Sport, the Natural Environment, and Sustainability

Abstract

Given the growing body of research pertaining to sport, the natural environment and sustainability, it is an appropriate time to review the orientation and findings of this work, and to identify further avenues for research. This is especially so given the vast amount of literature published across a range of disciplines that document the evidence of significant change to the natural environment on a global scale. Such environmental issues include the multi-dimensional problem of anthropogenic climate change which has led to a complex global web of policy, legislative, commercial and organisational responses, and that of itself has been the subject of a vast body of multi-disciplinary research. In the field of sport, relatively few studies have examined the impact of sport on the natural environment, or the environmental sustainability of current sport management practices. Further, an even smaller body of work has investigated the impact of environmental change on sport. This chapter concludes with a discussion of research questions that reflect gaps in the literature that may guide future research efforts.

Climate change, physical activity and sport: a systematic review

“…More studies should quantify the carbon footprint of (inter)national, university sport competitions, and leisure sport practices, particularly in countries that are large emitters of greenhouse gases. Guidelines should be developed to ultimately limit the CO 2 emissions from these sectors and promote sustainable sport management practices (see e.g., [117]). 7.…”

Time for practice; sport and the environment

“…Yet, a revised analysis (Mallen, 2018), using the same parameters as the previous study (Mallen, Stevens and Adams, 2011), identified only 53 additional articles published on the subject in seven years. Dingle (2016) undertook a similar exercise to Mallen (2018) and identified just 51 new articles since 2008. Trendadilova andMcCullough (2018, p.3) published "a rapid review" of literature to determine "if environmental sustainability research addressed the current efforts of the sport sector".…”

“…Their study considered journals listed with the North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM) between 2007 and the end of September 2017, finding 84 articles. Compared with Mallen (2018) and Dingle's (2016) analysis this adds n=31 and n=33 publications to the list from an additional two-year period. However, Trendafilova and McCullough (2018, p.10) conclude that "when one looks at the numbers, it is clear that more scholarly work is necessary if we are to keep up with the efforts of the sport sector when it comes to environmental sustainability".…”

“…This incomplete understanding of environmental activity in sport is further challenged by the terminology used in some of the literature. All three of the literature reviews identified (Dingle, 2016;Mallen, 2018;Trendafilova & McCullough, 2018) refer to environmental sustainability. The word 'sustainable' is contentious and to describe an activity as being undertaken 'sustainably' assumes that it is possible to perform that activity without additional impact on resources.…”

Intentions of Environmentally Friendly Behavior Among Sports Club Members: An Empirical Test of the Theory of Planned Behavior Across Genders and Sports

“…Sports environmental research emerged early in the 1980s, but until 2008, only a few occasional and qualitative studies examining the role of the natural environment in the sports context were published (for a review see Mallen et al, 2011). From 2008 onward, the growing public interest in environmental problems was accompanied by proportionally growing research in the field of sports environmental research (Dingle, 2017). While most studies in the early stage tried to answer questions about why and how environmental strategies are applied within sports (e.g., Trendafilova et al, 2013), studies of proenvironmental behavior of spectators and sports participants have attracted the interest of researchers (e.g., McCullough and Cunningham, 2011;Wicker, 2019).…”