Competitive sport and the environment

As a runner and a cyclist I like to think that my hobbies are relatively low carbon. I try to run and bike from my house as much as possible, and am able to reach some pretty cool places simply by virtue of where we live. (to be honest, that was partly why we chose to live here). 

Running from the door.

Over recent years, as you will be able to tell from the way these blogs have gone, racing has slowly, and then quickly dropped out of my focus as a runner. It was never really a focus as a cyclist, I am under no delusions as to my position in the ranks of the cycling pantheon. This is partially to do with becoming a grumpy old man who wants nothing more than to be left alone to bugger off into the hills to escape other people, but, more recently, has been more to do with the fact that going racing, no matter the sport, seems to be in complete opposition to the low-carbon nature of the sports that I do. 

This year, a huge contingent of UK runners have gone to race the Berkley marathon over in the USA. There is no low carbon way to get there. Carbon offsetting does indeed exist, but really, that's kinda bollocks. ("If Im rich enough to pay for my carbon, I'm allowed to fly"- just doesn't cut it). The carbon footprint of anyone who headed over there to race is going to be pretty big, so it doesn't matter who you are, or how many green credentials you think you might have, by flying to another continent to race, that kind of opens you up to a whole range of criticisms. 

Now, I understand that to be a "high level racer" you need to get out and do the high level races, and that means doing things that are not on your doorstep. It means travel- and this is not just limited to running. Cycle races are all over the place- (and even worse- they have legions of cars and a massive entourage, and when televised, they have multiple helicoptors and planes etc... carbon footprint? MASSIVE). To do these things and be good at them means that you have a larger profile- and having a larger profile means that you get a bigger audience to broadcast to. 

Lewis Hamilton has a massive audience- and he wouldn't have that without racing insanely fast cars in multiple locations around the world. Not exactly a low carbon sport. He uses his platform to talk about climate change- now *that* is quite a way to do things. Certainly you can't call motorsport low carbon... but to talk about it afterward... is that massively hypocritical, or is that a good thing because he is drawing attention to the problem?

Bringing it back down a notch- saying that you are concerned about the environment and going around doing an environmentally friendly sport- but competitively- means that you are probably going to be burning a fair amount of carbon. Getting to races, getting home again. Kit that breaks and wears out (because it is, by its nature, lightweight and fragile)- it all adds up. 

I'm coming to the conclusion that you can't *really* be a competitive athlete AND an environmentally conscious person with a conscience without some serious doublethink going on. 

The only boarding I'm doing now. Once every few years I get to walk in from home.

Yes, it might be a laudable aspiration. No, it isn't possible without a whole LOAD of critique being rightfully sent your way. But equally- skiers and climbers who fly off to ski 4,5,6 times a year and then complain about environmental upheaval and the depressing reduction in glaciers and snowfall... who dyou think is to blame?

No, the biggest polluters are not necessarily the "little" people like you and I. That is what the big corporations who are massively polluting the world want us to think. It is something that we can collectively do to save the world... whilst all the time they are pumping god only knows what into the sea and the air and making vast sums of money doing so. But we all have some kind of responsibility. 

Don't we? It's a hard call. I don't want to sound like I'm against doing stuff, and getting out there and challenging yourself- but the optics of being an evironmentally sound person taking longhaul flights isn't great. 

Tis quite the conundrum.