Slippery Slopes Report

How climate change is threatening the Winter Olympics

Produced in partnership with Loughborough University London

and Protect Our Winters UK.

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Sports for Nature: Setting a Baseline

A UNEP report, authored by many SEG members:

Madeleine Orr, Jack Pippard, Ugo Arbieu, Jonathan Casper, Tim Kellison, Jordan Howell, Walker Ross, Jessica Murfree, Brian McCullough, and Sylvia Trendafilova.

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Research

Here, we cover all research related to sport and the natural environment: the recent, the relevant, the revolutionary.

Our goal is to synthesize sport ecology research in one place, so researchers and practitioners have access to the latest information.

If you would like more information about any of the studies included here, please contact our team!

For students: We will help you find the original work (full length texts). Get in touch.

For academics: if you've published something about - or related to - sport ecology and we've missed it, get in touch.

Note: The SEG does not own the intellectual rights nor copyright to the texts discussed herein. We share summaries of relevant research, and cite the original work, to make academic articles more accessible to people outside the academic community.

This database is searchable - Start here

Collaboration between sustainability departments and athletics departments (2015)

The study aimed to understand the collaboration efforts (if any) between sustainability offices on college/university campuses and the athletic departments. Interviews with 17 participants were conducted with results indicating the importance of relationship development, communication, decision-making development, collaborative efforts, and challenges associated with the development of relationships between the sustainability offices and the athletic departments. Although the

The environmental awakening in sport (2013)

Dr. Michael Pfahl argues in this essay that two related perspectives exist in relation to sport and the environment. The first is the Inside-Out perspective where organizational personnel understand how their activities impact the environment. The second perspective is Outside-In where external environmental and related issues (e.g., government regulation) impact the operations of an organization. This essay traces the early developments of the green sports movement: facility

Constraints and opportunities for a green team in professional sport (2014)

The study focuses on the Green Team of a MLB team, specifically on the factors that facilitate or hinder the sustainability efforts of the Green Team. Interviews with the members of the Green Team were conducted and results indicated that the efforts directly affected the fans and the employees' commitment to sustainability within the organization. However, more effort needs to be placed to address areas such as the game or event, which would require the involvement of all st

Perceptions of climate change among stakeholders in Australian Alps ski industry (2012)

This interview-based study explores the climate change perceptions of ski-tourism representatives and other regional stakeholders in the Australian Alps. This region is already experiencing some effects of climate change such as rising temperatures, declining rain and snow falls, and shorter skiing seasons. All interviewees accepted climate change was a reality; several, however, questioned the worst-case scenarios. Social resistance to increased water and electricity use for

Ecological economics and sport stadium public financing (2017)

This paper presents the concept of ecological economics (which is based on the premise that every economic activity has an associated throughput of matter and energy) and the authors argue that municipalities may be in a position to require all publically funded facilities to engage in environmentally friendly behaviors and initiatives. If we accept the premise that there are limits to growth, it follows that controls and management of growth should follow. There are two ways

Legitimizing sustainability efforts through strategic partnerships (2016)

This article advances that strategic alliances among environmental groups and sport organizations are critical for achieving legitimacy when it comes to sustainability. Such alliances can not only provide legitimacy but also have the potential to increase revenue and customer loyalty. Furthermore, sport organizations can utilize the expertise of different environmental groups, while these groups in return can benefit by entering new markets. CITE: McCullough, B. P., Trendafil

Sense of place and environmental sustainability in sport (2016)

Despite significant efforts by sport organizations to reduce their environmental impacts, fan engagement efforts have produced mixed results regarding increases in participation in sustainability initiatives. This paper proposes that sense of place (i.e. an attachment manifested through our experiences with a particular setting or space that bestows that space value in one's mind) can be leveraged to increase participation in such initiatives, thereby decreasing the environm

Formation and function of a collegiate athletics sustainability committee (2018)

This study explores cross-sectoral social partnerships (CSSP) in the context of a Green Team at a university, 11 interviews were conducted over the course of two weeks in March 2016. Participants included five Athletics representatives, one student-athlete, and personnel from non-Athletics departments including a concessionaire, three members from the university Office of Sustainability, and an employee from the Waste Management department. The encouragement from the universi

Recycling intentions among youth baseball spectators (2011)

This study examined the value-action gap, that is- the gap between people's attitudes and their behaviors, in the context of recycling at baseball games. A pilot study was first conducted with university students to refine the survey instrument, then the survey was administered to 129 attendees at a youth baseball tournament. Participants completed a questionnaire that asked them to provide their demographic information and to respond to items measuring theory of planned beha

A conceptual model to understand engagement in green initiatives (2010)

