Nature Sports: Prospects for Sustainability

Abstract

This paper articulates a paradigm shift in the adoption of a critical ecopedagogy focused on substantive and systemic change within nature sports. In analyzing the unifying concept of nature sports, we propose an ontological shift towards genuine sustainability, a communion among people and with nature. These activities comprise a group of physical practices that have the potential to challenge participants in novel ways that provide an alternative to traditional sports and the ideological values associated with these dominant sports, such as competition and personal gain. Nature sports inscribe meaning on bodies in motion, with a blurring or erasure of boundaries, as participants become one with nature rather than seeking to exploit or conquer it. These novel and countercultural practices promise the possibility of systemic sustainability, as participants redefine sport in terms of relational equity and ecoliteracy. As a utopian project, this systems approach recognizes the nature-sport nexus as a living framework to honor culturally appropriate practices and traditions in building an ecological movement centered on environmental justice. In this way, nature sports offer an opportunity to reimagine sustainable development through the promotion of a circular, rather than linear, economy—an economy based on re-creation rather than exploitation and waste.

A Study of Measures for Sustainable Sport

“…One of the most serious threats is posed by the demand for "nature sports" (including skiing, skin scuba-diving, rock climbing, rafting, yachting, surfing, golf, paragliding, and other sports performed in an undeveloped natural environment), which is likely to increase in the future [12][13][14]. This is because urban areas are becoming increasingly polluted, and people thus increasingly want to return to nature; this desire is supported by economic affluence and leisure time [15,16]. In South Korea, the number of hikers and holidaymakers in mountainous and marine areas is increasing rapidly every year; leisure activities such as yachting, wake surfing, water skiing, golf, skiing, and camping are gaining popularity, as are new sports activities such as rock climbing, orienteering, mountain biking, and windsurfing [4].…”

Analysis of the coupled development and driving factors of regional ethnic traditional kinesiology and rural revitalization

“…However, the uneven development of urban and rural areas, the uncoordinated development of the rural economy, and the insufficient utilization of rural resources are still the real shackles that hinder the growth of traditional sports in the new era [3][4]. Ethnic sports are one of the essential contents of rural development, which is a product associated with sports practice created under the production space of a specific society and agricultural civilization, and the essence and the dregs inevitably coexist [5].…”

Environmental Education in Initial Training: Effects of a Physical Activities and Sports in the Natural Environment Program for Sustainable Development

“…On the other hand, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is perceived as an educational paradigm ( Hobusch and Froehlich, 2021 ) capable of making possible a harmonious relationship between knowing about the natural environment and being committed to it. Van Rheenen and Melo (2021) recently proposed a paradigm shift based on critical ecopedagogy and focused on a weighty and systemic change for sports carried out in natural environments. Systemic sustainability is based on the notion of relational equity, eco-literacy and environmental justice ( Van Rheenen and Melo, 2021 , p. 8732).…”

“… Van Rheenen and Melo (2021) recently proposed a paradigm shift based on critical ecopedagogy and focused on a weighty and systemic change for sports carried out in natural environments. Systemic sustainability is based on the notion of relational equity, eco-literacy and environmental justice ( Van Rheenen and Melo, 2021 , p. 8732). In this sense, Smith (2021) asserts that Physical Education (PE) practice in outdoor spaces and developed in natural environments should be leaded by the aspiration toward caring for the planet in a practical and disciplined way.…”