San Francisco 49ers linebacker Chris Borland has left football and the promise of NFL stardom. He finished his rookie season with the 49ers making 108 tackles, 1 sack, and 2 interceptions despite starting in only 8 games (due to an ankle injury). He could have made millions of more money. But he was worried about head trauma, and at age 24, after one stellar rookie season, he announced last month he would no longer play professional football.
Chris Borland played college football at the University of Wisconsin, was named to the first-team All-America Team by the Football Writers Association of America, and was drafted by the 49ers in the third round of the 2014 NFL draft. In an interview on ESPN’s Outside the Lines March 16, he said he wanted to do “what’s best for my health”, adding that “from what I’ve researched and what I’ve experienced, I don’t think it’s worth the risk,” Borland said. “I feel largely the same, as sharp as I’ve ever been. For me, it’s wanting to be proactive. I’m concerned that if you wait till you have symptoms (of brain injury), it’s too late”, he stated.
The overwhelming majority of the world’s reputable global warming scientists have been been telling the world as much for years now, that if the world’s people continue burning of fossil fuels at current rates, that there will be dire consequences. The world, particularly the developed countries, such as the U.S., refused to act. It refused to scale back on its fossil fuel burning at sufficient volumes and in a timely manner. As a result, we are all going to have to pay the consequences now, in one form or another. Today’s youth, particularly future generations, will have a debilitating “gift” from all of us.
We should have did what Chris Borland did – like Borland quit playing professional football, we should have quit burning fossil fuels, and before any symptoms of global warming appeared! Instead, we ignored the scientists’ warnings and kept burning more and more fossil fuels, adding more volume to the already massive accumulation of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. Now that the damage has already been inflicted, the most we can do is attempt to prevent the worst case scenarios that the scientists had been warning us of from occurring. To do that will require that we leave as much coal, oil and gas in the ground as possible, as soon as possible.
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About Mike Neuman
Identical twin; Long-time advocate of protection of our environment; Married; Father to three sons; Grandfather to one granddaughter; Born and raised in Wisconsin; Graduate of University of Wisconsin; post graduate degrees in agricultural economics and Water Resources Management fro UWMadison; Former School Crossing Guard for City of Madison; Bike to Work for 31 years with Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources; Retired from DNR in 2007; Biked to school crossing guard site 2 X daily for 7 years retiring in 2019; in addition to being an advocate of safeguarding our environment, I am also an advocate for humane treatment of animal, children, and people in need of financial resource for humane living. I am presently a Volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, Madison, Wisconsin.
I oppose all long (>500 miles) distance travel (via fossil fuel burning) for nonessential purposes and all ownership of more than one home.
I am opposed to militarism in any form particularly for the purpose of monetary gain.
I am a Strong believer in people everywhere having the right to speak their minds openly, without any fear of reprisal, regarding any concerns; especially against those in authority who are not acting for the public good?in a timely fashion and in all countries of the world not just the U S..
My identical twin, Pat, died in June 2009.
He was fired from his job with the National Weather Service despite having a long and successful career as a flood forecaster with the Kansas City National Weather Service. He took a new position in the Midwest Regional Office in Minneapolis.
Unfortunately, Pat’s work for the NWS went sour after he began to see the evidence for concern about rising global temperatures shortly after relocating to Minneapolis, and how they appeared to effect of flooding on the Red River that flows out of Canada before entering the U.S. in North Dakota.
. Pat and I conversed on a regular basis with other scientists on the Yahoo Group named “Climate Concern “ and by personal email. The NWS denied his recommendation to give his public presentation o n his research at the “Minneapolis Mall of America” in February 2000, which deeply affected h,im. I will h He strongly believed the information ought be shared with the public to which I concurred. That was the beginning of the vendetta against my brother, Patrick J. Neuman, for speaking strongly of the obligations the federal government was responsible for accurately informing the citizenry.
A way great similar response to my raising the issue of too many greenhouse gases being emitted by drivers of vehicles on Wisconsin highway system, my immediate supervisors directed: “that neither global warming, climate change nor the long term impacts upon the natural resources of Wisconsin from expansion of the state highway system were to be any part of my job requirements, and that I must not communicate, nor in a memorandum to all the bureau, shall any person who works in the same bureau I do communicate with me, neither verbally on the phone, by email.
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