The Incredible Shrinking Human


In the past few weeks, we’ve heard about how climate change is threatening:

Now it’s apparently also threatening the global height balance—and in turn the power dynamics of the World Cup and professional basketball. Steve LeVine explains in Foreign Policy:

According to a report in Nature Climate Change, two researchers at the National University of Singapore have found that species are shrinking with the march of climate change — including humans. “Reduced food supplies are likely to mean that animals at the top of their food chains — including humans — will grow to smaller sizes, have fewer offspring, and be more vulnerable to disease,” writes the Daily Telegraph, reporting on the study.

Studies have shown that global warming will affect regions of the Earth differently — some countries will see stark affects, and others won’t. Applying that concept, one over time could find soccer or basketball players who grow up in drought-stricken regions — say, the state of Texas (the Dallas Mavericks’s current crop is pictured above) — outclassed by athletes from currently underrated, rain-drenched locales such as the Indian state of Assam. Scouts pay attention.

More Mother Jones reporting on Climate Desk

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We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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