This article describes birding as an example of what I call environmental sporting, an ostensibly green category of sport that relies on both environmental protection and degradation. Three competitive forms of birding are explored in relation to three toxic sites: the birding event called the World Series of Birding and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund sites, big-year birding and landfills, and the competitive practice of listing and sewage ponds. At each site and in each competitive instantiation of birding, birders seek birds in close proximity with potent environmental toxins. The presence of active birds and birders at such sites works to make toxicity seem both hospitable and harmless. By discussing how birding relies on and ultimately masks the perils of toxic sites, the article suggests contradictions that arise from the relationship between sport and environmentalism.
Banks, R.C., Chesser, R.T., Cicero, C., Dunn, J.L., Kratter, A.W., Lovette, I.J., et al. (2007). Forty-eighth supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union check-list of North American birds. Auk, 124, 1109-1115. Retrieved January 9, 2008, from http://www.aou.org/checklist/index.php3
2.
Barnes, S. (2005). How to be a bad birdwatcher. New York: Pantheon Books.
3.
Bernzweig, C. (2003, May 14). Where'd you get your Kingfisher? [Msg] . Message posted to http://www.njaudubon.org/Tools.Net/Forum/TopicDetail.aspx?ftk=212
4.
Binns, A. (2003). Delaware Valley Ornithological Club report: World Series of Birding. Retrieved December 27, 2007, from http://www.dvoc.org/WSB/WSB2003.htm
5.
Boothroyd, M., Boothroyd, W., & Boothroyd, K. (2007-2008). Bird year (Blog). Available from http://birdyear.com
6.
Coakley, J. (2006). The sociology of sport: What is it and why study it? In Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies. New York: McGraw-Hill, pp. 2-28.
7.
Cornell Lab of Ornithology. (2007). World Series of Birding big-day highlights. Retrieved December December 27, 2007, from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/wsb/2007-highlights
8.
Cronon, W. (1996). Uncommon ground: rethinking the human place in nature. New York: Norton.
9.
DeLuca, K.M. (1999). Image politics: The new rhetoric of environmental activism. New York: Guilford Press .
10.
Dunne, P. (1999). The feather quest: A North American birder's year . New York: Mariner Books.
11.
Environmental News Service. (2003). Criminal claims over Florida bird fatalities resolved. Retrieved April 4, 2007, from http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/oct2003/2003-10-08-04.asp
12.
Environmental Protection Agency. (2007a). Roebling Steel Co. EPA fact sheet. Retrieved using search term "NJD980530430" December 27, 2007, from http://nlquery.epa.gov/epasearch/epasearch .
13.
Environmental Protection Agency. (2007b). New Jersey sites by name. Retrieved January 9, 2008, from http://www.epa.gov/region02/cleanup/sites/njtoc_name.htm
14.
Environmental Protection Agency. (2007c). Superfund site information. Retrieved 1/9/2007, from http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/cursites.
15.
Fitzpatrick, J.W. (2005). The Ivory-billed Woodpecker still lives. Living Bird, 24, 3. Retrieved 1/4/2007, from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/Publications/LivingBird/Summer2005/still_lives.html .
16.
Gelber, S.M. (1999). Hobbies: Leisure and the culture of work in America . New York: Columbia University Press.
17.
Graham, F. & Buchheister, C. (1992). The Audubon ark: A history of the National Audubon Society. Austin: U of Texas Press.
18.
Gibbons, F. and Strom, D. (1988). Neighbors to the birds: A history of birdwatching in America. New York: Norton.
19.
Harrison, E., Oakes, S.R., Hysell, M., & Hay, A. (2006). Organic chemicals in sewage sludges, Science of the Total Environment367, pp. 481-497.
20.
Hoovers. (2008). AmerGen Energy Company, LLC. (Fact sheet). Retrieved December 27, 2007, from http://www.hoovers.com/amergen-energy/--ID__57636--/free-co-factsheet.xhtml
21.
Indiana University. (2006). Studies find heart deformities, higher mortality rates in PCB-affected wildlife, IU Newsroom. Retrieved December 7, 2007, http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/3224.html
22.
Karnicky, J. (2007, November 1-4). Included in this classification: Encoding American birds. Paper presented at the 21st annual conference of the Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts, Portland, Maine. Retrieved December 27, 2007, from http://www.slsa07.com/proposals.html
23.
Kaufman, K. (1997). Kingbird highway: the story of a natural obsession that got a little out of hand. Boston & New York, Houghton Mifflin.
24.
Korpi, R.T. (1999). A most engaging game: The evolution of bird field guides and their effects on environmentalism, ornithology, and birding, 1830-1998 . Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Washington State University, American Studies Program.
25.
Maguire, J.A. (2002). Sport worlds: A sociological perspective. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
26.
Mandelbaum, M. (2005). The meaning of sports. New York: Public Affairs.
27.
Markley, R. (2007, November 1-4). Climate change, techno-fixes, and systems theory. Paper presented at the 21st annual conference of the Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts, Portland, Maine.
28.
