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from Natural Life
Magazine, March/April 2008 When I was considering how to spend my vacation time – a year off from work, a sabbatical – my friend had one word for me: “Golf.” He said that since my nickname is “Green Gene,” I would enjoy the natural setting of a golf course. He contrasted golf with racket ball, saying the latter sport traps you in a concrete box. I told my friend I would think about taking up golf and I even went to play the front nine at a local course. I found out that the course was the subject of some controversy ten years ago; a pristine native canyon was destroyed to build it. It is now 150 acres of non-native grass and trees, mowed and trimmed regularly. It is not really a “natural setting,” but it is pretty. The beauty of the course is somewhat disrupted by the golf carts purring about, speeding things up and sparing players the exercise they might have gotten. A truly natural setting would have native plants flourishing as parts of the native ecosystem, including the insects, birds, and animals that go with it. By contrast, a golf course is a monoculture: Only the imposed set of plants are allowed, thus mitigating the biodiversity of the area. I was still prepared to give golf a chance. Even if golf courses are not really natural, they are at least a welcome break from crowded housing areas, malls and freeways. So I set out to do research on golf courses. The following two well-documented cases gave me pause. U.S. Navy Lieutenant George Prior, age 30, died after playing golf on three successive days at the Army Navy Country Club in Arlington, Virginia in August, 1982. At first he had headaches and nausea, then a severe rash; finally his organs shut down and he died of a heart attack. Medical experts agreed that he died because of exposure to... To read the rest of this article, subscribe to Natural Life's online edition. Gene C. Sager is Professor of Environmental Ethics at Palomar College in San Marcos, California. |
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