Warm in your neck of the woods? (Anchorage, Hope: fit in, sales)

[Metlakatla]

I'm a resident of Oregon by choice, and I don't see that changing anytime soon, but I own property, homes, and two businesses in Alaska and will be spending summers there in the foreseeable future. I have mixed feelings about the plunging oil prices because the last time I depended on some lame job to support myself, gas was $4.75 a gallon in Oregon, and I lived in a place with no alternative transportation and had to drive. But that was Alaska's biggest PFD year ever, with Palin smirking it up on the news about how she'd managed to finangle this huge PFD ... so, part of me thinks Alaska had it coming.

On the other hand, these are my mates being affected by this "current problem," so, yeah, it's rough. This will probably drastically change Alaska.

I wonder if that's what happened to Pitt...maybe he lost his job and had to move to Texas.

[MountainHi]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

I'm a resident of Oregon by choice, and I don't see that changing anytime soon, but I own property, homes, and two businesses in Alaska and will be spending summers there in the foreseeable future. I have mixed feelings about the plunging oil prices because the last time I depended on some lame job to support myself, gas was $4.75 a gallon in Oregon, and I lived in a place with no alternative transportation and had to drive. But that was Alaska's biggest PFD year ever, with Palin smirking it up on the news about how she'd managed to finangle this huge PFD ... so, part of me thinks Alaska had it coming.

On the other hand, these are my mates being affected by this "current problem," so, yeah, it's rough. This will probably drastically change Alaska.

I wonder if that's what happened to Pitt...maybe he lost his job and had to move to Texas.

It seems like AK is caught between a rock and a hard place. If the US (along with the rest of the world) doesn't cut back on fossil fuel use, Alaska will be (already is) the first to suffer the effects of global warming, along with other far north regions of the world. If the US does cut back, it's also a problem for Alaska, in the economic sphere..

[mwruckman]

Originally Posted by MountainHi

It seems like AK is caught between a rock and a hard place. If the US (along with the rest of the world) doesn't cut back on fossil fuel use, Alaska will be (already is) the first to suffer the effects of global warming, along with other far north regions of the world. If the US does cut back, it's also a problem for Alaska, in the economic sphere..

In parts of Alaska the melting of the permafrost will be a big problem for Alaskans will find themselves between a rock and a soft place. You've got this squishy problem coming soon.

[MountainHi]

Originally Posted by mwruckman

In parts of Alaska the melting of the permafrost will be a big problem for Alaskans will find themselves between a rock and a soft place. You've got this squishy problem coming soon.

People in the lower 48 can still pretend the problem is a long way off, or even deny it's an issue at all ("just part of a cyclical drought process, nothing unusual..."), but the northern regions are already seeing signs of profound change.

[Metlakatla]

Yes, and some of the biggest deniers live in the northern regions.

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by mwruckman

In parts of Alaska the melting of the permafrost will be a big problem for Alaskans will find themselves between a rock and a soft place. You've got this squishy problem coming soon.

We can speculate, but in reality we don't know what will happen. The main problem at the moment is the AK's budget.

[Dakster]

At least it snowed here last night and today... Granted it is a slushy mess....

Profound changes are all over you just have to look close to see them. California is in record drought, Miami Beach floods despite the addition of massive water pumps. (and still more are planned - and then they are going to raise up the Island.)

Other areas are getting too much rain or too little. NE US gets record snow fall. Crops are shifting northward. Things that couldn't grow out of the tropics are and even animals are starting to move to more northern latitudes.

It's easy to see and the temp changes are bigger up here, because even I can see that this glacier has moved way back or the ground that never thawed before does now.

As Ray pointed out, today's problem is the budget which needs to get figured out.

[Metlakatla]

This won't be popular, but I actually think that finding some effective ways to deal with climate change is more important than Alaska's budget.


Meanwhile, they're saying that the "check" will be around 2K this year.

[Haolejohn]

It's a warm 25 today...

[Dakster]

Met - Yes and no. The people that can directly fix Alaska's budget need to do that work. That doesn't mean that climate change prevention stops.

Also, Climate change is going to take a worldwide effort. It doesn't even stop at the Federal level in the USA.

It is ironic that the area that is being affected most by climate change is the area that will get affected the most if we stopped using oil.