By Sarah Kessinger
Harris News Service

Michael Westlake is Yukon coordinator of the Canadian Climate Impacts and Adaptation Research Network North, supported in part by the Canadian government.
In the hemisphere's far north, Westlake and other researchers spend their days documenting the regional effects of the planet's rising average temperatures. At higher latitudes, resulting changes are more obvious.
After a visit to Kansas, Westlake agreed to answer a few questions from Harris News Service:

1.What should people living in the middle of the United States know about global warming?

* First and foremost what they have to realize is that the term "global warming" does not just mean the temperature increase of the planet. Climate change will bring changes in temperature, precipitation patterns, extreme events (increases in the frequency, severity, timing, or duration of extreme events like storms, tornadoes and hurricanes), heat waves, etc. The bottom line is that all of these factors will affect you whether you want them to or not. Climate change is real.
* There is little doubt within the scientific community that humans are changing the way energy from the sun interacts with and escapes from our planet's atmosphere. It has implications not only for the health and well being of the Earth's ecosystems, but also for the economic enterprises and social livelihoods that we have built upon this base. Climate change is the greatest global challenge and threat of the 21st century - a global problem that requires national responsibility. Climate change will affect and is already affecting all facets of our society (economics, social structure, health, cultures, etc.).
* The major problem with climate change is that it is very hard to see unless you understand the science behind it, and know what to look for (it is very subtle). This is not to say that it isn't happening though. The impacts of a changing climate are already being experienced throughout the world and are predicted to worsen exponentially in the future.
* The United States is the largest emitter in the world of GHG emissions (the greenhouse gases which are associated with climate change). They emit 25 percent of the world's GHG emissions.
* Despite the fact that your federal government often denies that climate change is real and often tries to silence scientists who speak out about its impacts (James Hanson, NASA is one example), there are many good things happening as well:
-The mayors of some 284 U.S cities have pledged to cut emissions of greenhouse gases through the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, which calls for cities to meet or beat the U.S. emissions reduction target in the Kyoto Protocol, a 7 percent reduction below 1990 levels by 2012.
-Twenty-two American states have ordered utilities to obtain part (in some states as much as 33 percent) of their electricity from renewable sources within the next 10 years. (Kansas is not among them.)
* The costs associated with acting now by mitigating GHG emissions and adapting our infrastructure and our lifestyles will be far less than choosing to act later. In fact if we choose to wait, we may not even be able to afford to act (and this is only from an economic perspective...think about health and well-being, or death because of heat waves, flooding, increased hurricane intensity).

2. Why should they care?

* The impacts of climate change will directly affect your pocket book (insurance, healthcare, food costs, everything that we take for granted, etc.) http://www.ceres.org/pub/docs/Ceres_insure_climatechange_120105.pdf
* Because it will take a global effort to combat the greatest global challenge of our lifetimes.
* Unfortunately the people that will be most affected by climate change are the people who are not yet at an age to make decisions for their future-YOUR CHILDREN. If you presented your kids with such a scenario as is happening today with respect to climate change, do you honestly think that they would choose the route that we are going and you are choosing for them. Don't we as parents want to leave the best possible world for our children?

3. What are the Canadian government and your provincial leaders doing about it?

* Canada's federal government ratified the Kyoto Protocol in 2002. ...The bottom line is that this is not a problem that they can walk away from. Canada's North is greatly affected by climatic changes already. Simply turning a blind eye would make them liable in court.
* The majority of provinces and territories (states) have climate change plans in place that set out how they will reduce emissions and adapt to climatic changes.
* The federal government has released two climate change plans in the past but has not made much progress on them. The reasons behind this I would say is because it takes time to put a plan in place and to execute them but our present political structure of elections of what seems like every year, make it impossible to implement anything.

4. What should the U.S. and state governments do?

Here are a few wide-ranging suggestions:
* First of all we need the U.S. government to join the Kyoto Protocol. Seeing as though climate change is a global problem, it requires a global solution. Although it has its flaws, this is the best global effort that exists at this present point to combat a changing climate. Without US participation this agreement cannot be effective. We must understand that Kyoto is only the first step and not the only step. The Six Nations climate Change pact, which the US is a part of, is also a piece to the puzzle but Kyoto is by far and away the most important at this point as it requires concrete emissions reductions.
* Get all mayors to sign onto the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement
* End subsidies to fossil fuel energy, it is already way too profitable. Direct subsidies towards renewable forms of energy. Set targets for renewable energy and create incentives for it. Eliminate the barriers to renewables (for example: allow equal grid access.)
* Create and support initiatives that promote energy efficiency. This is the cheapest way to reduce emissions. Provide incentives.
* Create an emissions trading scheme so that companies can be given options when it comes to reducing emissions
* Put caps on pollution from industry (and then combine this with the trade system above - "Cap and Trade")
* Enforce a mandatory target of 25 per cent better fuel efficiency for the automobile industry and increase standards over the next five years.
* Make transit passes tax-deductible to encourage workers and businesses to use public transport and make employee parking a taxable benefit.
* Employ incentives to increase the percentage of ethanol content in gasoline and the availability of other biofuels.
* Overall we need to find ways to shift our economy so that it becomes carbon neutral while also adjusting our society so that it can adapt to the changes associated with climate change.
* Invest in technologies that mitigate GHG emissions as well as invest in adaptation to climate change (the stuff happening in New Orleans is a start, although they are not looking at it from a climate change perspective yet).

5. How can individuals make a difference?

* Lobby government and municipal leaders, talk to friends, set examples for others, get their point of view known, demand change, buy climate responsible products, etc.
* Encourage your local government to move towards energy efficient communities. Encourage your city to expand transit and other alternatives, make city operations more energy efficient and encourage compact urban development instead of sprawl.
* Simple changes in everyday life can help slow climate change.
* Offset your emissions using an offset company (ex. Expedia http://www.terrapass.com/terrablog/posts/000410.html ). This is really a common thing now.
Home:
* Reduce your home heating and electricity use. A more energy-efficient home will lower your utility bills and reduce the emissions that cause climate change.
* Choose energy-efficient appliances. New refrigerators, for example, use 40 percent less energy than models made just 10 years ago.
* For the next car you intend to buy, make sure it's fuel efficient and low polluting. A typical SUV uses almost twice the fuel - and releases nearly twice the emissions - of a modern station wagon, although both seat the same number of passengers.
* Walk, bike, carpool or take transit to get to one of your regular destinations each week.
* If you are moving, choose a home within a 30-minute bike, walk or transit ride from your daily destinations. A convenient place to live reduces the amount you drive, which means you'll lower your greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants.
* Buy local foods and products
* Buy alternative fuels for your vehicle (ones that are low GHG intensive such as biodiesel, or ethanol blended fuels).
Work:
* Purchase energy-saving models of office appliances and equipment, such as computers, LCD monitors, printers and photocopiers. Not only will this help save energy, but it will save money too.
* Design for lighting intensity of 1.0 watts per square foot or less. Over-lighting wastes energy and produces glare.
* Install lighting controls to turn lights on only when needed and to provide the required amount of light.
* Encourage staff to commit to taking alternative modes of transportation for their daily commute at least once a month. This can include options such as car-pooling, cycling, taking public transit or walking where possible.
* Create a recycling program and decrease paper use.
* If you have a fleet of vehicles, try to use the most energy-efficient models possible.
* Energy-efficiency upgrades and retrofits to office buildings can have long-term paybacks.
05/18/07