I-Witness
Skating on thin ice
This month, we are very pleased to feature an article on climate change by Sarah Fleisher-Trainor ’92, one of the first environmental science majors at Mount Holyoke. Currently a research scientist at the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy (ACCAP), Fleisher-Trainor lives, works, and writes in the veritable eye of the climate change storm:
Climate change is at the forefront of public news and debate. The recently released Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Forth Assessment Report concludes that human-induced climate change is impacting natural and human systems world wide. Water availability for food production and inundation from sea level rise are among the most anticipated global changes and these are expected to impact people in developing countries most dramatically.
While politicians, economists and diplomats joist over the costs and benefits of green house gas emission reductions and carbon tax credits, climate change is already affecting people in northern latitudes every day. In Alaska, observed and experienced impacts from climate change already impact food production, infrastructure and transportation. Indigenous peoples whose nutritional needs are most closely linked to natural systems are disproportionately impacted.
As research scientist and coordinator of the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy (ACCAP) (www.uaf.edu/accap), my job is to build bridges between the climatologists, ecologists, anthropologists, geographers and other scientists who study climate change and its impact with policy-makers, people in government agencies, Native governments and non-governmental organizations and industry—people for whom information about climate change is important in their decision-making. More…
The decreasing extent of Arctic sea ice is one of the most dramatic biophysical changes in the Arctic with ecological and human implications. Arctic sea ice is diminishing both in total extent and multi-year accumulation, a process that reinforces itself as the white, reflective ice surface gives way to dark, absorptive ocean. Diminished sea ice has raised attention for the global trade implications of Arctic shipping routes in an ice-free ocean and for its implications for off-shore oil and gas development. In addition, sea ice along coastal Alaska is important habitat for polar bear, walrus, and various species of seal. These animals rely on the ice as a platform for breeding and feeding along the coastal shelf. The recent proposal by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to add the polar bear to the endangered species list is one indication of the severity of this issue.
Without the stabilizing cover of ice, autumn storms build in intensity and shorelines are exposed to their force. As a result the homes, roads, sewer, electrical infrastructure in coastal communities is directly threatened. Several communities are faced with relocation. Changing seasonality also impacts people living in Alaska’s interior. With few roads, frozen rivers and sloughs are the main transportation corridors in interior Alaska. Later fall freeze-up, earlier spring melt, and warmer water temperatures pose safety hazard of snow machines falling through the ice. Warmer fall temperatures make moose hunting difficult during posted hunting seasons. Warm temperatures make moose relatively inactive in warm weather and difficult to locate. In some cases caribou and water fowl migrations have changed. Lakes are drying up and lake and river water temperatures are increasing. These changes impact the health of fish that people rely on for nutrition.
Launched in the fall of 2006, the formation of ACCAP is timely as industry, government, and indigenous people state-wide in Alaska experience climate change impacts and realize that they must plan ahead to adapt to these changes. Funded by the Climate Program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), ACCAP is one of several regional integrated sciences and assessments nationwide. I welcome and encourage alumnae to visit our Web site. Find out more about what we do—and what you can do.
