$$$$ millions to work out what to do when you want to play outside but the weather is hot
Sunday, 01 February 2015
More climate madness and much excitement from the usual suspects, Fairfax, AFL Demetriou and the Climate Commission. These people are the masters in making the simple complex. It might have escaped their attention, but people have been playing footy in Cairns and Darwin for a while now without the benefits of multi-million dollar consultancies and conference presentations.
"Mum, it's hot."
"Well have a drink love."
Try this exercise - Google anything that's loveable +climate change (butterflies, forests, Taylor Swift etc) and there'll be heaps of stuff about how climate change will kill those good things off.
Now Google stuff we hate - sharks, jelly-fish, Irukanji, any and all introduced feral species etc +climate change and hey presto! Climate change will result in devastating increases in their numbers.
Sweating it out: Climate change extremes to impact on sport
- Date
- January 31, 2015 - 8:36AM
"It's certainly raising the probability that it will be a lot hotter in the finals, and it will increase the risk of injury, I've got no doubt at all," Mr Rance said.
As the training and playing seasons for winter sports such as AFL and NRL stretch ever further into the warmer months, traditionally summer pastimes such as cricket and tennis – and their fans - are also facing greater risks from playing in extreme heat.
Australia's average temperatures have risen almost one degree in the past century and climate change threatens to lift that increase to as much as 5 degrees by 2090 with many more extreme days, the CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorolgoy said in a report this week.
For Perth, the number of days annually above 35 degrees would more than double to 63 – effectively two months – with a similar jump predicted for Adelaide to 47.
'Back seat' for sport
A new report by The Climate Institute on how Australian sport is dealing with current and projected temperature increases found a patchy response.
"Most sports are struggling to cope, especially at the local level," it said. "Heat policies are often ambiguous and vary at state, national and international level."
"This should, in many ways, be like occupational health and safety," John Connor, the institute's chief executive, said, noting some unions stop outdoor work on 35-degree days.
Andrew Demetriou, former AFL chief executive and a Climate Institute board member, said it was inevitable that sports managers would have to prepare with climate change.
"Elite sports will have cope with rising temperatures, that's just a fact," Mr Demetriou said. "In the whole climate debate, sport has so far taken a back seat."
This summer's sport largely dodged a repetition of last January's record-breaking heatwave across southern Australia that led to players and several ball-kids collapsing at the Australian Open.
The Asian Football Cup, which culminates with Socceroos taking on South Korea for the title in Sydney on Saturday night, had prepared for cooling and hydration breaks at the 30th and 75th minutes if needed.
The trigger - which wasn't pulled - was a reading on the wet-bulb globe temperature of 32 degrees or higher, taking into account heat in the sun, humidity and other factors.
For the Australian Open, a WBGT reading of 32.5 degrees would have been enough to halt play at the Australian Open, subject to the umpire's discretion.
Other sports have a range of limits, such a standard 38 degrees for Cycling Victoria and 36 degrees for Victorian country AFL games.