NFL takes action on critical issue impacting one of its host cities: 'It's important'
According to Forbes, during Super Bowl week, the league's environmental organization, NFL Green, takes up a local environmental project where the Super Bowl is being held.
Since Super Bowl LIX was held in New Orleans, NFL Green decided to create a living shoreline with oyster shells in Leeville, 90 minutes away.
Forbes noted a startling fact: The state is "losing one football field's worth of wetlands into open water every 100 minutes."
It added, "This is among the fastest rates of land loss in the world."
Hurricanes, sediment loss, and rising sea levels cause this land loss. Rising temperatures also worsen the problem by intensifying storms, increasing rainfall, and storm surges.
NFL Green partnered with the non-profit Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, local community and government volunteers, and veterans.
With a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, project organizers collected 59 tons of oyster shells from local restaurants in honor of Super Bowl 59. They sterilized them and then put them into aquaculture-grade mesh nylon bags by the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana.
The organizers then made the oysters into an oyster reef. The oyster reef is valuable for the local community because it can protect them against storm surges and slow erosion. It also creates a habitat for wildlife, including new oysters.
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Since land loss and erosion are critical issues in Louisiana, NFL Green believed this project was right for Super Bowl LIX.
NFL Green director Susan Groh said, "It's important to go into a community and listen to what they need."
Valuable work is being done to help coastal communities like the one in Louisiana. You can donate to climate causes that conduct projects like this to help them continue their work.
Projects like this oyster reef project can significantly impact the community.
Danielle Brigida, senior director of wildlife communications and strategy at the World Wildlife Fund, said, "Reef restoration projects end up benefiting local working waterfronts, natural biodiversity, and our oceans."
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