Over the summer, I went on an expedition into the Canadian Arctic, as close to the North Pole as 79° latitude. I wanted to get a sense of one of the world's great wilderness areas and the majesty of polar bears, narwhals, and beluga whales, but the trip proved bitter sweet. While I saw spectacular beauty, I also witnessed the indirect and direct consequences of the Greenland ice cap breakup. Our boat even had to change its itinerary because of a shifting ice floe.
As a species, human beings are headed on a dangerous course, with climate change threatening our very lives on this planet. As citizens, we must do everything we can to change this direction regardless of cause. And as sports physicians, we must react to the effects on our patients: more mosquitoes bearing more infectious diseases, more storms and fires, and, especially, more hyperthermia.
Around the world this past summer, record temperatures kept cropping up. Japan hit its highest temperature ever recorded.[1] On the other side of the globe, England had its hottest summer ever.[2] Even into September, heat waves swept such diverse places as Denver,[3] Miami,[4] and St. Louis.[5]
The heat is already killing athletes. On May 29, 19-year-old University of Maryland football player Jordan McNair collapsed from heatstroke during a practice in College Park, dying about 2 weeks later.
