Yuhei's Page

2006-06-25T14:37:00.000-07:00

Positive and negative environmental effects of sports

Abstract

In this paper, I explained the relationship between sports and the environment. Sports became an important factor in both preventing and possibly causing environmental concerns as sporting events or sports organizations became bigger. In addition, sports has the power to affect a lot of people. For this reason, we should minimize the negative environmental effects of sports, and create effective ways that sports can contribute to improving environmental problems. By doing these things, many people will follow their activities, and the idea of environmental policies will spread.

Because of rapid increases in population and industry, we have produced negative effects on the environment. For example, we caused a lot of serious environmental problems such as deforestation, desertification, air pollution, water pollution, global warming, and the lack of resources. To solve these problems, we need to create a sustainable society that keeps its economical size without decreasing the available supply of resources (Miller JR, 1994). We have to take into consideration the environment in every activity and restrict uses of resources as much as possible. Actually, some people already took action for improving environmental problems. For example, Wangari Maathai, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for peace in 2004, started the green belt movement in 1977. This campaign was designed to assist reforestation in Kenya by planting a lot of trees. In the campaign, she tried to change communities of the country to a sustainable society not only by planting trees but also by planting the idea that stresses the importance of using resources without destroying the local environment (Liebman, 1990). As this example shows, it became common for many people to consider the environment in their activities more or less.
On the other hand, we will not consider the environment when we engage in sports. Apparently, sports does not have a strong relationship with the environment. It is difficult for us to think how sports connect with the environment. Of course, it was also hard for me to think about the relationship. However, I became interested in relationship between sports and environmental issues after I read the articles that explained how sports connect with the environment. For example, in “Golden Park”, the author stated that the San Francisco Recreational and Park Department would make a decision to remove or leave the disc golf course at Golden Park, because the department is apprehensive that playing the sports will cause damage to trees and erosion problem (Estrella 2005). This example shows that sports can possibly produce negative environmental effects. On the other hand, sports also have the possibility of producing positive effects on the environment. For example, in China, the government is planning to reduce pollutants in the air by controlling exhaust gas in order to prepare for the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. (Beijing, 2006) From these examples, we can see that sports can be an important factor in both preventing and possibly causing environmental concerns. I think it is important for us to take into account effects of sports on the environment for two reasons. First, because sporting events or sports industries became bigger and they use a lot of resources, it is indispensable to decrease consumptions of resources in those activities. According to Aldrich JR (2000), annual revenues of sports industries exceed $200billion per year only in the U.S. It shows that sports industries grew up to be one of the biggest industries. Moreover, sports has a strong effect on many people. For example, famous sports athletes are lodestars for children, and professional sports teams are icon of communities. If they act for realizing a sustainable society, many people will follow them. Sports can possibly become a symbol of creating a sustainable society. Thus we should minimize the negative environmental effects of sports, and create the effective ways that sports can contribute to improving environmental problems.

First, I would like to explain about negative environmental effects of sports by referring to examples in California. We can classify negative environment effects in two categories: negative effects caused by playing sports and negative effects caused by sports facilities. First, I would like to show an example of negative effects caused by playing sports. As I already stated, the disc golf course at Golden Gate Park would be removed by the San Francisco Recreational and Park Department, because playing disc golf damages trees and causes erosion problems (Estrella 2005). This example shows that we can possibly prohibit playing sports in public facilities if we neglect the negative environment effects caused by playing sports. Next, I would like to show negative environmental effects caused by sports facilities. In Sacramento, neighbors of Rio Americano High School are worried about a plan to construct a stadium for the high school football team. They are afraid of environmental problems caused by noise and traffic, and are trying to sue the school district to require review by using the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) (Football, 2006). This example shows how sports facilities cause negative environmental effects. Building sports facilities will bring benefits to players or fans, but it can possibly threaten lives of neighbors. We can think of other negative effects by building sports facilities. For example, building sports facilities will harm natures because we usually need to remove trees or grasses. In addition, by holding the sporting events in sports facilities, we will use a lot of resources, exhaust greenhouse gas, and produce a lot of garbage. According to Anderson, Super Bowl XL in 2006 was “expected to generate more than 260 tons of carbon emissions” (2006, p1). From these examples, we can see how sports produce negative environmental effects.

