Quote:
Originally Posted by Two Bills
Considering that many of the major polluting nations have next to no golf courses, that opinion is a non runner.
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We know that the top 2 polluting countries are the US and China. We were # 1, then China captured that dubious honor. If the pollution caused by the US and China were zero, there would probably be no global warming and therefore, no BIG fires in Ca. and no Big hurricanes. How to DETERMINE the effect of Golf courses on that big picture? ........China is the US's main trading partner. We effectively OUTSOURCE our pollution for manufacturing to China, because their government does NOT bother to care about its people or the air quality of the rest of the world. But, we are driving China in that direction. The Chinese tend to play table tennis because of their large population and less rural and suburban landmass than the US. We have the LUXURY of being able to play GOLF. Due to the LEVERAGE of the golf club and swing, a golfer does NOT have to be especially strong or have great athletic footwork. They do need SKILL, practice, and a VERY resource-heavy and LARGE area to play in - as compared to a basketball court, football field (which has multiple uses), hockey ice rink (multiple uses), table tennis table, pickleball court, and etc. Older, less athletic people can participate successfully in GOLF - the club leverage has an equalizing effect.
Exactly how much the environmental cost of golf courses would be hard to quantify and to calculate. It would take a scientific paper to spell it all out. Mining of phosphate fertilizers would be a big factor - talk about wind-blown dust! A big factor would be exhaust gases from internal combustion engines of both mining equipment and the bizzions of golf cars with limited pollution control devices on their exhaust pipes! Golf course fertilizer runoff into US water systems would be another LARGE cost to air and water quality. Any sport has costs and costs to the environment, but Golf might have the LARGEST costs to the SMALLEST number of people as a ratio. I had heard that golf was DECREASING in popularity with the younger upcoming generations. If true, this current TV Land generation may (?) be the last generation that NEEDS golf courses? Mybe the forest will return and the earth can heal itself??????>?