‘No Tennis on a Dead Planet’: Climate Activists Disrupt US Open
Original article by JAKE JOHNSON republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).Â
“The climate is already more disruptive than any activists can possibly be,” said a spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion.
A group of climate activists wearing shirts that read “End Fossil Fuels” delayed the semifinal match of the U.S. Open Tennis Championships by around 45 minutes Thursday night in an effort to call greater public attention to the planetary emergency that is wreaking deadly havoc worldwide.
One of the demonstrators glued his bare feet to the concrete in the stands at New York City’s Arthur Ashe Stadium, requiring additional effort by medical personnel and police to remove him and take him into custody.
The protesters were associated with the climate group Extinction Rebellion NYC, which said in a statement Thursday that there is “no tennis on a dead planet.”
“The climate and ecological crisis threatens everything on our planet, including sports,” the group said. “This action and similar actions are the response of a movement that has no other recourse than to engage in unconventional means of protest to bring mass attention to the greatest emergency of our time.”
Nineteen-year-old Coco Gauff won the semifinal match after it resumed. In an interview following her victory, Gauff said she supports “preaching about what you feel and what you believe in.”
“It was done in a peaceful way, so I can’t get too mad at it,” she said of the demonstration. “Obviously I don’t want it to happen when I’m winning up 6-4, 1-0, and I wanted the momentum to keep going. But hey, if that’s what they felt they needed to do to get their voices heard, I can’t really get upset at it.”
The U.S. Openâwhich counts JPMorgan, a major funder of fossil fuels, as an official partnerâkicked off late last month amid growing concerns about the impact of extreme heat on the sport.
During a match earlier this week, Russian player Daniil Medvedev looked into a courtside camera between points and warned that an athlete is “gonna die” from the scorching temperatures.
The Associated Press reported that “it got so hot and humid at the U.S. Open on Tuesday that the folks in charge adopted a new policy for the rest of this year’s tournament: They will partially shut the Arthur Ashe Stadium roof in extreme conditions to offer some extra shade.”
“An Associated Press analysis showed the average high temperatures felt during the U.S. Open and the three other major tennis tournaments steadily have gotten higher and more dangerous in recent decades, reflecting the climate change that created record heat waves around the globe this summer,” the outlet noted. “For athletes, it can keep them from playing their best and, worse, increases the likelihood of heat-related illness.”
Earlier this week, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service confirmed that this summer has been the hottest on record, and a separate global report led by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showed that greenhouse gas concentrations hit a record high last year as fossil fuel extraction continued.
A recent survey found that experts on social movements believe disruptive protests of the kind launched by Extinction Rebellion are important to the success of a particular cause, even though the initial public reaction to such tactics can often be negative. The U.S. Open protest drew loud boos from attendees.
Miles Grant, an Extinction Rebellion spokesperson, said Thursday that “the climate is already more disruptive than any activists can possibly be.”
“Just look at the U.S. Open and other big tennis eventsâyear after year, the average temperatures have been rising, making it hotter and more dangerous for the players and spectators,” said Grant. “At some point, there will be fewer outdoor sporting events due to excessive heat.”
Original article by JAKE JOHNSON republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).Â
After Americaâs summer of extreme weather, ânext year may well be worseâ
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/26/us-summer-extreme-heat-wildfires-climate-crisis
A freakish season of record temperatures, wildfire smoke and the destruction of Lahaina could soon become normal, climate experts say
Itâs been a strange, cruel summer in the United States. From the dystopian orange skies above New York to the deadly immolation of a historic coastal town in Hawaii, the waning summer has been a stark demonstration of the escalating climate crisis â with experts warning that worse is to come.
A relentless barrage of extreme weather events, fueled by human-caused global heating, has swept the North American continent this summer, routinely placing a third of the US population under warnings of severe heat and unleashing floods, fire and smoke upon communities, with a record 15 separate disasters causing at least $1bn in damages so far this year.
The heat has been particularly withering in places like Phoenix, Arizona, which had a record 31 consecutive days at temperatures above 110F (43C), while an enormous heatwave across the central swath of the US this week caused schools to be closed in states such as Wisconsin, Colorado and Iowa and food banks to be shut in Nebraska.
In Miami, which had a record 46 days in a row with a heat index above 100F (37C), there was no respite even in the nearby ocean, with a raging marine heatwave turning the seawater to a temperature more normally seen in hot tubs, raising fears that Floridaâs coral reef will be turned to mush.
âItâs been a shocking summer,â said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA. âWe know most of this is happening because of long-term warming of the climate system so itâs not surprising, sadly, but you still get shocked by these extremes. Records are not just being broken, they are being shattered by wide margins.â
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/26/us-summer-extreme-heat-wildfires-climate-crisis