Is Climate Change Making Temperatures Too Hot for High School Football?

Scaling back the intensity of football practice due to hot weather was once laughable, but many states are enacting such rules to prevent heat-related deaths















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As the parking lot thinned after the Wildcats' first practice in full pads, senior wide receiver and defensive back Antwaun Lewis was still on the field, running sprints alone, as evening faded to night.

As he jogged off the field, shoulder pads and helmet in hand and sweat dripping from his face, he explained his motivation: "Just trying to be better than the next man."

On the Web:

This article originally appeared at The Daily Climate, the climate change news source published by Environmental Health Sciences, a nonprofit media company.



ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)

Brett Israel is a senior editor and staff writer at Environmental Health Sciences, publisher of DailyClimate.org. DailyClimate.org is a foundation-funded news service covering climate change.


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  1. 1. RSchmidt 01:22 PM 8/13/12

    "Some grumble that South Georgia's trademark football might lose its punch", much better to send a couple kids to the lord than lose a game. If Jesus needs a blood sacrific to ensure a winning season then who are we to disagree?

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this
  2. 2. petemicus 03:11 PM 8/13/12

    Texas football has always been hot...SciAm is nuts...

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this
  3. 3. SpottedMarley 03:35 PM 8/13/12

    God I hope so! Finally a good side effect of climate change. I say get rid of the college and professional crap too.

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this
  4. 4. vapur 05:03 PM 8/13/12

    Maybe they should do a study to see if being spoiled with A/C can make you more susceptible to stroke.

    Does the military suffer from any of these same problems when they send their 'maggots' out on drills?

    By the way, a 95 degree day will still be 95 degrees even with climate change; so, how can it make it worse? They've already got advisories not to play when the temperature exceeds a certain degree.

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  5. 5. vapur in reply to pokerplyer 05:59 PM 8/13/12

    No need to use pejoratives; you're making the article writer look better and without contributing anything substantial to the topic. Why not point out what makes it unintelligent?

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this
  6. 6. Shoshin in reply to vapur 07:50 PM 8/13/12

    Posting rational comments dissecting the vapidity of ignorant illogical articles is unnecessary.

    I'm with pokerplayer on this one.

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this
  7. 7. Shoshin in reply to SpottedMarley 07:54 PM 8/13/12

    I think that they need to ban lattes and triple shot americanos also. The coffee growers are deforesting the jungle and this is creating mad-made climate change.

    Also outlaw bio-fuels as it is causing starvation.

    And outlaw windmills as they kill birds.

    What say you?

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this
  8. 8. Bops in reply to Shoshin 09:08 PM 8/13/12

    Rude foolish comments does nothing to help solve a very serious problem.

    What DO we really do about the climate getting so hot?
    There's no easy fix.

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this
  9. 9. Bops 09:34 PM 8/13/12

    Use solar to clean more water.
    Clean water is subsidized MORE than gasoline. and it's cost a lot more per gallon!!!

    We have created life styles that will not be sustained in the future...look at all impulsive advertising, it's not just grandiose, it's foolish nonsense.

    Marketing has stuped to a false of feeling good to sell wasteful junk that should not have been make in the first place..

    How many people live like that, no one I know?
    Let's think about reality.
    Find ways to enjoy life with less pollution.


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  10. 10. geojellyroll 09:35 PM 8/13/12

    There's a thousand things going unreported in physics, chemistry, astronomy, etc. and we get another 'fluff' article from 'Unscientific American'.

    Curious...if temperatures are not as hot next summer will it be cooling? No...it will dismissed as 'weather'.

    By the way...summer in Western Canada is slightly below average temperature. Global warming is not based on a season in the USA in an region that is less than 1% of the world's surfac,

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  11. 11. Soccerdad 09:38 AM 8/14/12

    The title should be "New Rule Restricts Football Practice".

    Or ... "Hot Weather In Southern Georgia In August? Who Woulda Thunk It?

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this
  12. 12. plswinford 03:00 PM 8/14/12

    Dump the helmets, dump the pads, and stop scrambling brains. And since high school football is merely a sport, and not a war, don't risk lives by practicing in the heat.

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this
  13. 13. gmperkins 05:46 PM 8/14/12

    This change has nothing to do with climate change but a change in the understanding of health w.r.t workouts in the heat. Basically competitiveness has risen between sports programs over the past 40 years and the result has been tougher and longer training sessions for athletes. This then resulted in deaths which made people (and then coaches) finally realize that it was a bad idea to overdue it in the heat. A shocking revelation... don't ride a horse to hard or it will die.

    Not everything is about climate change and dubious connections doesn't help the argument.

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  14. 14. hungry doggy 04:47 PM 8/17/12

    I wasn't going to post a comment. But this article is absurd.

    I thought Scientific Anerican was supposed to be about Science. Real, honest to goodness, objective, factually based science. Years ago I actually respected this magazine.

    What's happened to my Scientific American? Has it been taken over by an escaped gang of renegade elves from the North Pole?

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this
  15. 15. suddzz 06:56 PM 8/19/12

    Look at:

    http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/temp-and-precip/time-series/index.php?parameter=tmp&month=8&year=2011&filter=1&state=9&div=0

    Is the issue really temperature? Perhaps we are just getting less acclimated to heat and/or more aware of the dangers.

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this
  16. 16. Rockchips 07:25 PM 8/19/12

    This article doesn't belong in a scientific journal. Maybe a political journal or a comic book.

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this
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