NFL Environmental Director Visits Greene School

On Friday, Jan. 11, students, faculty and staff at West Greenwich's The Greene School, an environment-focused charter public high school serving students from communities across the state, were visited by Jack Groh, director of the National Football League’s (NFL) Environmental Program. 

Groh spoke about sustainability plans for the upcoming Super Bowl XLVII, which will incorporate environmental principles into Super Bowl-related events in New Orleans. 

Groh discussed several of the program's objectives, which include reducing the environmental impact of Super Bowl events, reducing cost of waste removal and disposal, reducing waste of resources and making a positive contribution to the host community and developing projects that leave a permanent, positive legacy of Super Bowl XLVII and a measurable return on investment.

A number of projects have been specifically implemented for this year's Super Bowl, including solid waste management and recycling at all major NFL Super Bowl facilities and climate change initiatives that will focus on the use of renewable energy and carbon offsets for NFL event venues and official travel as well as the funding of community forestry projects in support of New Orleans' ongoing Hurricane Katrina recovery.

The NFL Environmental Program has also introduced projects for Super Bowl XLVII to eliminate the waste food and materials, such as the Prepared Food Recovery program, donation of reusable materials to schools, non-profits and other organizations that can put them to beneficial use and the Super Kids - Super Sharing sports equipment and book collection project. The program has also designed an Environmental Guide specific to this year's Super Bowl for use by all NFL event managers. (See the attached Program Summary for detailed information about each project.)

"As a charter public high school, we thrive on providing innovative and creative learning opportunities to further engage our students in their curriculum," said Deanna Duncan, head of school at The Greene School. "Hearing from the National Football League on ways they are working to lessen their environmental footprint was exciting for all of us. It spoke to the value of our curriculum, which is centered on direct experiences with environmental science and technology that affect the natural world. I think we're all looking forward to watching this year's Super Bowl with a whole new perspective."