|
Climate Change News from the Front Line
giving voice and finding solutions to the impacts of climate change in Alaska
Alaska Conservation Solutions
December 2010 newsletter |
|
|
| Arctic Icecap Safe From Runaway Melting | | There is no "tipping point" beyond which climate change will inevitably push the Arctic ice cap into terminal melt off, according to a new study. Up to now, many scientists worried that there was an as yet unidentified temperature threshold which, once passed, would doom the ice cap. But the study, based on computer models, indicates that if annual emissions of greenhouse gases are substantially reduced over the next two decades, an initial phase of rapid ice loss would be followed by a period of stability and, eventually, partial recovery (AFP, 12/18/10). |
|
|
| Dear Friends, | |
December 2010 was a busy month for climate change news. The UN annual climate change summit ended on a dramatic note of compromise, with more than 190 nations adopting a set of agreements that lay the groundwork for future negotiations. It wasn't perfect, but it was a step forward.
Meanwhile, while much of the United States have been shivering through intense early-season cold, NASA records show that 2010 was the warmest climate year on record. Changing weather patterns are driving cold Arctic air into Europe and the Eastern United States and funneling warm air up into the Arctic regions. This pattern is likened to leaving the refrigerator door open. The room gets colder but the fridge warms up.
There is a reason that we are now calling this climate change and not just global warming. It's more complex than that.
With hope and determination,
Penny Bauder
Project Director, Alaska Conservation Solutions |
|
|
|
| ALASKA, ARCTIC, AND ANTARCTIC NEWS | |
| Alaska Sees Trouble for Salmon, Crabs from Climate Change | | Alaska's fish and wildlife managers have released a state plan anticipating effects on Arctic bodies of waters, fishing industries, and wildlife resources brought on by climate change. The report, called "Climate Change Strategy," begins by acknowledging that scientific and traditional evidence increasingly shows climate changing at unprecedented rates throughout the Arctic. The report anticipated increasing threats to salmon and crab populations from predatory fish stocks moving into northern waters. The report also noted warming temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, altered stream flows, loss of sea ice, increased wildfire patterns, thawing permafrost, and coastal erosion (Anchorage Daily News, 12/2/10). ACTION ALERT: Join Alaska writers Jan. 25 at 7pm at Out North for an onstage conversation about climate change and writing as a form of activism. Reference will be made to Early Warming by Alaska writer Nancy Lord. For more information, go to www.49writingcenter.org |
| Climate Change Cycle Turns Arctic Forests into Major Carbon Emitters | | A series of warmer summers and drier springs in Interior Alaska has forced wildfires to burn deeper into the region's ancient peat, releasing far more carbon dioxide into the air than previously thought, according to a new study. Alaska's boreal forests - long thought to be one of the Arctic's main carbon sinks and a stabilizing influence against global warming - have begun to spew out more greenhouse gas than they take in. "Essentially this could represent a runaway climate change scenario in which warming is leading to larger and more intense fires, releasing more greenhouse gases and resulting in more warming," said the lead author (Reuters, 12/5/10). ACTION ALERT: UAA Researchers are looking for volunteers who can provide firsthand observations about changes in the natural world around them due to climate change. Contact slrenes@alaska.edu to tell your story. |
| Warming May Produce More Power in Southeast Alaska | | Climate change may be causing problems elsewhere, but it could provide some big benefits to Southeast Alaska, according to a new study looking at the region's hydroelectric potential. Warmer winters and more precipitation are likely to combine to make Southeast's hydro dams more productive. More precipitation throughout Southeast is likely to mean more power can be produced; however, the report also warned of more variability in weather and years of drought because weather fluctuations such as El Nino and La Nina events may cause unusually dry years (Homer News, 12/8/10). |
| Federal Forecast Leaves Alaska Gas Out of the Picture | | The U.S. Energy Information Administration released a new report that concluded the price of natural gas won't be high enough to make construction economical until about 2035. Reliance on shale gas and renewable energy sources are more likely the way of the near future, the report suggests. But Alaska's federal pipeline coordinator said key factors that could influence the price of natural gas weren't taken into account, such as the tightening of federal rules that restrict greenhouse gas emissions. Those restrictions would tend to spur a move toward the use of more natural gas, he said (Alaska Dispatch, 12/22/10). ACTION ALERT: Join a public forum on natural gas markets on Jan. 22 from 1 to 3:30 in the UAA Fine Arts Building Recital Hall (Room 150). Alaska public TV will stream the forum live, with the link at www.360north.org and the Federal Coordinator's website, www.arcticgas.gov. |
