Download Document

Climate Change &
Sustainable Living
Diana Rashash, PhD, EI
Area Specialized Agent – Nat. Resources
Background
There has been much debate over
whether "climate change" (formerly known
as global warming) is occurring and what
may or may not be contributing to it.
"Sustainable living" is nearly as
contentious. What is it? Is it the same for
all people? Who defines "sustainable"?
Agenda
• Briefly discuss current public and
agency perceptions on both climate
change & sustainable living
• Discuss University positions on these
issues
• Discuss Extension efforts
– Past, current, & future
Objectives
• Participants will:
– gain updated understanding of both climate
change and sustainable living issues and
definitions,
– have a list of websites that provide
programming resources, and
– better understand current efforts and
positions by NOAA, USDA, and NIFA.
Climate Change
• Once upon a time…
• Climate change is NOT a fairytale, but it
is something that people have a hard
time understanding or believing.
United Nations Climate Change
Conference 2009
United Nations Climate Change
Conference 2009
Public perception issues
• Our planet is cooling!....Oops, wait! Our
planet is heating!
• Then again…the data was manipulated
by scientists. It’s all bogus!
• Our planet may be heating, but it isn’t
due to human activities.
• So what if it’s warming? It just means
my winters will be more mild.
The Six Americas
http://environment.yale.edu/uploads/SixAmericasJan2010.pdf
NIFA Structure
• 5 Institutes:
– Institute of Food Production and
Sustainability
– Institute of Bioenergy, Climate, and
Environment
• Division for Global Climate Change
– Institute of Food Safety and Nutrition
– Institute of Youth, Family, and Community
– Center for International Programs
NIFA Priority Areas
•
•
•
•
•
Global Food Security & Hunger
Climate Change
Sustainable Energy
Childhood Obesity
Food Safety
www.csrees.usda.gov/newsroom/factsheet.pdf
NIFA: Climate Change
• “NIFA-funded projects generate knowledge
to develop an agriculture system that
maintains high productivity in the face of
climate changes. This will help producers
plan for and make decisions to adapt to
changing environments and sustain
economic vitality and can take advantage
of emerging economic opportunities offered
by climate change mitigation technologies.”
“The USDA Cooperative Extension and
NOAA Sea Grant Extension currently
provide extension agents of all
specializations with training in understanding and communicating climate
change information to support adaptation;
these efforts should be expanded.”
(source: Interagency Climate Change Adaptation
Progress Report, October 5, 2010)
(source: Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Progress Report, October 5, 2010)
Definitions
It is unlikely that we will “stop” climate
change; so we need to focus on what we
can do:
•Adaptation
•Resilience
•Mitigation
Definitions
• Adaptation:
Adjustment in natural or human systems
to a new or changing environment that
exploits beneficial opportunities or
moderates negative effects.
Definitions
• Resilience:
A capability to anticipate, prepare for,
respond to, and recover from significant
multi-hazard threats with minimum
damage to social well‐being, the
economy, and the environment.
Definitions
• Mitigation: An intervention to reduce
the causes of changes in climate, such
as through reducing emissions of
greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.
Source: Adapting to the Impacts of Climate
Change, America’s Climate Choices: Panel
on Adapting to the Impacts of Climate
Change, National Research Council, (2010).
Climate Change Impacts
• More frequent heat
waves
• More frequent highintensity precipitation
• More prolonged
droughts
• Rising sea levels
• Ocean acidification
• Changes in human,
animal, and plant pest
ranges (seasonally
and geographically)
• Plant growth changes
(seasonally and
geographically)
• Air quality problems
(source: Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Progress Report, October 5, 2010)
A Quick Look at the Impacts
• More frequent heat waves:
– Global warming does not mean that we will
stop having cold spells (January and February
2010 were COLD!)
– It means that the odds of having new and more
frequent record highs is becoming greater than
the odds of having new record lows
– NOAA: Jan.-Sept. global temperature ties with
1998 for warmest on record
Number of Days > 90° F
(source: http://www.globalchange.gov/)
• More frequent high-intensity
precipitation:
– Increased snowfall, rainfall, and other
intense events
– A good example is the area south and east
of the Great Lakes. If the lakes don’t
freeze over, there is much more “lake
effect” snow. Eastern NC may see snow
increases due to warmer ocean.
• More prolonged droughts:
– 2002
– 2007
– Parts of 2008 & 2009
– 2010 (until September)
And more people arguing over the water
that is available!
• Rising sea levels
– NC Sea Level Rise Risk Management Study
• Evaluate the potential changes in coastal
flooding hazards due to sea-level rise and
changes in storm frequency and intensity
• Includes societal and economic impacts
• Strategies will be evaluated on estimated
economic impacts, regulatory costs,
implementation costs, and stakeholder
acceptance
http://www.ncsealevelrise.com/
• Ocean acidification:
– Possible pH drop of 0.3 - 0.5 by 2100
• This could lead to a 60% drop in available
calcium carbonate.
