How do we love sports when sports aren’t always good for the environment? 

There is no denying that environment and sport are inextricably linked. We play soccer on green fields, we swim in open water, we run through parks and trails. We rely on a healthy planet for recreation and elite sport. 

A couple of years ago before the Olympics in Tokyo, I read a column about how beach volleyball players had to stop practicing because their feet were burning on the sand. Of course Japan is hot in the summer, but the effects of environmental abuse were hitting athletes in unprecedented ways. 

We know that effects of mega events can be terrible on host regions, biodiversity, and levels of carbon emissions. But we aren’t going to cancel the most prominent human gathering in sports. Is there a way to connect dots to try to build a better future and amend our wasteful ways?

Dr. Maddy Orr is the founder of the Sport Ecology Group and an associate professor of kinesiology at the University of Toronto. She has written a book called Warming Up: How Climate Change is Changing Sport. As an authority on environment and sport, she is the best person to speak about sports on Earth Day. 

I talked with her about what we need to do to help slow the devastating effects of climate change in sport. How do we love sports when sports aren’t always good for the environment? 

“Talking about it is the scariest thing,” she told me via Zoom. “But I ask innocent questions. I will write to the [sports] federations or associations and ask about what they are doing when temperatures go above a certain point five times in a year.”

There are health guidelines about temperatures regulated all over the world and Orr pays attention to those numbers and what can be done about it.

“When hazards present themselves, it is our responsibility to be aware of that,” she said. “These are not acts of god anymore, we can predict them.” 

Orr became interested in climate change and sport when she was working in the French Alps and it became obvious that the winter conditions were not strong enough to sustain enough snow for ski conditions. This ended up delaying the season and because the snow was slushy and not natural powder, injuries became much more prominent and so did avalanches. She remembers when a neighbouring ski resort lost five children and an instructor on the slopes. 

My daughter plays soccer at the University of Calgary and in the past the team’s practices have been interrupted by wildfire smoke wafting through the city. I visited Calgary last May and saw how the air was grey with ash and the city had a dystopian feel to it. It was hard to breathe outside let alone work out.  All the soccer events in the city were cancelled until the air index quality improved.

Orr said that in addition to prevention and warning systems, response actions are essential and education goes hand in hand with that, such as information from city recreations departments, clubs and teams. This is the information that the public should know to ask about and also research themselves.

“We need policies on how to keep people safe, safety first,” she said. “It’s not a complicated concept.”

It also provides an opportunity for people to talk about climate change and how it is affecting our sports, which is essential. Accountability and education are imperative, Orr said. Building pathways to creating solutions and having more exchanges about these issues is critical. 

Orr’s research and work is not only science-based but rooted in human rights. She sees injustices and inequities tied to climate change. In her book Warming Up, there is a chapter about disadvantaged people and how climate change does not affect everyone equally, even within sport. The data shows that systemic inequalities are being exacerbated by climate change and it’s important to recognize that. 

Orr talked about a representative from the International Olympic Committee who was speaking about sustainability at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. The speaker said there will be 20 fewer participating nations because of the devastating effects of climate change on sport in those places. That’s unsettling and simultaneously mind-blowing. Be it environmental displacement or cities being too warm to host Winter Olympics, there are many ways in which climate change is affecting sport. 

But Orr isn’t worried that people aren’t interested or don’t care. 

“You would be hard-pressed to find a person who doesn’t want fresh air, clean water, or a good place for their kids to play for their kids,” she said.

The important thing is discussing it, checking to see what your soccer club is doing about recycling or about water consumption, using LED lights and even carpooling (there are websites to help map out more environmentally friendly transportation.)

As lovers of sport, participants, and community members, paying attention to initiatives and green campaigns within sport is important. There are also organizations and movements from athletes like Ecoathletes trying to amplify climate change issues. 

Continuous learning and actions are what need to keep happening — for sport and because of sport. For Orr, all of this is centred around a culture of care.

“We have a duty of care to everyone, from Timbits soccer to FIFA World Cup players,” she said.

According to Orr, this means that absence of harm must be considered as much as provision of care. That duty of care is everyone’s responsibility irrespective of team preference and club loyalty. We want our pitches and fields green, so our practice in sports must be the same. It is that simple.