Climate Change Lecture Series

This winter the MacBride Museum of Yukon History has partnered with the Northern Climate Exchange to deliver a series of lectures on our changing climate. All lectures are free and will take place in the Taylor & Drury room at the MacBride Museum, Whitehorse. To read a detailed description of upcoming talks click here.

Wednesday, February 18, 7pm - Green Procurement, Shannon Clohosey from the Yukon Federal Council
Wednesday, February 25, 7pm - Community–based Climate Change Adaptation Planning in the Yukon, Ryan Hennessey from the Northern Climate ExChange
Wednesday, March 4, 7pm - Yukon Youth: Involvement in Climate Change Locally and Abroad, Lia Johnson

www.macbridemuseum.com

Dawson Community Adaptation Meeting, Dawson, Yukon: March 2, 2009

The Northern Climate ExChange (NCE) will be hosting a second community meeting in Dawson, YT to conclude the vulnerability assessment component of the Dawson Climate Change Adaptation Project. At the one-day meeting, NCE will review the detailed climate change impacts scenario that has been developed over the past year in collaboration with the community and with the Dawson CAVIAR Project, lead by Frank Duerden of Ryerson University. At the meeting, the community of Dawson will be invited to propose adaptive strategies to respond to the impacts scenario and discuss how local scale and capacity will influence the implementation of proposed projects.

The Dawson Community Climate Change Adaptation Plan will be developed from the meeting results for release in Summer 2009. For more on the Dawson Adaptation Project, please see http://www.taiga.net/nce/adaptation/dawson.html.

http://www.taiga.net/nce/

Lessons from Continuity and Change in the Fourth International Polar Year, March 4 - 7, 2009, University of Alaska Fairbanks.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks and Inland Northwest Research Alliancewill be hosting a special polar year symposium, to be held in Fairbanks, Alaska from March 4-7, 2009. This symposium focuses on the lessons learned from polar research as well as the lessons learned elsewhere that can inform studies of the Arctic. While rapid change has been amplified in the Arctic, the entire Pacific Northwest is undergoing rapid changes to its social and ecological systems due to similar economic, climatic, demographic and other forces. The responses to such external forcing have occurred across levels of governance, but rarely in a comprehensive or long range fashion. For more information click here. Registration.

www.institute.inra.org

2030 NORTH: A National Planning Conference - June 1-4, 2009, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Co-hosted by the Canadian Arctic Resources Committee (CARC), Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) and the University of Calgary's Centre for Military and Strategic Studies (CMSS)

Canada is waking up to the reality of a North transformed by climate change, challenges to northern sovereignty, and rapidly increasing natural resource exploration and development. But beyond vague and often contradictory messages about polar bears or the Northwest Passage, Canadians have no clear picture of what this will mean to their lands and waters, wildlife and peoples of the circumpolar world. 2030 NORTH will assemble the best data and expertise about the north to create the first comprehensive picture of the Arctic 20 years from now - and beyond.

Canada’s current northern presence, policies and programs were, for the most part, shaped years ago to meet the needs of a very different social, political and physical environment. Maintaining our claims to sovereignty and leadership will require a new vision for a new north - a comprehensive public policy agenda that recognizes and reflects the pivotal role of the Arctic, today and in 2030. Working within a highly interactive format focused on discussion and analysis of five original, commissioned papers, participants will generate the foundations of a comprehensive northern strategy and action plan to guide Canada forward to 2030, and beyond.

Click here to download the 2030 NORTH conference brochure (980 KB.pdf)

www.2030north.carc.org

1 Yukon Government Releases Climate Change Action Plan

Yukon Government
Press Release #09-025
February 12, 2009

WHITEHORSE – The Yukon government is pleased to release the Climate Change Action Plan as part of the Yukon government’s commitment to address climate change in the territory, Environment Minister Elaine Taylor announced today.

Read more at www.gov.yk.ca

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2 Whitehorse students petition federal, Yukon governments to act on climate change

CBC News
February 16, 2009

Students at a Whitehorse high school are asking two levels of government to do more to combat climate change, as environment ministers from across Canada converge on the Yukon capital this week.

Read more at www.cbc.ca

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3 Potential Arctic fishery on horizon

Canada must plan for possible influx of southern species as northern waters open up, experts say

By Randy Boswell
Canwest News Service
Edmonton Journal
February 15, 2009

A U.S. report urging a moratorium on Arctic Ocean fisheries north of Alaska is putting pressure on Canada to produce its own sustainable, long-term strategy for managing what scientists believe could become a major new resource in the polar region's warming waters.

Read more at www.edmontonjournal.com

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4 Arctic research centre scrambles to survive

By Margaret Munro,
Canwest News Service
Calgary Herald
February 17, 2009

James Drummond would much prefer to be heading to the Arctic for the polar sunrise.

Instead, the acclaimed atmospheric scientist at Dalhousie University is fighting to ensure the sun does not set on the world's most northerly research lab.

Read more at www.calgaryherald.com

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5 Alaska's size, age complicate weather data

METEOROLOGIST: Be wary of taking the numbers at face value, he says at conference.

By Christopher Eshleman
Fairbanks News-Miner
February 13, 2009

FAIRBANKS -- Alaska offers a deep well of resources for scientists studying climate change.

But specialists analyzing the historic weather data gathered from around the state -- the biggest and northernmost of the 50 United States, but also one of its youngest and least-developed -- should be wary of taking the numbers at face value, a national meteorologist said recently in Fairbanks.

Read more at www.adn.com

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6 Arctic's personal greenhouse turns up the heat

The first comprehensive assessment of the climate cooling potential of different geoengineering schemes has been carried out by researchers at the University of East Anglia.

By Catherine Brahic
NewScientist
February 18, 2009

It might be one of the coldest regions on the planet but the Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the globe - and now we know the reasons why. Two new studies show that the greenhouse effect is stronger above the North Pole, and that the waters of the Arctic Ocean are acting like a radiator to heat the region's atmosphere.

Read more at www.newscientist.com

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7 Burp of Arctic laughing gas is no joke

By Angela Self
NewScientist
February 15, 2009

It seems the Arctic is belching out nitrous oxide – commonly known as laughing gas. Unfortunately, the punchline is that it is a powerful greenhouse gas.

Read more at www.newscientist.com

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8 Changes in tundra greenness linked to sea-ice retreat and warmer land temperatures

IPY
February 17, 2009

FAIRBANKS, Alaska — The Greening of the Arctic (GOA) IPY initiative is comprised of four projects each contributing to documenting, mapping and understanding the rapid and dramatic changes to terrestrial vegetation expected across the circumpolar Arctic as a result of a changing climate.

Read more at www.ipy.org

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The next update from the Northern Climate ExChange will be sent out Wednesday, February 25, 2009

If you want to change your NCE Update subscription, or
send us something for the next update, click here to contact us.

www.taiga.net/nce/