While researching for sports that are harmful to the environment, golf is a recurring one that kept appearing. This led me to think about how bad can golf really be for the environment?

Golf not only requires a large land area but also high maintenance to maintain its pristine look. It requires a large amount of water, pesticides and along the way the destruction of ecosystems to construct them. To maintain the vast grass patch of the golf course, a multitude of steps are needed. Firstly, there is the need to clear massive land and often wildlife and ecosystems will be destroyed along the way. For instance, during the 2016 Rio Olympics when golf is being brought back into the games, the golf course was being constructed within the Marapendi Environmental Protection area which was actually a coastal habitat for for “sandbank native vegetation and animal life, including endangered species” (Sewell, 2019, p. 340) and is home to 238 species. Additionally, to worsen matters, the golf course was further abandoned after the games. Next, the golf courses require large volume of water usage. It has been estimated that a golf course in US requires 312,000 gallons of water on a daily basis and 3000 sprinklers can be found spread across a course. Lastly, pesticides are being used to maintain the grass health and to keep it away from pests. Often, with poor management, the chemicals from the pesticides can pollute nearby riparian ecosystems.

On top of these, golf balls are a rising source of pollutant in the oceans. It has been reported by a teen scientists, Alex Weber, that there are tons of golf balls found in the bottom of the ocean that has been polluting the environment. It has been noted that nearly 40 000 golf balls have been collected by Alex and his friends (figure 1) from three sites which are near coastal golf courses specifically Cypress Point, Pebble Beach and the Carmel River Mouth.

Figure 1: Retrieval of golf balls

These golf balls pose a threat to the marine environment as the material of the solid core in golf balls contain zinc oxide and zinc acrylate, which enhance the balls’ durability and flexibility. However, it has been noted that these compounds are toxic in aqueous environments, and have shown to activate stress responses in fish, algae, and crustaceans (Chawla, 2019). Besides, these golf balls can degrade into microplastics which marine animals might consume.

Figure 2: Marine habitat polluted by golf balls

Therefore, with these effects on the environment, are multiple golf courses really necessary especially in a land constrained country like Singapore?

Currently, we are right in the midst of the Winter Olympics held in Beijing and questions regarding pollution are still surfacing. Back in 2008 when Beijing held the Summer Olympics, air pollution was a major issue that led to the government implementing a multitude of restrictions – closure of factories, staggering of vehicular hours. However, these measures implemented were short-lived and were soon abandoned once the games ended. The relationship between air pollution and athletes health has been a key area of research. A study published in 2013 that investigated the amount of inflammation in the blood of healthy people during the 2008 summer Olympics has shown that the inflammation went down when extensive measures were put in place to curb the severity of air pollution. After the games when pollution levels rise again, the study has found that the inflammation rose as well. Hence, pollution do have significant effects on athletes health.

So the question is how different will the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics be? Have Beijing learnt and made progression in their fight against pollution?

Figure 1: Conditions in Beijing 2022 leading up to the Olympics

In 2015, Beijing declared “war against pollution” where dozens of coal plants were being shut down while other heavy industries were being relocated. It has been noted since then the air quality in Beijing has improved tremendously. It has been recorded that the annual average of PM2.5 particulate matter concentration has dropped from a whopping 90 µg/m3 in 2013 to to 33 µg/m3 in 2021. Although it has decreased drastically, more needs to be done as the World Health Organisation (WHO) annual average guideline is set at 5 µg/m3. Besides, during Beijing winter, air pollution is higher as wind speed is generally lower. Also, the geographical location of Beijing also results it in experiencing higher air pollution as it is surrounded by mountains in the north, northwest and west which results in the PM to be trapped, hence forming smog.

Utilising the Olympics as a global stage to showcase their credibility in combating air pollution, similar to some of the measures taken in 2008, China has implemented a wider range of measures. For instance, China has employed cloud-seeding technologies to facilitate rainfall in an attempt to “flush out dirty skies” (Shepherd, 2022). Additionally, there is a ban on unauthorized fireworks not only in Beijing but also the suburbs during the Lunar New Year.

Hence, it is undeniable that China has indeed improved massively in tackling air pollution since 2008 but more ought to be done not only when the country has been put under the limelight such as being the host of the Olympics, but also just for the genuine good for it’s people and the environment.

