There’s nothing more refreshing than than a nice bike ride to the library on a mid-June afternoon… unless you get caught in a blizzard on your way there. As I cycled through Choteau, cold white flakes soaking my face, I thought it ironic that it should snow just as we were discussing the impacts of global warming in the US west, notably, as the title of one of our readings espoused, and as we have been hearing from ranchers along the way, hotter and drier conditions.
This morning, Pete Larson, who works for the Nature Conservancy in Alaska and is joining us for a few days, talked to us for a bit about the impacts of climate change as it is occurring in Alaska. To summarize: over the past 50 years, temperatures have risen an average of 1.4ｰF and are predicted to rise over 8ｰF in the next 40 years. As an indicator of what kinds of impacts a changing climate will have, last summer alone, the amount of Arctic sea ice decreased by half. In Alaska, as in other areas, changes in sea level, accelerated coastal erosion, wildfires, and an increased likelihood of “extreme weather events,” are negatively affecting infrastructure to such an extent that it will be necessary for the state of Alaska alone to put aside about $12.6 billion to deal with these climate-change-related changes between now and 2030. Climate change is also having large effects on the environment and wildlife, and changes are especially being noted and felt by older Native community members.
Pete recommended a combination of adaptation and mitigation strategies to deal with changes, emphasizing adaptation overall as the better strategy, but still noting that a balance between the two is necessary to adjust to our changing world. Pete also talked a bit about cap and trade, which is a market-based method of controlling greenhouse gas emissions, in which a limit, or cap, is put on the amount of emissions allowed, and permits are given or sold to companies to allow them to emit a certain amount, with the total amount of emissions permits given adding up to the cap amount. These emissions credits may be traded to other companies if one is below the required pollution limit, and another is above the limit.
This evening, after a short but very windy bike ride, we arrived at Lyle and Dawn Baker’s farm where we were welcomed with the same warm hospitality that we have come to expect from the people who have so generously allowed us to stay in their homes all across Montana. Stephen promptly went to play with the two kids while the rest of us milled about the kitchen in anticipation of dinner, which turned out to be homemade chili and cornbread. Delicious! We also had a short tour of their farm, peeking in on the chickens, letting the mule and horse out to graze, inhaling the all-too-familiar odor of manure, and taking in the giant woodpile stacked in the yard which is fed by Cottonwood from the city that would otherwise be thrown away, but is now used instead to fuel a wood stove in Lyle and Dawn’s home. The night wound down with a spirited musical session, with Cory singing and strumming a guitar, myself on the piano, and Leora making a bow dance across the strings of a violin. I am always impressed by the wonderful talents that each person in our little community has to offer. It is even more amazing what can happen when talents are combined. Similarly, in the larger world, we need to make sure we share our talents and our knowledge with others in our community so that we may become more aware and work together to best respond to the changes that are rapidly occurring in our world today.
–Patrick Walden, University of British Columbia
