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Local high school students are prepping for the Super Bowl in the most unexpected way: 'This is face-to-face with the positive'

"All you hear about is the negative."

"All you hear about is the negative."

Photo Credit: iStock

With Super Bowl 59 set to take place Feb. 9 at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, local students are preparing by … bagging oyster shells?

It may seem nonsensical, but these Chalmette High School students are actually onto something. These oyster shell bags will help combat erosion as part of an NFL Green initiative to offset the impact of the upcoming Super Bowl, according to nola.com.

While the Super Bowl brings a ton of excitement, entertainment, and revenue to whichever city it's held in, it also brings an ecological burden. The waste generated, energy consumed, resources used, and dirty fuel burned to make this monumental event happen are all considerable.

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To the NFL's credit, it's recognized this burden and addressed public concern by creating NFL Green. Established in 1993, NFL Green is a program designed to lessen the environmental impact of the league's major events. It does this by planting trees, restoring habitats, promoting recycling, donating food, and more. 

In the case of this year's Super Bowl, one of NFL Green's initiatives involved addressing the city's erosion issue. The Louisiana Gulf Coast has been losing significant land for decades in part because of rising waters and increasingly extreme weather. To tackle this problem, NFL Green teamed up with multiple local nonprofits and other volunteers.

One of those nonprofits is the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, per nola.com. The CRCL created the state's largest oyster shell recycling program in an effort to return those shells back to the coast. There they can build a living reef to prevent erosion and create brand new habitats for marine life impacted by the shifting coastlines. 

Those aforementioned Chalmette High School students took part in these efforts by bagging up some of those recycled oyster shells for the living reef. In this, they enjoy an opportunity to make a positive impact on their community and the planet at large.

"All you hear about is the negative," Chalmette senior Victoria Thomas told nola.com. "So this is face-to-face with the positive."

While some argue the NFL can do more, its green initiatives no doubt have a positive impact. It's not the only company looking to lessen its ecological impact, either. For instance, Puma recently revealed the world's first fully recycled polyester shirt. There's a French-Finnish collab that generated fully biodegradable, plastic-free food packaging.

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