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Climate Change News from the Front Line
giving voice and finding solutions to the impacts of climate change in Alaska
Alaska Conservation Solutions
November 2010 newsletter |
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| Critical Habitat Set Aside For Polar Bears | |
The Obama administration is setting aside 187,000 square miles in Alaska as a "critical habitat" for polar bears that are threatened by melting sea ice linked to climate change. This designation does not in itself block economic activity or other development, but requires federal officials to consider whether a proposed action would adversely affect the polar bear's habitat and interfere with its recovery (ADN, 11/24/10). |
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| Dear Friends, | |
This holiday season, please consider giving a gift that will last a lifetime by investing in the future of Alaska. Your donations will directly support Alaska Conservation Solution's monthly Climate Change News from the Front Line newsletter and our 2011 objective of putting Southcentral Alaska on a low carbon diet by mobilizing at least 250 Alaskans to reduce their carbon footprint by 20 percent in one year. When you donate please pick "Other" under the "where did you hear about us" option. To turn hope into a reality we need your help. Please make a meaningful difference and donate to us today!
With hope and determination,
Penny Bauder
Project Director, Alaska Conservation Solutions |
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| ALASKA, ARCTIC, AND ANTARCTIC NEWS | |
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'Fiery ice' in Arctic Could Light Path to New Energy Source | |
For the first time ever, a hydrates production well generated a steady flow of gas for six days, fueling a flame in the Arctic darkness. Hydrates occur in vast quantities under the oceans and permafrost. When brought to the surface they melt, releasing methane gas that will burn if lit with a match, generating "fiery ice" - a potential plentiful energy source. Hydrates are said to contain more energy than all other fossil fuels combined, and are much cleaner than oil and coal (Vancouver Sun, 11/13/10). ACTION ALERT: Looking for a children's Christmas gift that you'll feel good about buying? Fate of the World is a new video game that asks players to solve the global climate crisis. You can pre-order the video game here. |
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Susitna Dam Reaction Mixed | |
Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell and the Alaska Energy Authority gave their blessings to the construction of a multibillion-dollar hydroelectric project to be built by damming the upper Susitna River.The announcement has drawn mixed reviews. The general manager of Matanuska Electric Association said the dam would last 50 years and create about the same amount of electricity as is now being produced by burning gas, which would greatly reduce the need for that fossil fuel. Others worry that a mega-project like Susitna would not come without substantial impacts and risks (ADN, 11/30/10). |
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Report Details Arctic Drilling Hazards, Calls for Delay | |
A big Pew Environment Group report finds that oil and gas drilling in Arctic waters off Alaska's coast would present hazards that the industry and federal agencies are ill-equipped to address. The report comes as Shell presses for a green light to begin drilling in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska's northern coast next year. The report's message is that the Arctic is not ready for such deep-sea drilling operations (New York Times, 11/11/10). ACTION ALERT: Climate change is a depressing subject to many, except for the folks at the Onion. Circulate this "news" story and make someone laugh. |
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Inuit Experience Tells Us Climate Adaptation Is Key to the Future | |
In Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change, the first online Inuit film, Inuit speak about their experience living in uncertain, changing conditions. Inuit approach climate change not only as a crisis, but as an opportunity to adapt, to find new techniques for living sustainably within the natural world (Edmonton Journal, 11/11/10). ACTION ALERT: Green Star, a non-profit that encourages businesses to practice energy conservation, is seeking volunteers to translate a variety of materials into various Native languages, Tagalog, Hmong, Samoan, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Spanish. For more information call 907-278-7827. |
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Scientists Respond to Ocean Acidification Doubts
Some optimists have begun to question the severity of ocean acidification. "Study after study keeps finding that, far from depressing growth rates of marine organisms, higher but realistic levels of carbon dioxide either do not affect them or increase their growth," one author wrote. Scientists with the UK Ocean Acidification Research Program released a response that agrees that scientists should not overstate the threats of ocean acidification but makes clear that strong evidence does exist for severely negative impacts on a variety of marine species (Nature, 11/19/10). ACTION ALERT: Circulate a new guide by the Ocean Acidification Reference User Group that draws on the expertise of over 30 of the world's leading marine scientists: Ocean Acidification: Questions Answered.", | |
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Brown Bears Could Displace Polar Bears in Warmer Arctic | |
A new study shows that as climate change forces grizzly bears and polar bears to accept closer habitats, grizzly bears will likely win out in the fight for food. Grizzly bears have begun moving north as their original habitat becomes warmer, and polar bears have begun moving south as climate change has reduced the amount of ice in their original habitat, forcing the two species to share territory. Polar bears' diet will have to change, and scientists say their skulls and teeth are not designed to eat vegetation (Reuters, 11/23/10). |
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| Climate Scientists Say Enough is Enough and Mobilize an Army | | The American Geophysical Union (AGU), a non-partisan scientific organization, announced plans to re-launch its Climate Q & A service, a program that will help journalists understand climate change science. AGU announced that 700 scientists have signed up to help answer scientific questions about anthropogenic climate change. Additionally, the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota is organizing 39 scientists who will be part of a rapid response team that will be available to correct climate change misinformation in the media (Guardian, 11/8/10). ACTION ALERT: Fight climate change while lowering your bills. TopTen USA is a new non-profit organization that provides a website for consumers to easily find the most energy-efficient products in a wide range of categories. The website is an unbiased tool to help consumers find products that, on average, use half the energy of a standard model. |
