Why all sports should fight for healthy oceans

It’s quite simple really; life on Earth cannot exist without healthy oceans.

Roughly 71% of the Earth is covered in oceans, which provide 50% of the oxygen we breathe.

According to the Ocean Conservation Trust, tiny plankton and the ocean’s plants absorb the CO2 and release O2 back into the atmosphere via photosynthesis, meaning it is also important to help tackle our emissions. It also means that half of the oxygen we take in has come from the ocean; we, quite simply, need the oceans to survive.

The importance of the oceans is not exclusive to oxygen and absorbing CO2, but also in driving our weather and climate. Roughly 98% of the heat from the sun’s rays are absorbed by the ocean, with this heat then moved around the Earth via currents.

Additionally, while the exact number is unknown, it is estimated there are currently a quarter of a million species inhabiting the oceans.

“Everybody is connected to the oceans – whether that’s the food you eat, the air we breathe, or the fact that they’re absorbing our carbon emissions, regulating the temperature. We all rely on the oceans and we don’t always recognise that and see it,” Dr Susie Tomson, a senior partner for social impact and sustainability consultancy Think Beyond, tells Global Sustainable Sport.

Oceans also require support from everyone, even if there is no connection with the water. Initiatives such as World Oceans Day earlier this month on June 8 aim to galvanise support for healthy oceans.

Additionally, clubs, sporting organisations, bodies and athletes could use their platform to educate and spread awareness around the importance of protecting the oceans.

“When you look out across the sea, you have no idea if it’s healthy or not healthy. I mean, if you look at a harbour and there’s loads of rubbish floating in the water then you may have an idea. But in general, when you look out across the ocean, you can’t tell if it’s healthy or not healthy,” says Tomson.

“That’s a big challenge. When I worked in 1997 and ‘98 on a coral bleaching project, if that had been the rainforest, you could use airborne cameras to gain an idea of the scale of the devastation. But you just don’t see that under the water.”

Tomson further explains that the oceans absorb 30% of our global carbon emissions. With multiple goals and targets including reducing footprints by 50% by 2030 and achieving net zero by 2040, without the oceans doing their job to their full capacity, collectively we would have to find that extra 30% to reduce.

“Can you imagine if we had to find another 30% carbon reduction? People are struggling to even find five or 10% savings. So if 30% is being sucked up by the oceans and we don’t respect it and that doesn’t happen anymore, then we will have another 30% to reduce,” says Tomson.

For example, during 2020 and the global lockdowns forced by the COVID-19 pandemic, emissions plummeted by a record amount. However, as soon as life began returning to some form of normality, CO2 levels recovered and even surpassed previous statistics.

Oceans are so important to the welfare of everyone – if water temperatures continue to increase, this could lead to sea levels rising, further coral bleaching, the melting of glaciers.

This could then have a detrimental effect on a mass number of people; recently, a small island off the coast of Panama saw around 300 families prepare to evacuate due to rising sea levels.

Mixing sport and science

Tomson highlights the power of sport and influencing general sustainable practices across its fanbase and further afield. This is also why she decided to combine sustainability with sport for the development of her career.

“Something like 70% of people follow sport but only 11% follow science. It doesn’t matter what the scientists were saying, and the evidence, because people didn’t really want to hear it,” says Tomson.

“[Back then] scientists were arguing, or not really agreeing on, if climate change was really happening. And you think, when I was learning about climate change, geography, coastal environments and Shackleton ice cores (testing the memory of ice to analyse climate changes) – it was a real thing. We knew what was going to happen, and it’s 30 years on now and we’re still arguing about it.

“It was the realisation that sport had this great opportunity to engage people, a wider community.”

It’s not also just about spreading awareness around the climate emergency, it’s about the impact climate change will have – and has already had – on sports from grassroots to elite level.

For example, Tomson notes that sport has indeed already been impacted, especially at grassroots level. This could also have an effect on a community’s health, as they gradually lose interest in a sport that they can’t regularly take part in.

“Pitches flooded, storms, extreme winds and weather, cancelled events, unseasonable and unexpected weather incidents. But, if you listen to the science, they’re not that unexpected and they’re not that unseasonable anymore,” says Tomson.

“The seasons are changing… if you have a child that wants to go out and play football or cricket, or you know they want to go sailing, but they can’t because it’s cancelled the whole time.

“They might consider dropping out of that sport. For example, if they can’t go swimming because the swimming pools are closing as it’s too expensive now due to the energy costs. It spirals on, and actually, you can’t deny that sport isn’t being impacted.”

Tomson adds: “I don’t think you have to look far over the wall to see that local communities are being impacted by our consumption, of which part of that is the sports industry, isn’t it?”

A collective responsibility

It’s not just water-based sports organisations and properties such as World Sailing and SailGP that have an obligation to protect the oceans.

“It might be easier for those water-based sports to have that conversation, but I think we all have a connection to the oceans, to the environment. I think we need to be looking over the fence and look at who’s impacted by our actions,” says Tomson.

“Out of sight shouldn’t be out of mind. Wake up. We need to take responsibility and protect the planet. It’s not just for us right now, it’s for future generations. We’re caretakers of the planet, and I want to be proud of its condition.”

Multiple sporting organisations have taken strides to be leaders in the sustainability space, including World Athletics, the aforementioned SailGP, the International Biathlon Union and many, many more.

“I think we can be braver now because you’re not going to be alone in this space. You’re not going to be the only ones sticking your neck out. Find allies and find other sports that are positively going forward,” concludes Tomson.

Images: Naja Bertolt Jensen on Unsplash/Francesco Ungaro on Unsplash/Hiroko Yoshii on Unsplash/Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash/Dustan Woodhouse on Unsplash