Second, I would like to state the two ways of minimizing the negative environmental effects of sports: observing environmental laws and incorporating environmental policies into management models. In the article about Sacramento, the author stated that neighbors required the review of building the stadium by using the California Environmental Quality Act, which “requires a full-blown environmental analysis of a project” (Football, 2006, p.1). Recently, environmental laws such as CEQA have been devised all over the world. In order to prevent negative effects of sports as much as possible, we should observe environmental laws in every sports activity. In addition, it is effective for sports organizations to incorporate environmental policies into their business systems. Actually, some sports organizations try to include those policies into their sporting events. For example, the NFL holds environmental responsibility programs. In the Super Bowl 2006, the NFL held a tree planting campaign program. This campaign was designed to offset anticipated greenhouse gas emissions generated by the event by planting hundreds of trees, in cooperation with local groups (Falt, 2006). The International Olympics Committees also succeeded in reducing consumptions of resources during the Turin Olympics in cooperation with the United Nations environmental programme (UNEP), a program designed to support environmental policies in United Nations (Falt, 2006). From these examples, we can see how sports organizations incorporate environmental policies into their management models. By observing environmental laws and incorporating environmental policies into management models, we can minimize the negative environmental effects of sports.

Finally, I would like to state how sports can produce positive environmental effects. I think sports has the power to support environmental policies for the following reasons. First, sports industries can diffuse the idea of environmental responsibilities into both the global society and local communities. For example, Nike holds a Reuse-A-Shoe program. In the program, Nike gathers a lot of used shoes from all over the world, and reuses them as material for making sports surfaces such as, tennis courts, football fields or track fields (Nikebiz, 2006). The merit of this program is that Nike provides these sports surfaces to communities where children would otherwise have no access to these things. By knowing how Nike produces them, children can learn the idea of reuse. If children bring the idea to their homes and talk to their family members, it will spread more over communities. That is, this program plays an important role in the grass-roots movement of environmental policies. Besides, people all over the world can understand the program by seeing it on the Internet, on television, or in the newspaper. As a result, the idea will also spread over the global society. This example shows how sports industries influence our society both locally and globally. Besides, sports athletes can affect us by showing their strong concerns about the environment. Actually, UNEP quotes messages of a lot of sports personalities on their website (Falt, 2006). For example, Thierry Henry, one of the most famous soccer players in the world, states that “We are destroying our environment everyday. This has to stop for the sake of our children and grandchildren.” (Champion, 2005). Statements of sports personalities like this example can affect our thoughts positively and make us consider the environment. In addition, if sports personalities hold environmental activities such as tree planting programs or recycling programs, they will affect us more and more. Moreover, professional sports leagues and teams will produce positive environmental effects. They are prides of franchise communities, and their actions can affect people in these communities. If they take action for the environment, many people in these communities will cooperate with them. Anderson stressed the importance of a tree planting campaign in Super Bowl XL because “the NFL has the power to reach deeper into communities than any environmental group.”(2006, p3). This statement shows how professional leagues and teams can become important positive factor for the environment. For these reasons, we should use sports as “a symbol and powerful tool for advocacy (of Environmental policies.)” ( Falt, 2006, p268).

I would like to review the main ideas of this paper. In this paper, I explained the relationship between sports and the environment from both positive and negative sides. It is important for us to understand the relationship because sports became one of the main factors of environmental problems as sporting events or sports organization became bigger. In addition, it is more important for us to realize the role of sports as a symbol of supporting environmental policies. We should use the power that sports can influence over the global society and local communities. By minimizing the negative environment effects of sports and stressing the positive effects of sports, many people might pursue these activities. It will spread the idea and importance of environmental policies more and more.

Reference

Anderson, S.E. (2006). Greening the Gridiron: Environmental Responsibility at the Super Bowl and Beyond. [GreenBiz.com]. Retrieved June 8, 2006 from: http://www.greenbiz.com/news/news_gen.cfm?NewsID=30282&CFID=10896433&CFTOKEN=59476117

Estrella, C.A. (2005, April 15). Golden Gate Park. The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved May 30, 2006 from Lexis-Nexis Database.

