Please reach out to Brian Wilson brian.wilson@ubc.ca for the Zoom details.
This virtual presentation explores opportunities and strategies for climate action and sustainability leadership in and through sport organizations. We specifically identify and discuss ways that sport organizations, athletes, and others are beginning to respond to climate change and outline a set of ‘best practices’ based on a recent study of attempts to decarbonize rowing clubs across British Columbia. We include an outline of potential barriers to carrying out climate action strategies in and around sport and offer recommendations for maneuvering these barriers. We conclude with suggestions for integrating forms of environmental education into sport organizations’ communications and practices and using sport as a forum for policy change.
The Presenters
This presentation is led by Julia Lawrence, an environmental educator and Ph.D. candidate in the School of Kinesiology at UBC. Julia is lead researcher on a study focused on opportunities and barriers to the adoption of efforts to decarbonize sport that is discussed in the presentation. Julia’s Ph.D. research explores environmental issues, and responses to those issues, in outdoor sport, how sport organizations communicate their sustainability efforts, and best practices for implementing and communicating these messages.
Working with Julia is Brenda Taylor, a 1992 Olympian and double gold medalist (rowing), and long time sport manager, event organizer and coach. Brenda is a leader in efforts to address climate change in and through sport, and is initiator and project lead of Row Electric – an initiative created to support the move from gas to electric motors for boats used by coaches and others at rowing clubs across British Columbia and beyond. Brenda’s work in this area is guided by the broader aim of impacting transportation policies as part of generating support for the adoption of electric motors in general.
Also supporting Julia is David Gill, who is a climate policy specialist, public servant, and a member of the Row Electric Steering Committee. Previously, David worked with the SEEDS (Social Ecological Economic Development Studies) Program at UBC, facilitating partnerships between students, faculty, staff and community partners to advance sustainability ideas, policies, and practices. David initially facilitated the partnership between Row Electric and UBC’s Centre for Sport and Sustainability!
Brian Wilson, Director of UBC’s Centre for Sport and Sustainability (CSS) and Professor in Kinesiology at UBC, will introduce the seminar. Brian is a member of the research advisory team for the Mitacs and Rowing BC funded study focused on decarbonizing sport that is discussed in the presentation. Brian is an editor of the Sport and Sustainability Media and Education Resource hosted by the CSS – a resource that will house materials designed to supplement this presentation!
This event is hosted jointly by the Centre for Sport and Sustainability and Master of High Performance Coaching and Technical Leadership (MHPCTL) programme, both housed in the School of Kinesiology at the University of British Columbia.