| EPA Finalizes Carbon Storage Rules | | The Environmental Protection Agency finalized two rules that will govern carbon capture and sequestration, which will allow large carbon dioxide emitters such as coal-fired power plants to reduce emissions by injecting CO2 underground. The new sequestration rules aim to protect drinking water and track the amount of CO2 that is stored. "We're taking a major step towards path breaking innovations that will reduce greenhouse gases and put America in the forefront of the clean energy economy," said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson (AP, 11/22/10). |
| States, Environmental Groups Urge Court to let EPA Regulate Carbon Dioxide | | 20 states and 13 environmental groups filed a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals in the D.C. Circuit Court supporting the Environmental Protection Agency's plan to regulate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2011. These states are up against 17 other states that are challenging EPA's authority to regulate GHG emissions from power plants and factories that release large amounts of carbon dioxide into the air (New York Times, 11/2/10). |
| California Voters Reject Proposition to Repeal Global Warming Law | | California voters defeated Proposition 23, which would have stopped California's law to cap greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions until unemployment in the state fell below 5.5 percent for one year. The California Global Warming Solutions Act will go into effect in 2012 and require GHG emissions to be cut to 1990 levels by 2020. The law will set up a market to allow for carbon dioxide emission permits trading, and require utilities to acquire almost one-third of their electricity from renewable sources (Bloomberg, 11/3/10). |
| Obama Shifts Climate Strategy | | Recently President Obama acknowledged that the incoming House of Representatives likely would not pass cap and trade legislation, but he indicated that there were other options to address global warming. He defended the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) legal authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions in 2011, saying that "the EPA is under a court order that says greenhouse gases are a pollutant that fall under their jurisdiction." He also highlighted that solving the energy problems would not hurt the economy, but instead create new industries and jobs (New York Times, 11/3/10). |
| Climate Summit in Mexico: Low Expectation, High Stakes | | Nearly 200 nations are meeting in Mexico to try to agree on modest steps to slow climate change. The ultimate goal of the 12-day meeting is to extend the present Kyoto Protocol. The United States and major emerging economies now have to make emissions pledges if the protocol is to survive, the European Union said (New York Times, 11/29/10). ACTION ALERT: Watch interactive coverage of the climate summit here, using Facebook and Twitter feeds to communicate live with the hosts and interviewees. |
| Mayors Sign Global Pact to Tackle Urban Emissions | | Mayors from 138 of the world's largest cities signed a pact to set greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction goals in hopes that their national counterparts would make similar progress at the upcoming UN climate negotiations in Cancun. The accord is voluntary, but both the targets and the progress that the cities make will be reported to a Cities Climate Registry (CNN, 11/22/10). |
| 40-Country Medical Panel Urges a Low Carbon Diet | | The InterAcademy Medical Panel, a network of the world's leading medical academies, urged nations to adopt policies to reduce emissions of greenhouse gas pollutants because of the salutary effect not just on the planet but on human health. The report said that global climate change poses large risks to human health through increased spread of disease, large-scale displacement of people, malnutrition, fast-spreading infections, pulmonary disorders, and increased heat stress (New York Times, 11/26/10). |
| Can Condoms Curb Climate Change? | | Family planning, an important but often overlooked idea in the expanding arsenal of policy needed to address global warming, is the subject of a new report released by the Worldwatch Institute. According to the report, if the world's population leveled off at 8 billion by 2050 (the U.N.'s low-growth estimate) instead of reaching the more often projected 9 billion (it's medium growth estimate), CO2 emissions would be reduced more than if global deforestation were completely eliminated (Time, 11/19/10). |
| Climate Change Poses Threat to Human Progress | | A report recently released by the UN warned that continued failure to tackle climate change risks decades of progress in improving the lives of the world's poorest people. In the annual report, the UN said that unsustainable patterns of production and consumption posed the most substantial challenge to fight poverty. Affluent countries "need to blaze the trail" on making economic growth less dependent on fossil fuels and helping poor nation get on the path toward sustainable development, the report said (Guardian, 11/4/10). |
| Climate Change Threatening Global Security | | At a recent briefing retired Marine General Anthony Zinni, former head of Central Command for U.S. forces in the Middle East, warned that the global loss of forests, freshwater, fish, and arable land is driving political instability and threatening global security. The briefing marked one of a number of recent discussions across the nation's capital, across the nation, and overseas about how policy thinkers and military planners are viewing continued climate change as a national security issue (Yale Forum on Climate Change and the Media, 11/2/10). |
| How Fast Is the World's Ice Going to Melt? | | Researchers have recently been startled to see big changes unfold in both Greenland and Antarctica. As a result of recent calculations that take these changes into account, many scientists now say that sea level is likely to rise three feet, and possibly over six feet, by 2100 - an increase that would pose a threat to coastal communities the world over. "I think we need immediately to begin thinking about our coastal cities - how are we going to protect them?" said one scientist. "We can't afford to protect everything. We will have to abandon some areas" (New York Times, 11/13/10). |
| Global Warming Reduces Available Wind Energy | | A switch to wind energy will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions - and reduce the global warming they cause. But there's a catch, says a climate researcher: rising temperatures decrease wind speeds, making for less power bang for the wind turbine buck. As the climate changes and global temperatures rise, the temperature contrast between the lower latitudes and the poles decreases slightly, because polar regions tend to warm up faster. When the temperature contrast becomes weaker, so too do the winds (Science Daily, 11/10/10). |
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This newsletter is produced by Alaska Conservation Solutions, a program of the Alaska Center for the Environment, Alaska's largest home-grown citizen's group working to enhance Alaskans' quality of life by protecting wild places, fostering sustainable communities, and promoting recreational opportunities. Alaska Conservation Solutions was founded in 2005 to draw attention to the pervasive consequences of climate change in Alaska and to pursue solutions and responses to the problems. Please join ACE to support our work. |
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