Falt, E. (2006, May). Sports and Environment. Environmental Health Perspectives. Retrieved June 8, 2006 from EBSCO, Academic Search Premier

Liebman,A. (1990). Race to save the planet: Now or Never [Documentary]. United States the WGBH Science Unit.

Miller, G.T Jr. (1994). Environment: Problems and solutions. Belmont, CA: Wedsworth.

Be a Champion for the Environment. (2005). [UNEP]. Retrieved June 8, 2006 from: http://www.unep.org/sport_env/images/Env_Champ1/index.htm

To bring Beijing short reprieve from pollution woes. (2006, April 7). Agence France Presse. Retrieved from Lexis-Nexis Database, June 8, 2006.

Is a football field an eco-threat?. (2006, January 28). Sacramento Bee, Metro Final Edition. Retrieved May 30, 2006 from Lexis-Nexis Database.

Global Overview. (2005, April).[ Nikebiz Responsibility Reuse-A Global Overview]. Retrieved June 8, 2006 from: http://www.nike.com/nikebiz/nikebiz.jhtml?page=27&cat=reuseshoe&subcat+global

2006-06-25T14:32:00.000-07:00

Sports-Environmental Issue

I became interested in relationship between sports and environmental issues after I read the articles that explained how sports connect with the environment. For example, in “Golden Park”, the author stated that San Francisco Recreational and Park Department would make a decision to remove or leave the disc golf course at Golden Park, because the department is apprehensive that playing the sports will cause damage to trees and erosion problem (Estrella 2005). This example shows that sports can possibly produce negative environmental effects. On the other side, sports also have the possibility of producing positive effects on the environment. For example, in China, the government is planning to reduce pollutants in the air by controlling exhaust gas in order to prepare for the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. (Beijing, 2006) From these examples, we can see that sports can be an important factor in both preventing and possibly causing environmental concerns. For this reason, we should minimize the negative environmental effects of sports, and create the effective ways that sports can contribute to improving environmental problems.

First, I would like to show a way of decreasing negative environmental effects. Some sports organizations try to reduce resource consumptions in big sporting events in cooperation with public organizations. For example, in the Torino Olympics, the organizers of the Olympics succeeded in reducing energy and water consumption in cooperation with United Nations environmental programme, a program designed to support environmental policies in United Nations ( Falt, 2006). This example shows how sports organizations reduce negative environmental effects by cooperating with pubic organizations.

Second, I would like to show how sports contribute to improving environmental problems. Sports organizations can contribute to protecting environment by incorporating environmental policies into the management models. For example, the NFL holds environmental responsibility programs. In the Super Bowl 2006, NFL held a tree planting campaign program. This campaign was designed to offset anticipated greenhouse gas emissions generated by the event by planting hundreds of trees, in cooperation with local groups ( Falt, 2006). From this example, we can see that sports contribute to protecting environment by incorporating environmental policies into the management model.

Finally, I would like to state that sports has a great potential to improve environmental problems. As I already explained, some sports organizations already have succeeded in reducing environmental loads, but the actual effects are relatively limited because sports industry itself is a small-scale industry compared with large-scale industries such as automobile industry. However, sports has a strong influence on the global society. If sports organizations or sports personalities act for environment, many people follow them. For this reason, sports plays an important role as a symbol of supporting environmental polices in addition to decreasing environmental load.

In conclusion, I would like to stress the importance of minimizing the negative environmental effects of sports and creating the effective ways that sports can contribute to improving environmental problems. If sports does activities for protecting the environment, many people will pursue these activities. This will lead to improving environmental problems more and more.

Reference:

Estrella, C.A. ( 2005, April 15). “Golden Gate Park”. The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved from Lexis-Nexis Database, May 30, 2006.
Falt, Eric.(2006 May).” sports and environment”. Environmental Health Perspectives. Retrieved from EBSCO, Academic Search Premier, June 8, 2006.
“To bring Beijing short reprieve from pollution woes”. (2006, April 7). Agence France Presse. Retrieved from Lexis-Nexis Database, June 8, 2006.

