Posting about the World Cup a few days ago has left me thinking about the many ways in which sports, particularly professional sporting events, can impact the environment or public health. Leaving aside the many health issues associated with performance-enhancing drugs, and the health impacts of evolving protective equipment (football helmets and concussions, for example), there are many obvious ways in which sports and the environment intersect -
Travel - Thousands of people getting to and from the game; players and teams jetting across the country (and the globe); it adds up, and as was demonstrated by the World Cup study, is probably the single largest impact sports has on the environment
Energy - Lights to light the stadiums; power to heat the arenas, and on and on. Putting lots of people in a single space actually amounts to a fairly efficient use of energy, per person, but multiplying these events many, many times over the course of a 162 game baseball season, 16 game football season, and 81 game NFL and NHL seasons is certainly a massive amount of energy.
Water - Golf courses use massive amounts of water (not to mention pesticides) to remain green and playable. Many implement smart use strategies to limit their water consumption, but still remain large municipal water drains.
Artificial playing surfaces – Again, leaving aside the benefits (or detriments) to sports injuries, the debate remains open as to the health impacts of repeated exposure to the rubbers and plastics in modern artificial playing surfaces. This is one that fascinates me and I hope to see more research in this area. Clearly, the occasional softball game is not going to pose a health threat to anyone, but what about young children in sports leagues, playing everyday, on a synthetic field? What about sustaining cuts and abrasions and exposure to the plastic compounds via those routes?
There are surely many, many more intersections between sports and the environments, after all this is without even considering auto racing…
Nonetheless, I would personally not want to consider eliminating sports from my life because of the above. Instead, consider the things we can do to lessen the environmental footprint of attending sporting events and participating in sports. Carpool to the game (or use mass transit); recycle your souvenir cup; encourage your home course to adopt greener watering strategies and integrated pest management principles; support your local field and park system, and use appropriate clothing and protection to avoid potential hazards associated with rubber and plastic playing fields.