Three common factors within institutional theory—political, functional, and social—serve as major themes that can strengthen or erode commonly held traditions, beliefs, or values within an organization. Drs. McCullough and Cunningham apply these factors to environmental sustainability initiatives in sport organizations. Several propositions are advanced, as inciting factors, moderating factors, and outcome variables. Inciting factors: 1: Political pressures from external stak

What influences sport spectator recycling behaviours? (2013)

In this study, Dr. Brian McCullough explored the attitudes of sport spectators towards recycling at sporting events, the ways subjective norms influence spectators' intentions to recycle at a sport event, and the role of perceived behavioral controls in influencing recycling at a large sport event. 16 interviews were conducted with event attendees of a university football game. Respondents were asked: - “Do you recycle when you attend Public University’s home football games?

Community-based social marketing in a recycling intervention with tailgaters (2015)

This study explored the effect of a community-based social marketing campaign on the recycling behaviors of tailgaters at a college football game. In this case, there were no recycling opportunities in the main parking areas, nor in the stadium. In spaces surrounding the stadium (e.g. public parks and streets) there were also no recycling options. At this university, for various reasons, the tailgater population is relatively consistent from event to event and season to seaso

A content analysis of environmental sustainability in sport journals (2011)

A content analysis of the academic literature in sport management was conducted using 21 English-language refereed journals, to examine the scope and depth of research on environmental sustainability. Interestingly, only 17 of the 4,639 articles reviewed directly addressed environmental sustainability. Six of the articles were published before 2000, and the other 11 articles were published between 2000 and 2008. All 17 studies were qualitative. The main theme of the work was

Assessing environmental performance at an international multi-sport event (2010)

This study assessed the environmental performance of the International Children's Games (ICG). The environmental performance assessment was completed using the Sport Event Environmental Performance Model (SE-EPM), which was adapted to suit the unique context of a sport event (e.g. 'company' was changed to 'Games'). Each participant in the study rated items in the SE-EPM, then additional data was collected through 15 interviews with members of the event's middle and upper mana

Climate change and Canadian communities' grass-based sports fields (2017)

16 interviews were conducted with facility and park managers at grass sport fields in Canada to understand how these site managers are adapting to climate change. Key findings related to climate change awareness and concern: - Every participant noted that reliable sources of environmental information were necessary in the process of completing their job activities. - Several sources of environmental information were used, including weather apps, weather channels on TV, public

A framework for debating the future of environmental sustainability in sport (2011)

It is widely accepted that sustainable development is challenging as the concept is vague and ambitious, context-specific, and complicated. As a result, it can be difficult to define and subsequently achieve environmental sustainability. This paper advances a framework for debating environmental sustainability within the sport sector. This framework has two main dimensions: ‘‘constraints within the natural environment’’ (Busch & Hoffman, 2009, p. 295) and ‘‘action aimed at co

Environmental sustainability in sport facility management (2010)

This consensus-seeking study surveyed facility managers over three iterations to identify trends in the current state of environmental sustainability in facility management. The results indicate that environmental sustainability (ES) negatively affects and challenges sport facility management with several issues. Some of the key challenges included: - a need for strategies and tools to achieve a reduction in the consumption of resources, - ES training, - sourcing ES produc

Considering the social impact of sustainable stadium design (2015)

Despite the growing focus on sustainability in the realm of sport, environmentally friendly sport facilities represent less than 40% of new stadium constructions in North America. This study is based on 13 interviews with architects, with results indicating that the environmental movement has influenced decision making among sport organizations.The hope for the future is that more facility owners will adopt sustainability designs within their sport facilities. CITE: Kellison,

The use of corporate pro-environmental behaviour to influence facility referenda (2012)

This study explores public perceptions of organizations, organizational legitimacy, support for public funding of sport stadia, and the role pro-environmental behaviors and actions can play in improving each of these. The authors advance four conceptual hypotheses: 1) A sport organisation seeking public funding for a new facility will receive greater public support by incorporating pro-environmental features into the facility’s design. 2) A sport organisation seeking public

The behavioral impact of a sport and the environment course (2015)

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a one-week Sport and the Environment course on students‘ beliefs about the environment and their environmentally focused behavior at their place of work. The pre-class treatment group was found to have an ecological worldview of M = 2.79. When retested after the class, the treatment group‘s ecological worldview rose to M = 2.92, representing a marginally improved ecological worldview. Results indicated direct environme

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NEW! Research Round Ups.

Each time our team members attend an academic conference to present our work, we will aim to share a Round-Up of the relevant new research here.

First installment:

NASSM 2020 Research Round-Up