March 28, 2024

Climate Change Talk Fills the House

Photo by Gerard Van der Leun, some rights reserved.

His talk was one in a series of presentations by experts on relevant topics brought to St. Mary’s College through a collaboration between its Center for the Study of Democracy and The Patuxent Partnership.

Dr. Walsh is chief scientist and president’s professor of global change at the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. He also serves as co-director of the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy.  The week of his talk at St. Mary’s he was in Washington, DC, explained Bonnie Green, executive director of The Patuxent Partnership, noting that Dr. Walsh works with NOAA and other agencies on issues related to the Arctic and climate change.

He opened his remarks saying he would attempt “to tie in what is happening in the Arctic with what is happening in other parts of the world, including the lower 48 [states] in the US.”

Illustrating his presentation with charts and slides, he showed two juxtaposed images: A graph showing the change over the years in surface air temperatures in the Arctic, next to a photograph of a man cross-country skiing in front of the US Capitol in Washington, DC, during the Snowmageddon event in February 2010, when back-to-back storms dumped nearly 55 inches of snow in parts of the region.

The climate is changing. Climate change is happening faster and with more visible impacts in the Arctic than in most of the rest of the world. The change in ice coverage of the Arctic, across several decades, can be seen and measured. The Arctic is warming at a rate of almost twice the global average, Dr. Walsh’s research shows. One slide showed the striking loss of ice coverage in the Arctic from September 1980 versus September 2015.

The impacts are myriad. Degrading ice cover makes transportation more difficult. Structures built on stable, frozen ground are shifting and re-settling with the thawing. Once sturdy roads and railroad tracks, now sink and buckle.  Utility poles start to lean from the thawing permafrost.

Slides showed coastal erosion in a tiny Alaska village before and after a big storm. It’s an accelerating problem; as the erosion gets worse the coastline becomes more vulnerable to storms and further erosion. Rising water level is forcing one small village on a barrier island to relocate.

Even the forests are suffering, he said. As the ground becomes soft from thawing, the trees start to fall. Winters are becoming shorter and summers longer.

In response to questions from the audience Dr. Walsh noted an encouraging trend that “people are now more aware that climate change is real. Surveys have shown the percentage of people who believe climate change is real has increased substantially.”

Dr. Walsh believes that by reducing emissions, global warming could be stabilized. “We do need to jump in now rather than kick the can down the road.”

“The discouraging aspect is that people are still interpreting things on a local scale. They say until it impacts me in my backyard I’m not going to worry about it or do anything to contribute” to emissions reduction. “They are not taking the big global picture, the global view, which it takes to get international agreements on climate change to work,” he said.

“If we are going to reduce emissions by 50 percent by 2050, that’s only 34 years from now. … That’s only one generation away. If we’re going to reduce emissions by half, we’ve got to start doing it now. We can’t wait until 2040 to try to meet that goal by 2050. … It’s already too late to meet that goal.”

To the question, “Climate change: Is this a hoax or is this a crisis?”

“I would certainly not call it a hoax,” Dr. Walsh responded. “I’ve seen enough evidence.”

Depending on what actions are taken, “the future outlook ranges from a stabilized climate or one with accelerating changes,” he said.

Dr. Maija Harkonen, executive director of the St. Mary’s College Center for Democracy, in welcoming Dr. Walsh and guests to the talk, noted the evening’s topic was of particular interest to her since she was from Finland (Lapland), which is inside the Arctic Circle.

Upcoming Patuxent Partnership events

The Patuxent Partnership and the Association of Naval Aviation will sponsor a panel on “Air Wing-Ship Integration and Interoperability.” The briefing will be held Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2016, at the Bay District Volunteer Fire Department social hall at 46900 S. Shangri La Drive in Lexington Park. The event will begin with check-in at 5 pm. The briefing will be held from 5:30 to 7 pm. The moderator will be RADM Bruce Lindsey, commander of the Naval Air Force Atlantic. Click here to register.

TPP’s annual member holiday party will be held from 5 to 6:30 pm Thursday, Dec. 15, 2016, at The Patuxent Partnership’s office. Admission at the door will be food or cash donations for the HOPE Food Pantry. This is a TPP members-only event. TPP member employees are invited.

About The Patuxent Partnership

The Patuxent Partnership works with government, industry, and academia on initiatives in science and technology, hosts programs of interest to NAVAIR and the broader DoD community, and supports workforce development including education initiatives and professional development. Call 301-866-1739.

To learn more about The Patuxent Partnership and its programs, visit its Leader member page.

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