What can we do?

For my first few blog entries I had focused on how certain sports contributed to environmental pollution, whereas my recent entries have focused on how air pollution can impact sporting events and athletes. This week shall be more introspective, as I consider how the way we consume sports contributes to pollution.

Even as organisers of mega sporting events aim to reduce the environmental impacts of hosting, they often do not take into account the pollution that the fans themselves cause via their transportation, consumption of goods, and waste produced etc. As Pourpakdelfekr and Oboudi (2022) write, though fan behavior (purchasing merchandise, driving/flying to watch events live etc.) might seem innocuous on the individual scale, the combined impact of many, many, many  fans intensify and accelerates the polluting effects of sports consumption (see Figure 1). Indeed, as the production volume of sports goods rises and falls in tandem with the occurrence of mega sporting events, so does the combined polluting effects of sports consumer behavior (Chen & Huang, 2022). The average spectator at the final match of the Football Association Challenge Cup, or more commonly known as the FA Cup, has an ecological footprint that is seven times bigger than if they had not partaken in fan behavior (Pourpakdelfekr & Oboudi, 2022). Though Pourpakdelfekr and Oboudi (2022) only estimate the environmental impact of individual spectators at one sporting event, researchers should not forget the habitual nature of sport consumption, which asserts that a fan is likely to consume sports products (events, memorabilia etc.) multiple times over the course of their life (Watanabe et al., 2019). Thus the pollution caused by a sports fan is likely to be compounded as time passes.

When it comes to reducing the pollution emitted from sporting events, Chen and Huang (2022), and indeed most scholars, are keenly aware that corporate firms (including event organisers, producers of sport memorabilia etc.) will not invest in green innovation without government and/or stakeholder pressure. Even when firms pledge to reduce the pollution that they emit, the measures seem to be superficial and more lip service than anything (Miller, 2022). In addition, Watanabe et al. (2023) caution against hard-line measures like banning fan travel or cancelling sporting events, as consumers will simply find another (possibly more polluting) form of entertainment, like attending concerts.

It might then seem that consuming sports content is inherently incompatible with environmental consciousness. This doesn’t have to be the case. At the risk of sounding preachy, I believe that consumers have a responsibility – and a voice – to push for a greener way of consuming sports. We do have a say in how we support the teams and sports we love. I don’t think that it’s possible nor realistic to cut sports consumption out of our lives entirely, but what if we choose to cut down? Less merchandise, less waste, less in-person events, and when we do go for events, to use less-polluting forms of transportation wherever possible. This are just some of the ways we can take action. We can also choose to support green initiatives – for example I have recently started to watch Formula E, which according to Pourpakdelfekr and Oboudi (2022), is supposedly less polluting than F1 in terms of noise, exhaust fumes etc. Travelling overseas just to watch sporting events live is also not something that I’m planning on doing.

I will end off by saying that to me, the greatest threat to the environment is not any industries, nor any compounds. Rather, it is apathy. Being environmentally-conscious is not easy, and sometimes I find that I’m unable to live my life in the way that I want to (what if I simply can’t afford food that is organic, for example?). But I try anyway, because even if my individual impact is miniscule, I’ll be able to remain accountable to myself.

 

References

Huang, C., & Chen, Y. (2022). How to Enhance the Green Innovation of Sports Goods? Micro-and macro-level evidence from China’s manufacturing enterprises. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 9, 687.

Miller, T. (2022). Sport, the Environment, and Geopolitics. In L. A. Wenner (Ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Sport and Society (pp. 274-296). Oxford University Press.

Pourpakdelfekr, T., & Oboudi, B. (2022). Overview of Sustainable Solutions to Improve the Environmental Impacts of Mega Sporting Events. Athens Journal of Sport, 9, 1-16. Doi: 10.30958/ajspo.X-Y-Z

Watanabe, N. M., Yan, G., Soebbing, B. P., & Fu, W. (2019). Air pollution and attendance in the Chinese Super League: Environmental economics and the demand for sport. Journal of Sport Management, 33(4), 289-302.

Watanabe, N., Yan, G., & McLeod, C. (2023). The Impact of Sporting Events on Air Pollution: An Empirical Examination of National Football League Games. Sustainability, 15(6), 5568.