Madeleine Orr

The world of sport has a new opponent: climate change. A world championship marathon was recently held at midnight to avoid the blistering sun. Athletes needed oxygen tanks to play during wildfire season in California. Ski resorts in the Alps have turned into ghost towns. Golf courses are sinking into the sea. But with billions of participants and fans around the world who rely on the sector for entertainment, jobs, fitness and health, this is an industry we can’t afford to lose. Sport ecologist Madeleine Orr argues that there are ways to mitigate the worst elements of climate change. Through interviews with athletes, coaches and politicians in her book Warming Up: How Climate Change is Changing Sport, she describes how the sports world can fight back.In conversation with Claire Taylor, a World Cup-winning English cricketer, Chair of Cricket at the MCC and a management consultant.