Hockey Stick Graph
United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Can We Feed Ourselves?
Photo essay about the challenges the natural world faces as a result of human activity

Career Interview

Juniper Neill
speaks about her work on environmental issues in the US Foreign Service

Global Warming
Pew Center for Global Climate Change

What You Can Do ClimateCrisis.net

Global Warming FAQ
Union of Concerned Scientists

What does ice hockey have to do with global climate change? First of all, both use hockey sticks. On the ice, the stick slams the puck around, while in the field of climatology, scientists use a graph that looks like a hockey stick to illustrate Earth’s changing climate. The graph shows that global mean temperatures were stable for 900 years before curving steeply up (like the end of a hockey stick) during the past century. The earth is warming up, and scientists say it is due to greenhouse gases that are released through human activities.

Get the Facts

carbon dioxide – an atmospheric gas and the most powerful greenhouse gas. It is composed of one part carbon, and two parts oxygen.

cholera – a disease caused by bacteria in dirty water

climatology – the study of climates

conservation – the management and careful use of natural resources such as fossil fuels. This can be achieved by making cars and appliances more efficient (they perform with less energy) or by industries and individuals using less energy.

emission – something that is released

fossil fuels – fuels made from the remains of plants and animals that have been exposed to heat and pressure in the earth’s crust for millions of years. These are hydrocarbons (made of the elements of water and carbon), such as gas, oil, or coal.

global mean temperatures – intermediate temperatures of the Earth, calculated from the range of extremes

greenhouse gases – gases that accumulate in the atmosphere and redirect radiation back to the planet’s surface, insulating and warming the Earth

glacier – a large body or river of ice that never completely melts, but moves up and down hillsides, spreading into valleys. Glaciers are the largest storehouses of fresh water and area found on every continent on Earth

insulator – something that protects from the transmission of energy, heat, or sound

malaria – a tropical disease caused by a parasite and spread by mosquitoes

per capita – by each person

radiation – the spread of energy in particles or waves

respiratory diseases – diseases of the respiratory system (nose, nasal passages, throat, and lungs), such as asthma, bronchitis, and lung cancer

Ice hockey is famous for clashes that occur on the ice during games, and roughing in the arena of global climate change is equally brutal. Although shorthanded on science, many people in industry denied that global warming was even occurring. Then they claimed that warming was probably due to natural, not human, causes. Now, they focus on resisting emission limits that would reduce greenhouse gases. They say regulations would cost too much and probably wouldn’t reverse warming. Meanwhile, environmentalists’ power plays have included dire and sometimes exaggerated predictions for the future.

Both ice hockey and global warming have long histories, but have only become international sensations relatively recently. Games using curved sticks date back to prehistoric times. It was not until the late 1800s that the modern game of ice hockey took form on frozen lakes of North America. Coincidentally, carbon dioxide emissions began to rise at the same time. This was the start of the Industrial Revolution, when machine labor started to replace human craftsmanship. Rapid industrial development could not be achieved with organic fuels like wood, but required fossil fuels. In the beginning, factories ran on coal, but oil and gas energized later development.

Greenhouse gases had always been around, preventing radiation from escaping our atmosphere. In fact, without greenhouse gases, Earth would be too cold to inhabit. Although water vapor is the most abundant greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide is the most powerful insulator. Carbon dioxide is what fossil fuels emit when burned, and it lingers in Earth’s atmosphere for over a century.

People in the United States emit the most carbon dioxide, both as a country-wide total and per capita. Every time you turn on the lights, watch TV, surf the Web, or drive a Zamboni, you are using power and discharging carbon dioxide. Every time you toss something in the garbage, it goes to the dump where it releases methane, another greenhouse gas.

To compound the problem, forests have always stored vast amounts of carbon dioxide, but trees are falling to development across the globe.

Can carbon emissions be checked? Many people are pressing for local, national and international regulations. Renewable and clean energy sources such as wind and power may also provide hope, but these technologies are young. Conservation is another strategy for combating climate change.

Detractors say that global warming, like hockey, exists, but isn’t interesting. They claim resources would be better spent combating HIV/AIDS and ensuring clean water systems. Others counter that global warming could fundamentally alter weather, land configurations, ocean ecosystems, and water supplies. Even now, signs of warming are mounting: glaciers are retreating, melting polar ice caps will cause sea levels to rise, increasingly acidic oceans are threatening the base of food chains, and warmer air is intensifying storms and droughts. These will threaten food supplies and may burden health systems with increased exposure to cholera, malaria, and respiratory diseases. Such overwhelming environmental pressures, especially in poor countries, could threaten world security.

With such sweeping changes possible, it is hard to predict what our world will look like in the decades to come. Today’s youth stands to inherit the world arena tomorrow, but how can you play the game if there isn’t even any ice?

Copyright 2006. Author: Heather Clydesdale