2006-06-25T14:30:00.000-07:00

Sports-Environmental Issue

Recently, sports have become more popular all over the world. A lot of big sports event, such as Olympic, World Cup, or Super Bowl, are held. Many people are excited at watching those games. Also, playing sports is one of the most enjoyable activities. A lot of people play sports for recreation. Most of us have only positive image to sports. However, it is possible that sports give negative effects to our environments. For example, by holding big sports events, we waste a lot of resources. By building sports facilities, we damage nature, or cause noise problem to neighborhood. On the other side, sports also have a possibility of giving positive effects to environmental problems. Sports organizations or athletes have strong influences on global society. If they do some activities for environmental problems, such as reduction of spending resources in sports events or donations of supporting reforestations, many people will follow. It is important for us to review sports in terms of environmental problems. We should create the ways that sports contribute to improving environmental problems.

In Sacramento, Ca, some neighbors of Rio Americano High School are worried about a plan to construct a stadium for the high school football team. They are afraid of environmental problems such as noise or traffic cause, and are trying to sue the school district to require review by using the California Environmental Quality (football, 2006). The San Francisco Recreational and Park Department will make a decision to remove or leave the disc golf course at Golden Park, because the department is apprehensive that plying the sports will causes damage to trees and erosion problem (Estrella, 2005). From these examples, we can see that we need to take into account negative environmental effects of sports. If we neglect those effects, we would be prohibited from doing sports activities. 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
In my research paper, I will discuss from local level to global level. In the first part of my research paper, I will exemplify negative environmental effects caused by sports by referring examples of California I have already stated. I also suggest the possible resolutions to minimize those effects. Then, I will state positive effects of sports. For example, in China, the government is planning to reduce pollutants in air by controlling exhaust gas in order to prepare for Beijing Olympic, 2008. (Beijing, 2006). In this section, I will show other examples of environmental responsibility program by sports organizations. Finally, I will suggest how sports should be involved with environmental problems. I will conclude the paper by stressing the importance of sports for improving environmental problems.

I have already found environmental issues of sports by using Lexis Linux. I have also found information about contributions of sports to environmental problems by the website of Green Biz and NFL Enterprise. In addition, in order to discuss those issues in international level, I have located the website of United Nations Environment Programme.

Reference:
Estrella, C.A. ( 2005, April 15). “Golden Gate Park”. The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved from Lexis-Nexis Database, May 30, 2006.
“Is a football field an eco-threat?”. ( 2006, January 28). Sacramento Bee, Metro Final Edition. Retrieved from Lexis-Nexis Database, May 30, 2006.
“To bring Beijing short reprieve from pollution woes”. (2006, April 7). Agence France Presse. Retrieved from Lexis-Nexis Database, June 8, 2006.

2006-06-12T17:07:00.000-07:00

I read "Obesity acceptance" in Los Angeles Times Wire Service. In the aricle, the author stated that many people have a strong stigma to obesity, and discriminate against obesity people in schools or companies. Overweighed people also have other difficulites. For example, it cost a lot of money to lose their weight, and even if they succeed in losing weght, it is possible that weight will increase again. Although many people think obesity is caused by excessive eating or lack of excercise, some obesity are caused by genetic elements. For this reason, the author insisted that we treat obesity simply as a kind of physical differences.

I agree with his opinion. If obesity is caused by genetic elements, we should accept it as a physical difference. In addition, we should decrease the number of obesity caused by excessive eating or lack of excercise. It is fact that some people become obesity because of these reasons. If we admit all obesity, the number of obesity will increase. The increase will lead to more serious problems such as increase in diseases. Therefore, I think that it is important for us to find the way of decreasing the number of obesity, in additon to admiring the right of obesity people caused by genetic reasons. Moreover, we need to create the way that we can judge which obesity is caused by genetic reasons.

2006-06-02T15:06:00.000-07:00

2nd Summary –Response

First, I want to summarize ‘Golden Gate Park ’ written by Cicero A. Estrella in the San Francisco Chronicle. In this article, the author said the San Francisco Recreational and Park Department would make a decision to remove or leave the disc golf course at Golden Gate Park. The department is worried about the environmental effects caused by playing disc course, and has a plan to ask an independent arborist to review the effects. A supervisor in the department already researched the course and reported that playing desk golf causes damage of trees and erosion problem. In order to keep intact the course, a player’s club plan to upgrade the course, so that it can preserve the trees and tackle the erosion issue. The president of the club insisted that the club activities would be able to make the issue less serious. From this argument, I can find out that we need to take into account the environmental effects in playing sports, and if we don’t do so, it is possible that we won’t be able to play sports.

