postMigrator

Climate Change, Scientists, and Policy-Making

By postMigrator March 10, 2008 March 10, 2008 RT Newswire

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“Oppenheimer said policy-makers will have to
respond to the consequences of higher
temperatures in four main areas: access to water
and food; human health in extreme climate
conditions; ecosystems and species; and sea-level
rise from ice sheet melting. ”
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Science
29 February 2008

Science Policy
Scientists “Uniquely Positioned” to Assist Climate Policy-Makers

[PHOTOGRAPH] Michael Oppenheimer, Stephen
Schneider, David Goldston, and Ralph Cicerone

As governments around the world search for ways
to address rising greenhouse gas emissions,
researchers should be ready to offer expert
advice to lawmakers seeking a broad view of
global climate change and its potential
consequences, according to a distinguished panel
of science policy advisers at a recent Capitol
Hill briefing.

The panel, convened by AAAS and three other
scientific societies on 11 January, drew more
than 150 congressional staffers, think tank
representatives, university faculty, and
journalists spilling out of the briefing room in
the Rayburn House Office Building. In front of a
crowd eager for answers, the speakers discussed
how scientists can assist policy-makers in their
analysis of climate change proposals awaiting
congressional debate.

Climate Change and Idaho’s Wildlife

By postMigrator March 10, 2008 March 10, 2008 Uncategorized

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“Idaho wildlife has survived hard winters for centuries. But…”
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Idaho Statesman
February 27, 2008

How will growth, climate change affect big game?

Wildlife is important to Idaho’s economy and
quality of life, but some numbers are in decline

The 1,200 elk roaming the sagebrush plains north
of Interstate 84 between Boise and Mountain Home
this winter illustrate the challenge Idaho faces
in maintaining big game herds. What is now winter
wildlife habitat could one day be subdivisions.

“People ought to go look at the elk now and
wonder where they’re going to be 50 years from
now,” said Jim Unsworth, wildlife bureau chief
for Idaho Department of Fish and Game. Winter has
been a strong reminder of the challenges facing
Idaho’s big game animals. In addition to the elk
wintering along I-84, large herds of mule deer
have been wedged in the Foothills between deep
snow above and Idaho’s most populated communities
below.

Climate Change, Forests, Logging, and Dieback

By postMigrator March 10, 2008 March 10, 2008 Uncategorized

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA
www.pnas.org December 11, 2007 vol. 104 no. 50 19697-19702

Climate change impacts on forestry
Andrei P. Kirilenko and Roger A. Sedjo

Edited by William Easterling, Pennsylvania State University,
University Park, PA, and accepted by the Editorial Board August 16,
2007 (received for review February 14, 2007)

From the abstract:
Changing temperature and precipitation pattern and increasing
concentrations of atmospheric CO2 are likely to drive significant
modifications in natural and modified forests. Our review is focused
on recent publications that discuss the changes in commercial
forestry, excluding the ecosystem functions of forests and nontimber
forest products. We concentrate on potential direct and indirect
impacts of climate change on forest industry…

Sample excerpt from text:
It is likely that changing temperature and precipitation patterns
will produce a strong direct impact on both natural and modified
forests. A number of biogeographical models demonstrate a poleward
shift of potential vegetation for the 2CO2 climate by 500 km or more
for boreal zones (11-13). The equilibrium models and some dynamic
vegetation models project that this vegetation shift toward newly
available areas with favorable climate conditions will eventually
result in forest expansion and replacement of up to 50% of current
tundra area. There is, however, a concern that the lagged forest
migration (compare the tree species migration rates after the last
glacial period of few kilometers per decade or less to projected
future climate zones shift rate of 50 km per decade) may lead to
massive loss of natural forests with increased deforestation at the
southern boundary of the boreal forests and a correspondent large
carbon pulse (13-15).

www.pnas.org December 11, 2007 vol. 104 no. 50 19697-19702

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Climate Change and Mongolia

By postMigrator March 10, 2008 March 10, 2008 RT Newswire

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In using the word “adaption,” I don’t imply that
it’s a successful adaption or that adaption is
always a positive thing — while we can adapt to
the loss of a leg, or a loved one, most of us
would rather not.
Lance Olsen

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” … one of the hundreds of thousands who in
recent years have abandoned their nomadic herding
lives for an urban existence.”

“The biggest problem is that [the warming] leads
to an increasing loss of soil moisture, which is
critical to plant growth,” Goulden said.

The average amount of precipitation has remained
steady. But rains tend to be more infrequent and
heavier when they occur.

“When you have these heavier rains, you get
greater runoff, with less of the moisture being
soaked up by the soil for the summer growth,”
Goulden said
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National Geographic News: NATIONALGEOGRAPHIC.COM/NEWS

Climate Change Driving Mongolians From Steppe to Cities
Stefan Lövgren in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
for National Geographic News
February 21, 2008

Lifelong herder Namdag lives in a traditional
felt tent home-or “ger”-among some half dozen
cars in various states of disrepair, an informal
junkyard against the towering, snow-capped
mountains that surround the Mongolian capital of
Ulaanbaatar (Ulan Bator).

“I miss my old life,” said the 71-year-old, now a
world removed from the sweeping steppes he once
called home. “But life out there is too
difficult.”