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

Service recovery after a canceled event (2015)

This interview-based study explores amateur participants' perceptions of the service recovery efforts of event organizers following cancellation of Ironman® New Zealand 2012 due to severe weather. Participants perceived the event organizer's service recovery efforts favourably, yet many indicated they would not return to the event in future (because of weather-related concerns, mostly). The authors stress the importance of clear communication, and of organizers taking stock o

Marketing pro-environmental venues (2014)

Standardized open-ended interviews were conducted with 10 professional sport administrators familiar with their organizations’ sustainable facility design and initiatives (only LEED certified facilities were included). - A primary theme extracted in the interviews was the hope of reaching out to nonfans in the community. The teams’ perception that they can use social activity such as environmentally conscious building to attract new consumers suggests that they see a strong i

Adopting pro-environmental stadium design (2015)

Interviews were conducted with 13 senior architects whose portfolios collectively contained over 25 eco-friendly sport facilities spanning Europe, Australia, Africa, and North America. According to interviewees, the primary incentives for owners and quasi-owners to adopt sustainable designs were economic savings over the life of the facility, perception-management opportunities, and demonstration of their innovative- ness. Facility designers predicted the diffusion of pro-env

Why sport industry firms should embrace environmentalism (2006)

This essay presents three reasons why sport industry firms should embrace environmental responsibility as a management competency: 1) Ethical reasons, which consist of two main considerations and apply not just to firms in the sport industry but to all organizations. 2) Sport organizations have a unique relationship to their customers. 3) Embracing environmental responsibility can lead to economic benefits for the organization. The two main aspects of this advantage are c

Sport teams as promoters of pro-environmental behaviors (2012)

A survey of 197 undergraduate and graduate students at a northeastern university found that positive environmental practices by a team increased fans' internalization of the team’s values. In other words- when teams demonstrate that they value the environment, and practice environmental stewardship, fans internalize those values. When fans internalize the environmental values of their favorite teams, they have greater intentions of supporting the team's initiative, and greate

Consumer behavior and demand responses to climate change (2012)

This paper is a systematic review of existing studies on tourism and climate change from a demand perspective. Key points include: - Winter tourism has been a focal point for tourism and climate change research. We can expect to see an increase in visitation to winter destinations under moderate warming conditions but decrease in visitation under extreme heat conditions. - Some research has been done on reef degradation and loss on dive tourism destinations (because reef he

What factors complicate predictions of climate change (2006)

This is an editorial essay discussing various factors the complicate the prediction of climate change impacts on tourism. Some of these factors include the weaknesses of current models, mismeasurement of temperatures and weather perceptions, weather extremes, and issues with databases. The essay also includes an overview of four case studies. CITE: Gossling, S. & Hall, C.M. (2006). Uncertainties in predicting tourist flows under scenarios od climate change. Climatic Change, 7

Small-scale event sport tourism: A case study in sustainable tourism (2012)

This study examined the three pillars of sustainability, economic, social, and environmental within the context of six small-scale sports events hosted in Gainsville, Florida using a combination of the following data types: economic indicators (e.g. hotel nights, overall direct spend), social indicators (e.g. motivation to attend the event, degree of involvement of local residents) and environmental indicators (e.g. types of facilities used, promotion of environmental quality

Community sport clubs in the aftermath of natural disasters (2015)

This study explores the provision of resources to community sport clubs in the aftermath of flooding events in 2010 and 2011, as well as the influence on power relations between the clubs and resource providers. Following the disasters, the sport clubs experienced negative outcomes such as damaged grounds and facilities, closures, and reduction in membership. Focus groups and interviews were employed at nine site visits. It was found that community sport clubs have three reso

The impact of climate change on hosting pond hockey tournaments (2015)

A case study that follows Scott Crowder, founder of the Pond Hockey Classic, and details the challenges he confronts in organizing pond hockey tournaments in light of shifting climate patterns and seasons. - The tournament is dependent on the weather: it must be cold in the months and weeks before the tournament to ensure the ice conditions are good enough to support play. - There is no guideline on what constitutes 'safe ice' - The 2011 event was canceled due to poor ice con

Reducing the carbon footprint of spectator and team travel (2015)

