WARNING: Due to global warming, college mascots around the country will be killed off.
Or at least that’s what the National Wildlife Federation and Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.) are now cautioning.
Using the popular U.S. sports pastime March Madness as a peg, the National Wildlife Federation released a report this week titled “Mascot Madness: How Climate Change Threatens School Spirit.” In the report, NWF senior scientist Dr. Doug Inkley uses sports language and basketball references to try and make his point.
“Unfortunately, many of the plants and animals that inspired our favorite teams’ names and mascots are facing a losing streak,” Inkley writes. (Oh boy.) “From the Colorado State University Rams to the University of Maryland Terrapins, climate change is quickly becoming the toughest opponent to the long-term survival of wildlife.”
Some of the other well-known mascots mentioned in the report include the red wolves of the North Carolina State Wolfpack, the University of Florida Gators, and the rival University of Michigan Wolverines and the Ohio State University Buckeyes.
Poor Brutus.
“Drought, storms, and heat brought on by climate change are causing the best areas for Ohio Buckeyes to move north — into rival Michigan Wolverine territory,” the report reads.
Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.), chairwoman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, lent a quote to the report’s release and also related her concerns to what is informally National Basketball Month in the U.S.
“I want to encourage you to look at the National Wildlife Federation report, match it up with those brackets, see those species that are in danger because of our changing climate,” she said, noting that she would be taking her own advice. “I can’t wait to dig through the report and actually compare the dangers to those mascots to my brackets come Sunday.”
(h/t US News)
