I almost spilled my coffee this morning when I spied the cover story on Sports Illustrated: “Sports and Global Warming–As the Planet Changes, So Do the Games We Play. Time to Pay Attention.” If ever there was a sign that we’ve reached a tipping point here it was.
The sports industry and sports fan have typically lived in happy oblivion to the world around them. When ever there is a crisis, the sports world digs deep just to figure out whether or not to cancel the big game. Usually they do something to acknowledge the disaster like having a moment of silence and then before the fans lose patience, its time to get back to the game. After all, if we stop playing our games, haven’t “they” won? True sports fans (a group I count myself among) pass over the front page of the newspaper dashing instead to the sports section. The world can wait until we find out who beat who. Sports are our anchor providing proof positive that all is really still right with the world. It is in this context that SI’s cover story seems so significant. Here are some of the highlights from the SI article:
Global warming is not coming; it is here. Greenhouse gases — most notably carbon dioxide produced by burning coal, oil and gas — are trapping solar heat that once escaped from the Earth’s atmosphere. As temperatures around the globe increase, oceans are warming, fields are drying up, snow is melting, more rain is falling, and sea levels are rising.
All of which is changing the way we play and the sports we watch. Evidence is everywhere of a future hurtling toward us faster than scientists forecasted even a few years ago. Searing heat is turning that rite of passage of Texas high school football, the August two-a-day, into a one-at-night, while at the game’s highest level the Miami Dolphins, once famous for sweating players into shape, have thrown in the soggy towel and built a climate-controlled practice bubble. Even the baseball bat as we know it is in peril, and final scores and outcomes of plays may be altered too.
The article notes how responsible environmental policies can save certain sports and prevent other sports from causing harm:
- Golf courses can dramatically reduce the pesticides they use;
- Stadium can be built to incorporate conservation, sustainability and energy consumption;
- Ski resorts globally are getting less natural snow and struggling to create artificial snow cost-effectively and preserve the snow they do have.
The online edition of the article also provides a number of things that sports fans can do to be greener:
- Join tennis and swimming stars John McEnroe, Martina Navratilova, Jim Courier, Janet Evans, Aaron Peirsol and others, who are signing on as ambassadors to provide clean water to developing nations with the Global Water Foundation.
- Join the Surfrider Foundation, half of whose members don’t surf — they care about the protection and enjoyment of oceans, waves and beaches.
- Get your name on the Honda Racing Team’s slick new 2007 F1 ride.
- Buy green from the Energy Star program, which features 40 categories of energy-efficient products including appliances, heating, cooling, electronics, lighting, office and commercial food-service products.
- Twelve things you can do from the National Resource Defense Council
- Offset your CO2 emissions with this carbon calculator.
- Subscribe to superbly entertaining Daily Grist for information about the planet.
With this cover story, Sports Illustrated, has thrown down the gauntlet, making it clear to all sports fans that we can no longer ignore the front page headlines in favor of the box scores. Global warming could ruin the big game, the big golf outing, the big fishing trip, the big helicopter skiing adventure. It’s finally time we get our head’s out of the sand trap and save the day.