A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)-based approach was used to determine the carbon footprint of the University of British Columbia athletics program. UBC spectators had a smaller footprint than teams on a per person basis but a larger overall carbon footprint. Although only 4% of the spectators travelled by air, this constituted 52% of total spectator impact. The study concludes the biggest opportunities for footprint reductions by spectators and teams alike are strategies that (a

Climate change impacts, resilience and adaptation in the climate-dependent sport sector (2018)

Climate change will present new and dynamic challenges for sport organizations, such as extreme weather event, new regulations, and broad market changes in response to climate change. Sport, and outdoor sports in particular, are climate-dependent to some extent as these activities rely on certain climactic conditions, water resources, and energy resources. The impacts of climate change on sport are under-researched. The nature of managerial decision-making in relation to orga

Sustainability in motorsport (2009)

Dr. Gregory Dingle explored sustainability and environmental impact motorsport. Given the significant resource demands of manufacturing, using and maintaining motorsports vehicles, the motorsport industry is tied to broader patterns of resource consumption that are leading to environmental degradation globally. The success of motorsport in attracting public interest is inadvertently encouraging their fans to engage in patterns of consumption. In this sense, consumption of nat

In future, season length at ski areas will be influenced by size of the resort (2009)

Ski area performance indicators, such as season length, snowmaking operations, total skier visits and profits for the 2001–2002 and 1998–1999 analogue years were compared to the climatically normal (based on 1961–1990 means) years of 2000–2001 and 2004–2005. Findings show that season length is influenced by the size of a ski area. For example, the smaller the ski area, the more significant the loss in season length that can be expected during future warming scenarios. Medium

Skier demand and behavioural adaptation to climate change in the US Northeast (2013)

This 2013 survey-based study (n = 1167) examined demand-side adaptation of skiers in the US Northeast to past climate conditions and hypothetical future scenarios. Demand is unlikely to decrease proportionate to the decrease in supply (opportunities to ski), thus it is expected a geographical market shift will occur, wherein the ski areas that remain open will benefit from a greater share of the market. CITE: Dawson, J., & Scott, D., & Havitz, M. (2013). Skier demand and beha

Climate Change and skiing in U.S. Northeast: Supply and demand changes are likely (2010)

Dr. Jackie Dawson (University of Ottawa) and Dr. Daniel Scott (University of Waterloo) studied 103 ski areas across the Northeast U.S. to understand the likely supply and demand changes in skiing due to climate change. A systems-based approach (supply and demand side analyses) was used to examine adaptation efforts in future. Viable ski areas will be fewer and the geographic distribution will shift northward. Demand is not likely to decrease proportionally to reductions in su

Sustainability beyond zero waste in football stadiums (2017)

Zero waste is an approach to waste management wherein a majority (or preferably, all) waste produced by a product, facility, or organization is diverted from landfills (generally, into compost or recycling). A generally accepted threshold for 'zero waste' is 90%. To achieve a status of zero waste, products and processes must be designed and managed to reduce the overall volume of waste produced. This can be done by eliminating the use of dangerous or toxic materials, recoveri

The carbon footprint of away games in Junior Hockey (2012)

Chris Chard, PhD and Cheryl Mallen, PhD at Brock University studied the carbon footprint of away game travel with a junior hockey team. Interviews were conducted with parents of junior level hockey players to determine the amount (distance) of car travel used for away games. The carbon footprint of this travel was then calculated using CarbonZero and PlanetAir. The teams journeyed 44,036km (“A” team) and 33,477km (“AAA” team), respectively, for “away” games, and the total env

Examining fan engagement based on athletics department sustainability efforts (2014)

This study examined intercollegiate sport fans’ environmental behavior intentions at a green game sporting event (a sporting event where the promotional theme of the event focuses on environmentalism). - A total of 8,445 people were sent surveys via email and 2,942 were completed in the one-week time frame. - A majority of respondents were not aware of the theme before arriving at the game (79%). Only 2% of respondents successfully recalled the Green Game slogan (Sustain you

Sustainability in U.S. NCAA Division III athletics departments (2015)

This study provides a baseline of environmental prioritizing, planning, decisions-making, and initiative implementation within NCAA DIII athletic departments. A sample of 348 DIII athletics departments were surveyed; 141 returned the survey, 78 had complete responses. The findings show: - Most of the respondents (63%) believed university or college personnel prioritize environmental and sustainability initiatives as a high or very high priority (72%). In contrast, only 32% of

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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