| Nenana May Get Experimental In-River Power Turbine | | Federal regulators are reviewing plans for a submerged, in-river power turbine in the Tanana River. Energy researchers and the developer, ORPC Alaska, think this pilot project could help communities across rural Alaska. Nenana links to the Interior's electric grid and ORPC would sell power to the market. Advocates of small-scale hydrokinetic technology - turbines designed to harness kinetic energy from oceans, bays and rivers - say their use could trim rural Alaska's dependence on diesel fuel (Daily News Miner, 12/27/10). ACTION ALERT: Teach your child or students about energy conservation with the old 1978 Schoolhouse Rock song Energy. It's amazingly still timely today! |
| 'Mummified Forest' Above Arctic May Hold Climate Change Clues | | The northernmost mummified forest ever found in Canada is revealing how plants struggled to endure a long-ago global cooling. Researchers believe the trees - buried by a landslide and exquisitely preserved - will help them predict how today's Arctic will respond to global warming. "Mummified forests aren't so uncommon, but what makes this one unique is that it's so far north. When the climate began to cool 11 million years ago, these plants would have been the first to feel the effects," a researcher said. "And because the trees' organic material is preserved, we can get a high-resolution view of how quickly the climate changed and how the plants responded to that change" (Science Daily, 12/16/10). ACTION ALERT: Submit your abstract or poster for the Classrooms for Climate Symposium. The deadline is Feb. 11. |
| Adapting to Climate Change May Have Been Easier in the Past | | Adapting to climate change may have been easier 13,500 yrs ago. Researchers measured the effects of five major climate change events in North America and found that every change in the climate occurred at the same time as a change in the culture. According to researchers, Alaska Natives will find adaptation more difficult than the people of the past, as modern indigenous people can no longer pick up and move or change their food sources as easily. "People are no longer as flexible because they live in permanent villages, so they can't respond appropriately," one researcher said (Physorg, 12/6/10). |
| Bering Sea Was Ice-Free During Last Warm Period | | Deep sediment cores retrieved from the Bering Sea floor indicate that the region was ice-free all year during the Pliocene Warm Period, the last time in Earth's history when global temperatures were higher than today. Findings also suggest that the mixing of water layers in the Bering Sea was greater in the Pliocene than it is now. "We usually think of the ocean as being more stratified during warm periods, with less vertical movement in the water column," the scientist said. "If the ocean was actually overturning more during a period when it was warmer than today, then we may need to change our thinking about ocean circulation" (Science Daily, 12/13/10). |
| Musk Oxen Live to Tell a Survivors' Tale | | According to Arctic biologists, the quintessential example of megafaunal fortitude in the face of really bad weather is the musk ox. Scientists are now seeking to understand how, exactly, the animal has managed to persist through repeated climate shifts and habitat upheavals. Researchers see in the musk ox's story clues to help guide efforts to conserve other large land mammals now at risk of extinction (New York Times, 12/13/10). |
| Climate Change Threatens Seal Habitats | | The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) proposed listing the ringed seal and the bearded seal as threatened under the Endangered Species Act due to climate change impacts. NOAA proposed listing as threatened four subspecies of ringed seals and two distinct population segments of bearded seals. Using climate models to predict the future habitat of the seals, NOAA determined that diminished sea ice and snow cover due to climate change warranted listing the species as threatened (Anchorage Daily News, 12/13/10). |
|
| House Republicans Kill Global Warming Committee | |
Rep. Sensenbrenner (R-WI), current ranking member of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, announced that the committee would no longer exist under the new Congress. Sensenbrenner had advocated keeping the panel to focus on climate policies and regulations generated by the Obama administration, but House Speaker-designate Boehner (R-OH) did not support it. During the hearing, Rep. Markey (D-MA), the current chairman, lamented the end of the panel. "Someday our children and grandchildren will read the record of our committee. . . . Whether or not they see a solution remains to be seen," he said. (New York Times, 12/1/10). ACTION ALERT: Be prepared during conversations with climate deniers with these simple rebuttals to denier talking point. |
| E.P.A. Says It Will Press on With Greenhouse Gas Regulation | |
The Environmental Protection Agency announced a timetable for issuing rules limiting greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and oil refineries, signaling a resolve to press ahead on such regulation even as it faces stiffening opposition in Congress. Power plants and refineries are the nation's top emitters of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that has been linked to global warming. Having declared greenhouse gases to be a threat to public health last year, the agency begins regulating those emissions on Jan. 2 under the Clean Air Act (New York Times, 12/24/10). |
| Wolverines Warrant Endangered Species Protection Due to Climate Change | |
