Climate Change in Alaska (Shishmaref: build, summer, Russian)

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by bortstc37

the only time i mentioned death was saying we'd be long dead before anchorage gets swamped. i don't know how you got fear of death from that, but it was meant to show exactly what you just said- earth we be here long after we're gone, doing what it does. i think you just want to argue.

i'll help you along: new life being created in a life and death cycle are still not new species.

On the contrary All I want to do is not to argue, just to point-out some of the good things about this period of global warming, and how species in general must adapt or perish. Since we can't control nature, we might as well enjoy it. The only way to enjoy it is by looking at a myriad of good things in front of us, something that's possible because we aren't living through an ice age. Don't you think so?

[bortstc37]

i think that the bad will far outweigh the good, but maybe not for those living in inland alaska...

i'll admit that i do like the prospects of being able to grow a larger variety of foods. i also wouldn't mind the expansion of habitat for many deciduous trees (ones that might make it to alaska). i'm also fortunate that i won't have to be a refugee. but even those of us who are most immune to the immediate negative effects will still feel them- billions of climate refugees would be likely to spark numerous conflicts (possibly even full-blown wars) and definitely have serious economic effects on a global scale. the silver lining here is very thin.

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by bortstc37

i think that the bad will far outweigh the good, but maybe not for those living in inland alaska...

i'll admit that i do like the prospects of being able to grow a larger variety of foods. i also wouldn't mind the expansion of habitat for many deciduous trees (ones that might make it to alaska). i'm also fortunate that i won't have to be a refugee. but even those of us who are most immune to the immediate negative effects will still feel them- billions of climate refugees would be likely to spark numerous conflicts (possibly even full-blown wars) and definitely have serious economic effects on a global scale. the silver lining here is very thin.

It could very well happen that way. Also, the same can happen during a fast global cooling followed by an ice age. In this case there will be wars because the most powerful nations will try to control the open areas with natural resources, and the food sources (open and semi-tropical to tropical regions).

[richelles]

I remember sitting on the dock at Key West in the early Forties and having my feet just above the water. The last time I tried that, sometime right after 2000, I still didn't get the bottom of my feet wet but it just seems my feet were closer to the water. The tidal change isn't much that far South and I don't know what the actual tide was at when I was there either time but in those years sea level hasn't come up that much.

On the idea of species adapting I've been involved in wildflower research in GSMNP over the past 20 years. DNA research shows that some of the perennial wildflowers survived in those mountains in a number of different Refugio during the last ice age. At this time, which I think is about 10.000 years since the ice started melting, several of those species have grown from those Refugio into the mountain habitats where they are presently being found. In several cases it has been possible to show where those different forms from the different Refugio are now meeting up and there is some evidence they are hybridizing in these locations. We hope to eventually be able to show where the Refugio were and observe what effect the isolation has had on the various species that are now meeting up with long lost cousins.

In this most intensive ever inventory of the living species in one area there have been a number of new species found plus many species newly found which had never previously been reported from the area. I believe that species are very adaptable and will evolve in small ways to include new habitats inside their range and colonize areas they weren't found previously. This appears to be happening in the Aleutians at the present time as the climate changes. Species that can have their seeds carried on bird plumage seem to be moving into new habitats which isn't' finding new species that have evolved to fill those habitats.

[starlite9]

Originally Posted by richelles

I remember sitting on the dock at Key West in the early Forties and having my feet just above the water. The last time I tried that, sometime right after 2000, I still didn't get the bottom of my feet wet but it just seems my feet were closer to the water. The tidal change isn't much that far South and I don't know what the actual tide was at when I was there either time but in those years sea level hasn't come up that much.

Well this summer in Mississippi, the average tides varried about a foot to a foot and a half. Key West has an average of about two feet+-.

http://www.mobilegeographics.com:81/locations/3059.html

[Teak]

Originally Posted by RayinAK

It could very well happen that way. Also, the same can happen during a fast global cooling followed by an ice age. In this case there will be wars because the most powerful nations will try to control the open areas with natural resources, and the food sources (open and semi-tropical to tropical regions).

With or without global warming, there will be serious issues regarding food supplies. The population, now around 6.5 billion, is expected to add another 3-4 billion in the next 50 years or so. Although great advances have been made in agricultural technology -including plant and animal breeding- there will have to be changes made in order to feed 9-10 billion by 2060/2070.

One change would be a shift away from beef protein to that of chicken and pig. Cattle are grossly inefficient in converting grain or grass to protein, whereas chickens are one of the most efficient of livestock. Fish are also efficient, but free-run stocks in the ocean are not looking good without countries cooperating on sustainable use.

Global warming could open up new lands to agriculture, but will also remove some acreage.

[RayinAK]

Some interesting stuff about the last ice age:
http://www.esd.ornl.gov/projects/qen/nerc130k.html

Ice Age
About 1/3 of the earth was ice. The most recent ice age was almost 10,000 years ago. As the earth started warming up the ice started to melt. The last ice age left traces that it was there. It left GLACIERS!!! Sheets of ice covered valleys and rivers. Ice spread to different parts of the world. Scientists called it the ice age. It kept melting, then froze again. This went on for about a million years. About 10,000 years ago the earth started to warm up.

[sanspeur]

Update on what is happening in Alaska....

The impacts of climate warming in Alaska are already occurring. These impacts include coastal erosion, increased storm effects, sea ice retreat and permafrost melt. The villages of Shishmaref, Kivalina, and Newtok have already begun relocation plans. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has identified over 160 additional rural communities threatened by erosion. Click here to see photographs of some of the Alaska climate change issues. State of Alaska - Climate Change in Alaska

[Rance]

Plantet was warming and melting glaciers long before man started contributing greenhouse gases.

[It is 57 below zero]

Aren't there ways to reduce global warming?

Burning fossil fuels is one of the major problems of this. Shouldn't people stop doing this, I mean, seriously, and find some other way to do this that doesn't cause climates to change dramatically over time? I think people burn fossil fuels in dealing with garbage disposal, and there's gotta be an alternative for that.

While global warming is happening worldwide, I have no idea why Alaska's getting some of the worst of it.

Whatever people are doing that contributes to this, there should seriously, be a limit placed on this, and jurisdictions in some places should start passing laws to reduce this problem.