February 2, 2011

Super Bowl XLV will be Bigger, Better, Greener

Super Bowl XLV will turn out to not only be the biggest Super Bowl in terms of attendance, but it will also be the greenest.

Thanks to the Super Grow XLV urban forestry initiative, North Texas cities from Dallas to Fort Worth, Irving to Frisco has received more than 6,500 trees. In Arlington alone, volunteers have planted 45 trees in the Dr. Robert Cluck Linear Park east of Cowboys Stadium and an additional 355 trees in medians, on school campuses and golf courses.

“There are quite a few advantages to having the Super Bowl come to your town,” said Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck. “The environmental program is one of them.”

The NFL Environmental Program also includes the use of renewable energy that will not only power four hotels housing the two Super Bowl teams, media and NFL executives, but Cowboys Stadium.

Renewable energy comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind and rain, which are naturally replenished. That makes it safer for our environment because these sources of energy do not directly emit greenhouse gases.

The project is led by the company Just Energy, which provided Green-power for the recent NFL Pro Bowl All-Star Game in Hawaii and has been a supporter of the Super Grow XLV urban forestry initiative in North Texas.

The NFL began linking environmental projects to the Super Bowl in 1993, according to Jack Groh, director of the NFL Environmental Program. He said the first tree plantings took place six years ago in Jacksonville, Fla., and since then, more than 25,000 trees have planted.

Besides the tree planting, there have been recycling and solid-waste management events across North Texas. On Jan. 19, Arlington area students joined Groh and others at the Salvation Army Community Center to drop off everything from plastics and aluminum paper to cardboard boxes for recycling.

“Many years from now, after Super Bowl XLV is only a memory and the tickets you have in your scrapbooks somewhere have begun to fade and yellow,” said Groh, “you’ll still have trees and shade and permanent benefits left behind. That’s the beauty of it.”