Written by Whether you believe in ‘climate change’ or whether you are a denier, it has to be agreed that climactic conditions in recent years have impacted on sporting events and this is happening now not in some far-off dystopian future and its global – we’re all in it together.
The success of winter sports programs and events in Australia are suffering from a warmer, shorter, and wetter snow season, and regular flooding has become the norm in some areas as well. Our typically hot summers and accompanying period of susceptibility to bushfire have become longer and more extreme impacting on conditions for summer sports. Worsening air quality and smoke hazard from bushfires combined with searing heat make performing at peak, or at all, terribly difficult. These extreme conditions have had an impact on insurance premiums as well, so it very much becomes a financial issue, particularly for smaller clubs.
The horrific fires in the summer of 2019-2020, colloquially known as the Black Summer, cut a destructive and terrifying path through large areas of Eastern Australia and some parts of Northern and Western Australia as well. Favorite summer pursuits like family camping trips and backyard cricket battles were denied, our love of summer from one end of the country to another destroyed. We were unified in our shared battle against a terrible foe, and that was even before the beast Covid descended upon us.
Surprisingly though, the recently released Climate Council report ‘Game, Set and Match: Calling Time on Climate Inaction’ says, the implications of climate change have not featured in the Federal Government’s National Sports Plan.
The International Olympic Committee and the Australian Olympic Committee have become signatories to the UN’s Sport for Climate Action Framework which will guide decision for the 2032 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in Brisbane, Queensland. Winter Olympic medal winner, Zali Steggall is a member of Parliament and sits on the House of Representative Standing Committee on Environment and Energy.
Along with this, Lewis Hamilton, an elite Formula One world champion and environmental advocate has launched himself on a mission alongside fellow motor racing champion Nico Rosberg to introduce a new motor racing series, called Extreme E. This new racing phenomena will consist of eight teams driving electric SUVs in five remote, environmentally challenged locations. The primary goal in this powerfully visual event is to highlight the impact of environmental damage on sports if something isn’t changed now. Hamilton and Rosberg each own a team in the series, and former Australian Rally Car Champion Molly Taylor will be driving for Rosberg Xtreme Racing.
“It’s pretty clear from a quick conversation the passion he [Rosberg] has not only for sport but the purpose behind what we’re doing in terms of tackling climate change and using sport as a bit of a vessel to raise awareness and do something positive,” …”They are setting a precedent that we are going to see so many changes in the future of our sport and we’re going to be looking back and saying that Extreme E was at the forefront of it all.”
“For them to put their money where their mouth is, it means a lot.” – Molly Taylor
In planning Extreme E, Organizers asked themselves the hard questions: What needs to be done, how do things need to change for our future; for the planet’s future? Why not make an all-electric, 500-horsepower buggy and challenge it in Saudi Arabia’s sand dunes and then on a glacier in Greenland? Extreme E will race in Greenland, Senegal, Saudi Arabia, Brazil and Argentina, committing to finishing the inaugural series with a climate-positive footprint.
There’s no reason that sports can’t lead Australia to achieving success in its contribution to the global struggle with changing climate – if we are brave, ask the hard questions, challenge the accepted norms, and change the culture.
Vale the great Australian summer — devastated by bushfires, drought and flooding rain – ABC News
Sport set to reckon with impacts of climate change, and encouraged to act now – ABC News
Extreme E: the future of racing or a total greenwash? | Top Gear