Friday Night Football - An Environmentalist's Nightmare

So it was with equal amounts excitement and trepidation that I recently attended a high school football game. What could have changed so greatly in the decades since I was a high school student? Would I feel old and out of place? Would the game be exciting to watch?

Well the short answer is a lot as changed, and then again, much has stayed the same. Score boards are all digital and game plays are replayed on a massive screen - just like at a major league baseball or NFL game, kids stand in the bleachers texting friends three rows behind them, and the field was definitely in better condition than I remembered, but other things had remained the same.

The fans were just as excited about the evening's events, the high schoolers were still more concerned about how they looked and who they were hanging out with than the actual plays of the football game, and the food was still bad - I mean really bad. The snack shack food has remained exactly, and unfortunately, the same as I remembered it in my day...terrible.

The bill o'fare included:

• nachos - you know, the kind where the cheese is a neon color of yellow that's not even on the color wheel, and the ingredients - well, they are all some strange chemicals I've never heard of
• hamburgers - meat origins unknown
  
• hot dogs - with chili, if you want to go all out!
  
• candy - with delicious preservatives, petroleum-based food coloring, and partially hydrogenated oils
  
• chips - same amount of fat, different oil (hormone disrupting soy oils)
  
• sodas - sugar has been replaced with high-fructose corn syrup - yum!
  
• cookies - wrapped in yards and yards of plastic containing BPAs and phthalates
  

Well, you get the idea - the food wasn't what I call real food, as none of the ingredients actually came from plant or animal origins with which I was familiar. However, the worst part about all the non-food they served was that it was heavily packaged in containers that for the most part, could not even be recycled!

So, even the hoopla of the band couldn't get me excited as I watched in horror - not because one of the football teams was getting smashed on the field (oh the fun of contact sports), but because the trash cans were teeming with soda cans, single use water bottles, wrappers, and all the plastic the pre-made foods were wrapped in. It made this environmentalist cry a few tears that night!

Sadly, without even a recycling bin around, all of the food scraps and containers consumed that evening are sure to make their way into landfill at some point. [Heavy sigh.]

The bright side? Programs such as Alliance for Climate Education that seek to educate youth on on how to reduce their carbon footprint, how to preserve the environment, and steps schools can take to do so, such as implementing waste-free lunch programs. There are many programs out there that help groups learn how to transition from disposable lunches to healthy, reusable options.

Another great organization out of Berkeley, CA, is called The Center for Ecoliteracy. They offer programs that teach schools and communities how to create sustainable societies, from rethinking lunch programs to cultivating competencies in ecosystems.

While I expect I will continue to frequent the local high school football games, I am hoping that the high school considers some programs to help change their perspective - and actions towards sustainable lifestyles. (I'm sure the little email I sent them will help spark an idea or two.)