ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the perspectives and activities of a relatively new and extremely influential 'breed' of environmentalist: sport management environmentalist (SME). It discusses some of the environmental strategies privileged and practiced by SMEs and the seldom mentioned but very real problems with these practices. The chapter aims to define the term ‘post-politics’ and explains why this term is helpful for describing how SMEs have responded to critiques of sport mega-events and their environmental impacts. There are several features of SMEs that distinguish them from sport mega-event organizers and sport managers of years past. First, the SME is known to openly acknowledge that sport-related activities can negatively impact the natural environment. Second, SMEs are known to respond to environment-related concerns using a ‘sustainability’ approach. That is to say, SMEs see progress on environment-related issues to be inseparable from progress on economic and social issues. Third, SMEs claim to prioritize collaboration with other stakeholders in their work on environment-related issues.
