By Parker Anderson
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
In order to achieve sustainability in the golf industry it is important to create a working definition of sustainable golf around which to frame specific research and recommendations for the industry. As an industry with a wide range of stakeholders and influences, the golf industry requires a holistic definition of sustainability in order to capture the many facets of influence and impact. In this definition the ethics of permaculture are used as guiding parameters for defining sustainable golf.
The permaculture movement includes the integration of three main tenets (see above diagram):
- Care for the Earth: the ecological and environmental benefits and implications of incorporating potential multi-use spaces and native ecosystems in golf courses
- Care for the People: the individual and communal benefits of restorative green space offered by golf courses
- Fair Share: an investigation of the natural capital of a golf course and the societal values associated with that resource as well as possible trade-offs in economic growth and sustainability
Sustainable golf occurs at the intersection of these three tenets.