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced that wolverines warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act, but have to wait until other higher priority species are addressed. The wolverine will be placed on a list of candidates for Endangered Species Act protection, and its status will be reviewed annually. FWS's determination concluded a 12-month study on the wolverine that found that the primary threat to wolverines is climate change (Reuters, 12/13/10). |
| Sustainable Agriculture: Growing a Row of Climate Change | |
Farms are particularly vulnerable to climate variability including changes in weather patterns. Because farming both contributes to climate change and is affected by it, agriculture offers rich opportunities to incorporate new practices that offset greenhouse gas contributions. U.S. farmers are partnering with researchers to plant "climate change fields," growing fields of grasses that sequester carbon to provide insurance for their crops in the near-term and protect their land ownership in the long-run (Yale Forum on Climate Change and the Media, 12/16/10). ACTION ALERT: Take this survey to help with local food campaign planning and to build a stronger Alaska food movement. As a bonus, at the end you can enter to win a free box of (delicious!) Glacier Valley CSA produce (www.glaciervalleycsa.com). |
| California Approves Cap and Trade Program | |
The California Air Resources Board approved (9-1) its proposed cap and trade program. The program will help execute provisions set by the California Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32), which requires the state to cut carbon emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. The program will begin in 2012 and eventually require 360 businesses to acquire allowances for carbon emissions. Most businesses will receive allowances to cover 90 percent of their emissions in the beginning to allow time to upgrade equipment and account for future increases in cost. More efficient businesses that are under the cap will be able to sell unused allowances for a profit (AP, 12/17/10). |
| Climate Summit Ends With Modest Climate Deal | | Negotiators from 193 countries reached agreement in several areas at the UN climate summit in Cancun, Mexico. Known as the 'Cancun Agreements', the package solidifies key elements from last year's summit in Copenhagen, which were never formally adopted. The new global framework includes the creation of a Green Climate Fund to transfer money from rich nations to poor nations, climate change mitigation and adaption, research centers that will ease the transfer of clean technology, and the establishment of a system to compensate nations for preserving forests that are vulnerable to logging or burning (Washington Post, 12/12/10). |
| Islands Face "End of History" Due to Climate Changes | | The Alliance of Small Island States, representing 43 member states, pleaded their case at the UN climate negotiations in Cancun, Mexico, to keep the global temperature rise under 1.5°C. The islands face catastrophic consequences with increased sea level rise, and are already coping with eroding beaches and salt water contaminating fresh water supplies. "We are facing at this moment the end of history for some of us," said Antonio Lima, an envoy from Cape Verde. He said of the countries most at risk, "all these countries are struggling to survive. They are going to drown" (Bloomberg, 11/30/10). |
| Climate Change Could Double Food Prices | | The International Food Policy Research Institute released a report showing that if greenhouse gas emissions levels are not curbed, grain prices could double by 2050 and leave millions malnourished and hungry. The report showed that prices would rise due to decreased productivity from warming and rain pattern changes. The authors concluded that the negative effects of climate change could be balanced with broad economic growth. The report read, "Reducing emissions growth to minimize the effects of climate change is thus essential to avoid a calamitous post-2050 future" (AP, 12/1/10). |
| Living Buildings Could Combat Climate Change Effects | | The University of Greenwich's School of Architecture & Construction is poised to use ethical synthetic biology to create 'living' materials that could be used to clad buildings and help combat the effects of climate change. Researchers are developing materials that could eventually produce water in desert environments or harvest sunlight to produce biofuels. The head of the University of Greenwich's School of Architecture & Construction said the research team is looking at methods of using responsive protocells to clad cities in an ethical, green, and sustainable way (Science Daily, 12/8/10). |
| Ocean Acidification Changes Nitrogen Cycling in World Seas | | A new study shows that increasing acidity in the sea's waters may fundamentally change how nitrogen is cycled in them. Very little is known about how ocean acidification may affect critical microbial groups like the ammonia oxidizers, "key players in the ocean's nitrogen cycle," said marine scientists. In every case where the researchers experimentally increased the amount of acidity in ocean waters, ammonia oxidation rates decreased. One possible consequence of decreasing nitrification is the favoring of certain drifting, microscopic plant species over others, with cascading effects throughout marine food webs. (Science Daily, 12/21/10). |
|
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. |
|
|
|
|
