NDP Member of Parliament Bonita Zarrillo is raising questions about the need for indoor ice arenas and their impact on the climate. .Canadian hockey players, curlers, speedskaters, ringette players and figure skaters might disagree..In a Wednesday evening tweet that has since been deleted, Zarrillo — MP for Port Moody-Coquitlam, Anmore and Belcarra — raised the questions and included a link to a climate change article entitled Ice rink alternatives and their environmental impact.."Is indoor skating ice even a necessity anymore?" Zarrillo asked in the tweet. ."Can every ice sport be done without ice and different equipment?…just pondering the climate impact of human-made indoor ice.".In the article published in INHABITAT, concerns around "global warming, water scarcity and our planet's climate crisis" are raised and points to a "movement towards utilizing synthetic ice on ice rinks." .Conservative Party of Canada leadership candidate Roman Baber slammed Zarrillo's tweet. ."Amazing! An @NDP MP proposes that Canadians don't play ice hockey anymore because of climate change!" he tweeted. ."C'mon @theJagmeetSingh, take that to Canadians this fall!" .Jonathan Kay, Quillette editor, writer, and podcast host, also took to Twitter to rip on Zarrillo's tweet. ."This sports fan is an NDP MP," he said. ."I look forward to seeing this in the party platform next election. Will go over awesome in the burbs.".Referencing skating clubs dating back as far as 1642 and the "growing popularity of ice hockey from the 1880s onward," the article suggests today's ice-making and maintenance technologies create pollution, waste energy and are harmful to the environment. ."During the most recent determination of the NHL’s total carbon footprint, it was estimated to emit 530,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases, an amount rivaling the yearly emissions from 110,000 cars, says the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)," said the article. .The article points to the use of "synthetic ice" as an alternative as it doesn't require the use of water, ice-making equipment or ice-maintenance. It also highlights that synthetic ice rinks could be used 24/7 without the need for resurfacing. .Synthetic ice is made up of high-density polyethylene panels, considered the most commonly used plastic on the market. The downside to the use of these panels, says critics, is the environmental impacts from microplastics released as skates erode the surface of the plastic. Those particles, when disposed of, could end up in waterways and pollute the environment.
