’t use: To be donated.
9.) Offer as a Party Favor a Reusable Bag
10.) Keep the Lights down
Further Information
Recipes
The UK’s first carbon neutral beer, Adnams East Green is mighty tasty and available online at http://www.adnams.co.uk
East Green 4.3% ABV
East Green is a pale blonde beer that began life as an effort to produce an environmentally responsible beer that had flavour and integrity in equal balance. We wanted to design a beer that uses a minimum amount of energy without compromising on quality. We use 100% Maris Otter pale ale malted barley which is grown and malted in East Anglia, we also use Boadicea hops, which are grown in Suffolk’s only commercial hop yard. We chose Boadicea as not only is it available locally but it is also an aphid resistant hop. Aphids, as anyone who has a hop plant growing in their garden will know, love hops, and so aphicides are sprayed during the season to rid the plant of aphids. Boadicea is naturally resistant to aphids and so this cuts down on the amount of pesticides that have to be used. All that aside, I also think it is a great hop. It has a fantastic grassy lemon quality that works so well with this beer. We use the hops at 3 stages during the brewing process in order to maximise the flavour we get from it.