Warming Up

Longlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2024

“Couldn’t be a bolder, more forthright SOS for sport” — The Observer

The world of sport has a new opponent: climate change.

In recent years, a world championship marathon was held at midnight to avoid the blistering sun. Professional athletes needed oxygen tanks to play during wildfire season in California. Players collapsed, and play was suspended amid the heat and bushfire smoke at the Australian Tennis Open. Ski resorts in the Alps have turned into ghost towns. Golf courses are sinking into the sea. And then there’s the Qatar World Cup, among the greatest follies in sporting history, one that saw hundreds (perhaps thousands) of heat-induced deaths before a ball was even kicked.

The threat climate change poses to sport is clear, but with billions of participants and fans around the world who rely on the sector for entertainment, jobs, fitness, and health, this is one industry we can’t afford to lose. In this book, Madeleine Orr shows it doesn’t have to be this way. There are ways to mitigate, and perhaps counter, even the worst elements of climate change.

A world-leading sport ecologist, Madeleine interviews athletes, coaches, politicians, and thought-leaders to learn more about the inevitable consequences for this trillion-dollar industry. From the frontlines of climate change, Warming Up takes readers through a play-by-play of how global warming is already impacting sport, and how the sports world can fight back.