I want to support the club for the following reasons. First, it tries to solve the environmental problems as much as possible. In this article, club out reach director Ross Hammond said, “the club would raise funds and provide most of the labor for course upgrades that would ensure the safety of the trees and address the erosion issue”. From the statement, we can know that the club deals with the environmental issues seriously. Second, the park is the only disc golf course in San Francisco. The club had lobbied the city to create desk golf courses for a long time, and it finally got the trial permission to play desk golf in the park in 2003. The course became popular and at least 5000 players played during the trial period. If the course is closed, the club’s effort will become useless. For these reasons, I want to assist the club.

On the other side, I understand that the disk golf has a possibility of causing environmental problems. Even if the club do its best to solve the problems, it is impossible to prevent the effect completely. Recently, environmental problems become more serious problems, and we have to control bad effects to environment in all activities. Even Sports, which was thought that it has no specific relationship with environmental problems, has become one cause of environmental problems. From the point of view, if desk golf has a possibility of harming environment, closing the course is reasonable.

If the club doesn’t try to solve the problem, I support the opinion that the course should be closed. However, I have to choose my side, because in this case both sides are apparently appropriate. In my opinion, the course should be left if the club tries to minimize environmental effects. As long as we live, we have a possibility of harming environment, so that what we can do is only to reduce environmental effects as much as possible.

Thus, I support the club on condition that it tries to minimize the effects. At the same time, I want to insist that even sports activities have a possibility of causing environmental problems, and we have to consider environmental effects in playing sports or creating sports facilities.

Estrella, C.A. (2005, April 15). Golden Gate Park, The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved from Lexis-Nexis database, May 30, 2006

2006-05-31T15:18:00.001-07:00

1st Summary –Response

I would like to summarize “Is a football field an eco-threat? “ in the Sacramento Bee in CA. In this article, the author states that some residents in an area of suburban Sacramento are worried about plans to construct a small size stadium for a high school football team. They are afraid of environmental problems, such as noise or traffic caused by the construction of the stadium. It is possible that the issue will be brought to court by using CEQA, the California Environmental Quality act, which requires an environmental review of teh project. Some of the board members in the scool argue that the review is not necessary. In my opinion, it is responsible for the school district to minimize the environmental effects causing by constructing the stadium, and if the district ignore the negative effects of the stadium, the residents should sue.

I think that a school district, as a public institution, has a responsibility to reduce the possibility of causing negative environmental effect. In this article, the author stated some of the board members object to the review by using CEQA, because they think “fewer fans would attend a game than the high school ”, and the environmental effects would be very small. The total number of seats in the stadium would be only 1226, and sound too small to review the effects. But, I think the school district should control negative environmental effects to any neighbor caused by its activity as much as possible, because it is a public institution. For this reason, I think that if it is possible that some of the environmental problems such as noise, traffic, or the increase of rubbish will occur, the school district has to do its best to reduce any negative effects.

In addition, the community is one of the most important elements for school sports. Sports are one of the most important school activities, and communities contribute to school sports in many ways. For example, neighbors of schools support school sports by cheering for players in stadium, or donating to schools to create good facilities. If community did not contribute school sports, school sports would not be well developed. For this reason, schools should treat communities importantly. If schools have the possibilities of causing a communitiy negative emvironmental effects, they have to resolve the problems.

Therefore, I strongly think that the school district has to minimize negative effects caused by construction of the stadium. If the district won’t try, the residents should exercise the right to sue.

“Is a football field an eco-threat? “. Sacramento Bee, Metro Final Edition. (2006, January 28). Retrieved from Lexis-Nexis database, May 31, 2006

2006-05-24T15:56:00.000-07:00

Hi, This is Yuhei Inoue. I'm from Japan. I'm attending CESL program in SIU for preparing for studying OSU's sports management master's program. I hope that I'll be able to use English as well as American in three months. I'll do my best!!