Three leading environmental organizations have partnered with two NFL teams to fight global warming and encourage fans to take action. National environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), StopGlobalWarming.org, a bi-partisan effort to bring all Americans together to fight global warming, and NativeEnergy, the only Native American owned marketer of carbon offsets and green energy solutions, have partnered with the St. Louis Rams and Philadelphia Eagles to offset the carbon pollution from energy that was used during Sunday’s game at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis.
Energy to heat the dome and power lights and equipment comes from fossil fuel sources, which means energy for Sunday’s game also produced about 58 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution. Organizers arranged for clean energy from a Native American wind project in the midwest and energy from a Pennsylvania dairy farm methane project to be put onto the grid to offset the global warming impact of energy used on the playing field and in fan seating areas. The impact was the same as powering some of the dome with wind turbines or taking 500 cars off the road for a week.
The major source of game-related CO2 came from travel activities and accommodations. Fans, media, and teams traveling by air, bus, and car generated more than 10,900 tons of CO2 – about 99% of the event’s total carbon footprint. Organizers hope their effort will encourage fans, the media, and the entire professional sports industry to think about energy use differently and will move them to take action, either by joining the virtual march on Washington, DC, by supporting NRDC, or by offsetting their own auto, home, or business energy impact with NativeEnergy.
“The Eagles and Rams have demonstrated leadership in the fight against global warming with new renewable energy projects, and we hope that everyone – not just sports fans – will follow their lead and take action now,” says Laurie David, founder of StopGlobalWarming.org who, along with NRDC senior attorney Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., will be honored by the St. Louis Rams for their commitment to the fight against global warming during halftime ceremonies. Earlier this year the Eagles and Rams became the first professional teams on StopGlobalWarming.org’s virtual march.
With NativeEnergy, CO2 offsetting actually contributes directly to the construction of new renewable energy generators. NativeEnergy customers help finance new projects by purchasing a share of the renewable energy credits the projects will generate over their operating lives, bringing critical revenues to the project up front. Helping to build these new projects will diversify our nation’s energy supply and displace energy that otherwise would come from burning fossil fuels, thereby reducing CO2 and other pollution.
For the past two years, the NFL has planted trees to sequester carbon emissions generated by some Super Bowl activities. The Rams-Eagles game is the first to offset its carbon footprint with new renewable energy projects, which will diversify the nation’s energy supply while helping Native American tribes and Pennsylvania family farms to restore sustainable homeland economies in balance with the Earth.
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