What would a deep ecological sport look like? The example of Arne Naess

ABSTRACT

Since the 1960s environmental problems have increasingly been on the agenda in Western countries. Global warming and climate change have increased concerns among scientists, politicians and the general population. While both elite sport and mass sport are part of the consumer culture that leads to ecological problems, sport philosophers, with few exceptions, have not discussed what an ecologically acceptable sport would look like. My goal in this article is to present a radical model of ecological sport based on Arne Naess’s version of deep ecology called ecosophy_T. After outlining the Naessian ecocentric view of biospheric egalitarianism I present the consequences for sport and physical activities. I also give examples from Arne Naess’s own practice of sport which was guided by the principle ‘Richness in ends, simplicity in means!’ I discuss whether Naessian deep ecological sport is what we will all end up with after the ecocatastrophe or whether it can be an inspiring ideal for many of us right now.

KEYWORDS:

• Naess
• sport
• nature
• deep ecology
• ecocentrism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. In a later work Parfit (2011) argues extensively for an objective foundation for our moral reasoning.

2. The following presentation of Naess’ views on sport is mainly based on the non-published paper ‘Notes on the Philosophy of Sport’ (Naess 1994).

3. This is not the same as bouldering since it is continuous climbing as one is not staying in one spot trying to handle a difficult problem. Naess also practiced bouldering on a huge stone block 100 m from his cottage.

4. As an example of glow Naess had practiced playful sliding down a steep snow slope on the top of a sack, with his wife sitting on his lap. They ended up in a hole in the snow, carved out by a stone warmed by the sun. Naess broke his back in three places. In huge pain, waiting for the rescue helicopter, he asked his wife to bring him the most difficult book from his cottage library, which was Einstein’s theory of relativity. Totally absorbed by the book, with increasing glow and decreasing pain, some well-being was able to shine through.

5. The following presentation of Naess as an athlete and sportsman is of course incomplete. The glimpses presented here are based on my own experiences with him, talks with his other friends and on views and experiences expressed in Rothenberg (1992).