Sport and the Environment

Sport is dependent on its environmental contexts. Skiers require snowy slopes. Swimmers need clean lakes. Spectators and the athletes they watch need venues conducive to viewing and competing. Equally, sport itself is environmentally impactful. Golf courses need natural resources and perhaps chemicals to stay green. Sport infrastructure (such as stadiums) can upset sensitive ecosystems and displace local residents. Teams and fans travel great distances by plane and car, emitting C02 along the way. In all, sport and the environment are inextricably bound. And while sport can be environmentally damaging, there is hope as well that sport can be a force for positive environmental change - for example, as expressed in the United Nation's assessment of the role of sport in promoting sustainable forms of development. In a context where pressing concerns about climate change have led to inspired calls for changes in how people relate to and understand the environment, questions remain that are highly pertinent to sport. How are sport organizations and others responding to environmental concerns? How are decisions made about how to respond to environmental issues? What assumptions underlie the approaches that are adopted? Who benefits most and least from these decisions - and how are environmental priorities balanced against economic ones? What are the potential consequences of maintaining the status quo? At the core of Sport and the Environment: Politics and Preferred Futures are questions about how sport impacts the environment, how decisions are made about how to respond to environmental issues, and what a truly environmentally-friendly sport looks like, or could like.