Ready-Set-Hike! US Athletes Adapting to Climate Change

By: Andrew Parker, Program Associate, PISA

Edited by: Suzanne Kelly-Lyall, PISA

US high school football players on the field

The US is often perceived to be indifferent to climate change while the rest of the world is working hard to adapt and mitigate climate impacts, one concrete example of climate change having real repercussions on the daily lives of Americans is found in sports. Specifically, in that most American of all sports, football.  Visit any small town in the US in August and you will find football players on the field practicing for the upcoming season – increasingly, in extreme heat.  As a result, there has been a marked increase in heat-related deaths among young football players.  Each year between 1994 and 2009 three students died from heat-related causes according to a study cited in the Scientific American article.

Burma Poised to Change Faster than Katy Perry’s Hair Color

By: Andrew Parker, Research Associate, PISA

Edited by:  Suzanne Kelly-Lyall

The Many Shades of Katy…

Black, red, blue, purple, …no this is not a refresher on the defunct DHSadvisorysystem, rather, just a fewcolors singer Katy Perry has been seen sporting this year–8 in total. That’s about a month and a half per color. Think that’s rapid change? Have a look at recent events in Burma. On the heels of 50 years of military rule, President Thein Sein, a former military man himself, came to power in 2011 and has been enacting a flurry of unprecedented economic and political reforms ever since.