Professor Madeleine Orr joins Edge of Sports to discuss these questions and other topics addressed in her book, Warming Up: How Climate Change is Changing Sports.
It's been six years since the IPCC released its 2018 report warning that mean global temperatures would rise past 1.5 Celsius unless drastic action was taken by 2030. While climate change is already impacting all aspects of our lives, there is one area where relatively rapid and meaningful steps could be taken, but have yet to materialize: sports. Rising temperatures, seas, and emissions all call into question the sustainability of current sports practices. Can athletes continue to compete outdoors under current game conditions in scorching climates? What happens to athletes from island nations threatened by rising sea levels? How can mega-events like the Olympics and the carbon footprints left behind by associated construction and tourism continue to be justified?
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