Greening the greens...

Mark Twain once called it a good walk spoiled. Others have defined it simply as an endless series of tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle. No matter how poetic you get with it, there is no game quite like golf.

Golf has been around for centuries and is played by millions throughout the world. But it is certainly not without its critics. Apart from the myriad writers and many others who can't seem to hone their skills very well, golf has frequently come under fire as a sport for "rich, white guys". More recently, golf has been targeted as an environmental monster.

Golf uses huge amounts of land, outrageous amounts of fresh water and often large volumes of cosmetic pesticides to keep the course looking very green. They tend to be built on highly viable agricultural land and can have a detrimental impact on wildlife.

But before I continue, Tim and I have a confession to make. We, dare I say it, are golfers. And we hit the greens yesterday afternoon. We have spent many hours discussing the appropriateness of two guys who study the environment and write about it playing a game that has so much environmental impact. Consider it a guilty pleasure.

But as we were playing yesterday, I kept thinking about how golf could be made more environmentally friendly. So let's explore some ways golf could be made a little more 'green'.

Golf courses could start to use high grade compost instead of cosmetic pesticides and conventional soil. High quality compost can often be more fertile than synthetic treatments and as more communities turn to it, supplies could be plentiful and cheap.

Courses could also turn to using xeriscaping (or drip irrigation) to try and use as little water as possible without harming the quality of the game.

The courses could also work together with local conservation authorities and ministries of the environment to protect wildlife habitat and any special species. Indeed, the Audobon Society has a certification program that awards certain courses that meet their environmental standards.

Turning to energy use, the courses could use renewable sources to power things like the clubhouse and to charge the golf carts.

The Conservation Council of Ontario is looking at this and has developed a project that is examining all the facets of 'greening the greens'. I suggest looking at its site if you have more interest in exploring what can be done.

Some of this might be expensive, but the beauty of working with golf courses is that they tend to be -- as critics highlight -- played by those with considerable levels of income. Some of the private courses charge annual membership fees of thousands of dollars. For many golf clubs, money is not much of an object for their membership base.  

I admit that golf is intrinsically an environmentally unfriendly sport, just given the need for huge amounts of land and to keep the playing surface of good quality. The most environmentally friendly thing we could do is just shut them down and return them to their natural states. But that isn't going to happen, so we should try to green as much of what we do as we can.  

(Photo: Atwood Lake Resort)

A greener and cheaper alternative to wakeboarding...

I've spent much of my life going to the cottage and spending time around boats. One of my favourite things to do is go wakeboarding. For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, it is basically a combination of waterskiing and snowboarding, where you get pulled behind a boat and ride a large board that you can use to jump off the boat's wake and do all sorts of tricks. Some footage can be found here. I am by no means anywhere near the calibre of the guys in the video, but I bet Tim could do all that and more...

Wakeboarding, unfortunately, has an environmental impact. Like many watersports, wakeboarders need a boat to pull them. And often, the bigger the boat, the bigger the wake, and the better the wakeboarding. But, the bigger the boat, the more fuel consumed and usually, the louder the engine. And boats are notorious for their impact on bodies of water, from oil and gas emissions into the water and also into the air.

I recently stumbled upon something very comparable that could serve just as exciting, but without the boat. It is called kiteboarding. You use a similar board, but instead of being pulled behind the boat, you attach yourself to a large kite that you use to pull you across the water. You can also use it to seemingly float in mid air after hitting waves, allowing you to pull off just as many, if not more tricks you could perform wakeboarding. While I have never tried it, the videos I have seen lead me to believe that it offers one a freedom similar to that found in cycling.

There are dangers, of course, the biggest being the wind sweeping you up and throwing you into hazards like rocks or other kiteboarders. But with practice and quickly developing safety technology, many of these dangers can be avoided. Finding places with major wind resources can be a challenge, but in most major lakes and oceanic coasts, winds can get high enough. Throughout the Great Lakes, for instance, there is a multitude of appropriate locations to go kiteboarding.

I'm certainly looking into kiteboarding as something I could do, especially since I have little access to a boat. I certainly can't afford one. But kiteboarding is a little more financially accessible. If you're into this kind of stuff, I suggest taking a look. Here's one of hundreds of videos online.  

Now I am certainly not denouncing wakeboarding or jumping on the proverbial environmental high horse. If someone offered me the chance to go wakeboarding behind a 28 foot ski boat, I would jump at the opportunity. But there would be some guilt attached to it. Several watersports are dependent on boats or other vehicles. Finding ways to get the same excitement without as much environmental impact and as  much as a hit to the wallet can be pretty rewarding.