Warming Up: How Climate Change Is Changing Sport

The world of sport has a new opponent: climate change.

In the last few years, a world championship marathon was held at midnight to avoid the blistering sun. Professional athletes got hooked up to oxygen tanks to play during wildfire season in California. Players collapsed and play was suspended amid the heat and bushfire smoke at the Australian Tennis open. Ski resorts in the Alps have turned into ghost towns. Golf courses are sinking into the sea. And then there's the Qatar World Cup, among the greatest follies in sporting history, one that saw hundreds (perhaps thousands) of heat-induced deaths before a ball was even kicked.

Sport is massively exposed to climate hazards, and a slew of health, business, but with billions of participants and fans around the world who rely on the sector for entertainment, fitness and health, and jobs, this is one industry we can't afford to lose. In this book, Madeleine Orr shows it doesn't have to be this way. There are ways to mitigate, and perhaps counter, even the worst elements of climate change.

A world-leading climate scientist, Madeleine Orr interviews athletes, coaches, politicians and thought-leaders about how climate change is already impacting sport, and what the sports world can do to fight back.