• Less available calcium carbonate would
negatively impact numerous marine species.
– To reduce the acidification of the ocean,
the atmospheric CO2 concentration needs
to be kept below roughly 450 ppm
– Acidification is already being observed in
Alaska’s coastal waters.
• Changes in human, animal, and plant pest
ranges (seasonally and geographically)
– Seasonal shifts:
• Pests active for a longer period of the year
(example: mosquitoes, crop pests, diseases)
• Less cold weather die-off, more over-wintering
– Geographical shifts:
• Ranges extended (example: USFS has seen
some tree beetles move both further north and up
in elevation)
• Plant growth changes (seasonally and
geographically)
– Seasonal shifts:
• In some areas of the US, plants are beginning
to break dormancy earlier than before. In
Florida, some plants are breaking dormancy
and blooming later than before.
• USA National Phenology Network
http://www.usanpn.org
– Geographical shifts:
• Invasives!!!!
• Changes to planting zones
• Air quality problems
– The IPCC predicts
•
•
•
•
Declining air quality in cities
Altered dispersion rate of pollutants
Altered ozone and particle pollution generation
Increased emissions from the biosphere, fires,
and dust
http://www.epa.gov/airtrends/2010/report/climatechange.p
df
– National Center for Atmospheric Research
http://ncar.ucar.edu/
Impacts on Alaska
• Permafrost is thawing:
– Adversely impacting roads and building
foundations
– Leading to the “drying” of interior
• Ponds “perched” above permafrost are now able
to drain down to the water table
– Visible from airplane
• Last summers fires were attributed to this drying
• Plant and plant pest changes observed
Sustainable Living
• The term
“sustainable living”
has gone through a
variety of definitions
and diagrams.
Secretary Vilsack letter, Feb. 2009
“Everyone has a personal responsibility to use his or her skills
and expertise to modernize USDA systems and programs,
improve policies, reach out to underserved constituencies,
assure a discrimination-free workplace, and use Government
resources wisely and efficiently. I hope you can look at every
day that you come to work as an opportunity to make a
difference-for the public and for your co-workers. It may be as
seemingly small an act as turning off lights that aren't being
used or finding other ways to reduce office expenses. For
many people, you are the face of Government. How you act
and interact goes a long way toward defining who participates
in Government programs and policymaking and how the
public views our stewardship.”
Science, Sustainability, & Society
Dr. Roger Beachy
NIFA Director and USDA Chief Scientist
USDA Outlook Forum 2010
“So why then are discussions about sustainability so
charged? First, I believe it’s because we have framed or
allowed others to frame sustainability as a practice itself or
a set of practices. It’s not. Sustainability is a goal, and
therefore the focus should be on outcomes rather than
specific practices…..Secondly, by its very nature sustainability has multiple dimensions—economic, environmental,
and social. And all of these dimensions must be
addressed simultaneously if we are to truly develop
sustainable agriculture.”
http://www.nifa.usda.gov/about/speeches/10_beachy_outlookforum.html
Sustainable Living & Universities
• American College & University
Presidents’ Climate Commitment
http://www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org/
–Signatories of the Presidents’ Climate
Commitment are required to submit
Implementation Profiles, Greenhouse Gas
Reports, Climate Action Plans, and Progress
Reports in the ACUPCC Reporting System.
–NCSU is a signatory
Sustainable Living & Universities
• Association for the Advancement of
Sustainability in Higher Education
http://www.aashe.org/
• Southeast Climate Consortium
http://seclimate.org/
– NCSU is a member
Extension Efforts
• JCEP (Joint Council of Extension
Professionals)
http://www.jcep.org/sustainability.htm
has links to several sites, including:
A Vision for Relevance White Paper, 2008;
which was written by NNSLE members
Extension Efforts
• Sustainable Living Education: A Call to all
Extension
http://www.joe.org/joe/2008april/comm1.shtml
• 2011 PILD
–"We will be focusing on emerging issue
programming efforts including Sustainability
and Sustainable Living Education…”
Extension Efforts
• NNSLE: National Network for
Sustainable Living Education
– Created by ANREP folks, but members of all
Extension associations are invited to join us!
– Monthly conference calls hosted by our NIFA
contacts: Greg Crosby & Luis Tupas
– Chairperson: Viviane Simon-Brown, OSU
– 4th Tuesday of the month, 1 pm eastern time
NNSLE on eXtension
• Climate Change & Sustainable Living
Education Collaborate wiki
– http://collaborate.extension.org/wiki/Climate_
Change_%26_Sustainable_Living
• Living Sustainably: dealing with Climate
Change eXtension user-created
community
– http://www.extension.org/people/communitie
s/1251
NNSLE Publications
Notable Quotes
• "The economy is a wholly-owned subsidiary
of the environment, not the other way
around.”
• "The ultimate test of man's conscience may
be his willingness to sacrifice something
today for future generations whose words of
thanks will not be heard."
US Senator Gaylord Nelson