When we think of the Super Bowl, America’s most popular sporting event, according to Arcadia Publishing, ocean conservation and military veterans aren’t usually first-rate. But over the past two years, a unique collaboration before the annual game has placed coral restoration at the forefront of global attention.
For nearly 30 years, NFL Green, the NFL’s environmental and sustainability program, has managed community green initiatives for the sports league. Each season, these culminate with “Green Week” before the big event, with projects by the NFL and the Super Bowl Host Committee benefiting each host community, said Susan Groh, associate director of NFL Green.
“The goal of NFL Green is to reduce the environmental impact of our events and go much further to leave a positive green legacy,” Groh told EcoWatch. Efforts include food recovery, recycling and waste management, donation of materials used for events and construction, and compensation for energy for events.
This green legacy has also included a touch of blue over the past two years, meaning conservation efforts focused on the waters of Miami’s host cities in 2020 and now Tampa in 2021. Miami’s Green Week activities for at Super Bowl LIV they meant planting 100 Biscayne Bay cork corals in honor of the 100th season of the NFL, Groh said.
Last year, the effort was expanded to “100 Yards of Hope,” a football-sized coral restoration project. The final areas and center of the field-sized reef were placed in the fall of 2020, followed by divers who planted thousands of starry, mountainous corals from The Florida Aquarium (FLAQ), Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS) from the University of Miami. , SECORE International and Frost Science, explained Debborah Luke, senior vice president of conservation at FLAQ.
Military veterans and coral scientists come together to plant endangered corals as part of the NFL’s 100 Yards of Hope. Forced Blue
“This important project is helping to restore Florida’s coral reef, the world’s third-largest barrier reef, which is in crisis,” Luke told EcoWatch.
The Florida coral reef provides key viversary areas that support the ocean ecosystem and protect the coasts from storms and erosion, Luke said. It also provides significant economic benefits by generating $ 3.4 billion annually in the U.S. economy through jobs, tourism, seafood and medicine, Groh of the NFL added.
Unfortunately, global factors such as the climate crisis, ocean warming and acidification remain threats, along with regional pollutants and a mysterious coral disease.
“More than 90 percent of [the reef’s] the corals are dead … restoring the Florida coral reef is a must if we want to keep harvesting [its] benefits, ”Luke said.
100 Yards of Hope intends to reverse this trajectory in a single showcase reef, said Dalton Hesley, a senior research partner at RSMAS, whose team led the restoration efforts. It is the first large-scale restoration project that combines thousands of sexual and asexual coral transplants of various species, along with disease monitoring and mitigation, hedgehog relocation, and high-resolution mapping. All of these actions increase coral coverage, diversity and recovery, Hesley noted.
“100 Yards of Hope is a symbol. It’s a symbol of what passionate and hopeful people can achieve when they work to achieve a shared vision,” Hesley told EcoWatch. “What began as a celebration of the NFL’s 100th season has turned into a fight for the future of our coral reef.”
Last week, 150 elk corals, another endangered coral species, were added to the field. RSMAS provided 55 of the endangered corals, in celebration of Super Bowl 55, this past weekend. FLAQ provided the rest of the corals. A final planting of large brain and star corals in the spring will complete 100 yards of hope, Groh said.
Force Blue military combat veterans helped with the plantations. The nonprofit recreates and deploys former special operations veterans and military-trained combat divers to work alongside scientists and environmentalists on marine conservation tasks, said executive director Jim Ritterhoff.
55 divers remove marine debris from Tampa Bay as part of NFL Green Week. Forced Blue
“If we can do something good for veterans by giving them a new mission to save the planet and provide a highly skilled workforce to the scientific community, better than better,” Ritterhoff said. “But, maybe [touchdown] all of which is how this effort uses Navy SEALS and the NFL, people who aren’t traditionally seen talking about conservation, to reach an audience that wouldn’t necessarily pay attention to coral reef scientists. People listen because these guys are their heroes. “
Noting that this is more of a global project than a local Florida project, Ritterhoff added, “I think it’s imperative that everyone is aware of these issues. The Florida coral reef is a national treasure and it could be gone 100% of our lives. If we don’t behave differently, it will go away. “
NFL Green Week included planting the Reed Park Community Garden in Tampa Bay. Michael Farrant / Tampa Bay Super Bowl Host Committee
In addition to coral restoration efforts, NFL Green completed traditional community outreach projects. It involved creating pollinator gardens, planting mangroves, restoring the shoreline, and adding sand dunes to prevent erosion and storm damage.
NFL Green also connected land and sea with an underwater cleanup called Dive 55 at the mouth of Tampa Bay. To do this, the leaders of the Force Blue team took 55 divers to recover more than 1.5 tons of waste, not limited to old fishing traps, ropes, nets, plastics and beach debris, he said. dir Groh. Some of the recovered items will be used by local students to create art projects that will be displayed at FLAQ to raise awareness of marine debris.
“It’s about leadership and legacy,” Groh said. “Big events have the opportunity not only to offset the environmental impact of their events, but to go much further and leave communities hosting events better than they found them. The world faces significant environmental challenges. and it will lead us all to address them. “
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