The 2016 Summer Olympic Games held in Rio De Janeiro, was crowned to be the least sustainable summer Olympics according to a study conducted by Müller et al. (2021) as mentioned in the earlier post. According to the study which took into consideration of 3 different dimensions specifically the ecological, economic and social aspects, Rio was ranked the least sustainable summer Olympics as not only did it displace a large portion of residents for the construction of Olympics related development, there was poor maintenance and severe under-utilisation of venues after the event. Besides, the aspect of environmental sustainability is highly controversial as seen from the severe pollution experienced which will be further discussed.

Areas of high water pollution can be seen reported in waterways where events such as sailing, rowing and other sports took place. The sewage system in Rio is extremely poor such that raw sewage flows right into the water from the poor neighborhoods. The Guanabara Bay which was the venue for sailing was reported to be polluted (figure 1) where untreated human waste flows into the bay along with visible trash seen floating on the water. Superbugs were also being tested in the waters which can severely harm the health of not only the athletes but locals living there as well.

Figure 1: A part of Guanabara bay

The extent of the water pollution was severe to the extent that the World Health Organization (WHO), released a report to suggest ” all athletes should cover cuts and grazes with waterproof plasters prior to exposure, try to avoid swallowing the water, wash/shower as soon as possible after exposure and, as far as possible, minimise their time in the water and avoid going in the water after heavy rainfall if possible”.

Besides water pollution, Rio also experienced severe air pollution. For many years, a type of air pollutant known as Particulate Matter (PM), recorded in Rio has always surpassed the limits established by the WHO, generated from the traffic of the densely populated metropolitan area. Besides, Paulo Saldiva, a pathologist from the University of Sao Paulo pathologist and member of the WHO committee, has stated that the air in Rio “is definitely not ‘Olympic air’”. With such high levels of pollution, the effects on the athletes health would be detrimental despite it being a short period of time.

Hence, with these multitude of problems faced, can Olympics or other major sporting events actually be sustainable?

The recent Tokyo 2020 Olympics has sparked quite a debate among environmentalists regarding some of its actions adopted. As mentioned by Masako Konishi, the climate and energy project leader at World Wildlife Fund Japan as well as a member of the Tokyo Olympics sustainability committee, claims that “the Tokyo Olympics has the best ever Olympic sustainability code for climate change”.

Part of the sustainability code includes the utilisation of recycled materials. The athlete’s bed frame is made up of recyclable cardboard (figure 1) and the Olympic medals use metals extracted from used electronics. Additionally, the extra electricity needed will be 100% renewable energy, and rather than constructing total brand new facilities which could be underutilised after the Olympics, 58% of the venues are from existing competition sites.

Figure 1: Athletes’ cardboard bed

Having said that, there are many critiques regarding it’s level of sustainability in combating climate change. Firstly, despite the restriction of having spectators because of the pandemic, the amount of greenhouse gases being released to transport athletes and coaches to the location is still a significant amount. For instance, flying an estimated of about 28 500 staff and athletes to Brazil generated about 2000 kilotonnes of greenhouse gases during the 2016 Rio Olympics  This will largely contribute to air pollution, expediating the impacts of climate change. Additionally, it has been reported that the tropical plywood being used for the construction of the Tokyo Olympic stadium has been traced to the forests of Indonesia. The supplied plywood were from the forests that have been cleared for palm oil plantation which leads to a multitude of environmental problems such as air and land pollution, endangering of species,  etc.

Lastly, a study conducted by Müller et al. (2021), regarding the sustainability of the various Olympics since 1992 have looked at various indicators, specifically in the economic, ecological and social dimensions, to evaluate their level of sustainability. Interestingly, the Tokyo Olympics was not ranked the most sustainable but rather it was the Winter Olympics held in Salt Lake City in 2002. However, some questions to ponder would be how different will the issues be between the Winter Olympics as compared to the Summer Olympics?

With that, it is up to us to decide which side of the fence we agree with. In the subsequent posts, more issues pertaining sports and the specifics pertaining environmental pollution will be shared.

With the ongoing climate crisis, pollution is a serious problem in today’s world. On the other hand, sports is something enjoyed and participated in by many around the world. So how often do we think about the intersection between sports and pollution? Do we consciously think of the implications of our actions when we head down to support our favourite team located on the other side of the globe? Do we think how these environmental effects can affect the team’s performance?

This series of blog posts aim to shed light on everything about sports and pollution such as how sports contribute to pollution, how pollution affects the health of the athletes, and many others.