CHAPTER 27 Sports and Environmental Sustainability: Water Use during Times of Drought Cheryl Mallen Associate Professor, Sport Management Brock University, Canada Greg Dingle Lecturer, Sport Management LaTrobe University, Australia Overview: Mallen and Dingle ask whether municipalities should water grass sports fields during an extreme drought. They use examples from Melbourne, Australia, and Toronto, Canada, to illus- trate why this question is so important. They also examine several economic implications, sociocultural factors, and the impact of public opinion in regard to water utilization in the sports industry. The world today is challenged by contemporary climate change that will lead to ‘‘a long-term shift in weather conditions’’ (Government of Canada 2016, para. 3). This climate change phenomenon is widely accepted as a human-driven phe- nomenon, as it is supported by ‘‘a vast preponderance of accumulated scientific evidence’’ (Mastrandrea and Schneider 2010, 11), and it has resulted in a level of global warming that encompasses ‘‘a rise in the average global temperature’’ (David Suzuki Foundation 2017b, para. 1). However, the impacts of ‘‘rising average temperatures do not simply mean balmier winters. Some regions will experience extreme heat while others may cool slightly. Flooding, drought and intense summer heat could result’’ (David Suzuki Foundation 2017a, para. 1). The intense heat and related drought impact the world’s water resources, par- ticularly its basic availability. Further, bodies of water can be ‘‘intimately tied to other resource and social issues such as food supply, health, industry, trans- portation and ecosystem integrity’’ (para. 3). Climate change creates challenges for communities to achieve environmental sustainability (IPCC 2014; WMO 2017). Reaching consensus on strategies for moving forward and successfully marketing such strategies can be problematic due to the range of opinions on the issue. The term sustainability has been defined 383 COPYRIGHT 2019 Gale, a Cengage Company WCN 02-200-210