The University of Wisconsin football program announced Saturday it will be one of the first programs in the country to have a completely carbon-neutral home season.
Partnering with the UW College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and Madison Gas and Electric Company, the UW Athletic Department will offset the estimated 8,100 tons of carbon dioxide emissions the seven home games will produce.
The 8,100 tons estimate is based on several categories, including transportation to and from the game for every attendant, stadium operations and concessions among others, according to Ben Miller, associate dean of CALS.
MGE will help underwrite some of the cost for purchasing an equal number of carbon credits from the Chicago Climate Exchange, which will use that money for various environmental projects to help offset the carbon emissions, such as planting trees, Miller said.
These emissions credits trade at a variable daily rate between 20 and 30 cents per ton unit, according to Miller.
There are no other events on campus of this magnitude that happen on a regular basis, making this initiative a unique opportunity to create awareness of environmental concerns and initiatives on campus, said Justin Doherty, UW Athletics spokesperson.
8,100 tons of CO2 is equivalent to taking 800 individual automobiles — at 18 miles per gallon and an average of 20,000 miles — off the road for an entire year, according to Miller.
In other words, it is equivalent to the production of 14 million plastic bottles, Miller said.
“When you think of the logistics of bringing as many as 88,000 people to one place, it’s clearly going to be a very large activity,” Molly Jahn, dean of CALS, said. “Moreover, we are a campus of many, many students and staff and faculty — even small changes on that scale can make a big difference.”
More than anything, Jahn said the initiative provides an invaluable opportunity to raise awareness about environmental practices and show that the Athletic Department is really setting a standard not only for the UW but the Big Ten Conference and college campuses nationwide.
“We hate to waste a great opportunity to tell a story,” Jahn said. “With more than 80,000 fans in one place at one time, it’s a great way to get our message across.”
Miller added CALS hopes to show others that with some modeling and some assumptions, it is possible to get the information necessary to estimate the carbon footprint of any individual or event.
“Once this model is established, it becomes much more evident where we can make some changes to reduce that imprint,” Miller said.
Police statistics from Saturday’s game show improving behavior among students but worse than typical behavior from non-student fans.
The total number of ejections jumped from 29 to 51 this week. However, only 14 of those were students, a noticeable improvement from last week’s 19.
Also, eight of 10 total citations and arrests were issued to students, which is comparable to last week’s numbers.
The most common offense this week was throwing objects. Nine people were also ejected for underage alcohol consumption.