Marten, E.F. (1958). "Bulldozer at Montlake Landfill, University of Washington, August 17, 1958."University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections Division. Retrieved June 1, 2009, from http://content.lib.washington.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/uwcampus&CISOPTR=150&CISOBOX=1&REC=1
29.
Montlake Landfill Oversight Committee. (2002 ). Operational guidance for maintenance and development practices over the Montlake Landfill. Retrieved December 27, 2007 from http://www.ehs.washington.edu/epositeremed/index.shtm
30.
Montlake Landfill Work Group. (1999). Montlake Landfill information summary. Retrieved December 27, 2007, from http://depts.washington.edu/ubna/history.htm
31.
Moore, M.P. (1993, September). Constructing irreconcilable conflict: The function of synecdoche in the Spotted Owl controversy. Communication Monographs (ComM), 60, 258-274.
32.
Moss, S. (2004). A bird in the bush: A social history of birdwatching . London: Aurum Press.
33.
The Nature Conservancy. (n.d.). Interpretive trails now open at Moody Forest Natural Area (Press release). Retrieved January 4, 2008, from http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/georgia/press/press2183.html
34.
New Jersey Audubon Society. (2007). Play-pledge or sponsor. Retrieved December 27, 2007, from http://worldseriesofbirding.org/wsob_pps.shtml
35.
Nikon Corporation. (2007). Environmentally sound optical glass ("Eco-glass"). Retrieved December 27, 2007 , from www.nikon.co.jp/main/eng/portfolio/csr/environment/products/products02/index.htm
36.
Obmascik, M. (2004). The big year: A tale of man, nature, and a fowl obsession. New York: Free press .
37.
Parnell, K.H. (2001). Toxic sludge in our communities threatening public health and our farmlands. Retrieved January 9, 2007, from http://www.toxicsaction.org/sludgereport.pdf
38.
Patterson, S. (1999). Lake Apopka: An environmental tragedy, Florida Times Union. Retrieved December 27, 2007, from www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/022799/met_2a1apopk.html
39.
Perciasepe, R. (n.d.). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency use of the term biosolids (Memorandum). Retrieved December 27, 2007, from http://www.boostdam.net/stories/EPAPERCEPTION.html
40.
Peterson, R.T. (1934). A field guide to the birds (1st ed.). Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin.
41.
Peterson, R.T., & Fisher, J. (1955). Wild America: The record of a 30,000-mile journey around the continent by a distinguished naturalist and his British colleagueNew York: Mariner Books.
42.
Pezzullo, P. (2007). Toxic tourism: Rhetorics of pollution, travel, and environmental Justice. Tuscaloosa: U of Alabama Press.
43.
Philippon, D.J. (2004). Conserving words: How American nature writers shaped the environmental movement. Athens: University of Georgia Press.
44.
Price, J. (1999). Flight maps: Adventures with nature in modern America. New York: Basic Books.
45.
Price, J. (2004). Hats off to Audubon. Audubon Magazine , November. Retrieved January 7, 2008, from http://magazine.audubon.org/features0412/hats.html
46.
Schaffner, S. (2005, January/February) Birding with the first American field guides to birds. Birding, 37(1).
47.
Scott, B. (in press). Civic engagement as risk management and public relations: What the pharmaceutical industry can teach us about service-learning. College Composition and Communication.
48.
Scott, M. (1999-2002). Birding the Brownsville Dump . Retrieved January 27, 2007, from http://web.archive.org/web/20070807044200/http://www.birdingamerica.com/Texas/brownsvilledump.htm
49.
Sheard, K. (1999). A twitch in time saves nine: Birdwatching, sport, and civilizing processes. Sociology of Sport Journal16, 181-205.
50.
Snyder, C. (2005). The dirty work of promoting "recycling" of America's sewage sludge. International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, 11, 415-427.
51.
Sullivan, N. (2003). Birders World Series, All Things Considered, National Public Radio. Retrieved January 9, 2007, from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1260267
52.
Tice, W. (1999). A birders guide to the sewage ponds of Oregon: Creatures from the brown lagoons. Falls City, OR: Author.
53.
Vermont Public Interest Research Group. (1999 ). On the ground: The spreading of toxic sludge in Vermont. Retrieved January 9, 2007, from www.vpirg.org/downloads/sludge.pdf
54.
Weidensaul, S. (2007). Of a feather: A brief history of American birding . Orlando, FL: Harcourt.
55.
Welch, M. (1998). The book of nature: Natural history in the United States, 1825-1875. Boston: Northeastern University Press.
56.
Well, J., Aloise, G., Olson, P., & Zavala, M. (1994, June 23). Nuclear regulation: Action needed to control radioactive contamination at sewage treatment plants, GAO Report No. B-255099. Retrieved January 9, 2008, from archive.gao.gov/t2pbat3/151920.pdf
57.
Zimmer, K. (2000). Birding in the American West. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
58.
Zimmerling, J.R. (2006). Why birds and birders flock to sewage lagoons , BirdWatch Canada, 36, 4-7.
