Media
Rapid landscape change convention calls north for help
Yukon News, June 17, 2005
Global warming. Hole in the ozone. Melting polar icecaps - we've heard it all, but really, just how serious are these problems?
Serious enough for delegates from Russia, Argentina, Scotland, Britain, Canada and the U.S.A. to convene in Whitehorse for the fifth international meeting on Dark Nature - Rapid Landscape Change and Human Response.
The goal is to better understand the past and hone adaptations that might help future generations face coming environmental crises.
"Understanding rapid landscape change, particularly in the North, is extremely important, " said Antony Berger, a geologist from the Geoindicators Initiative.
As glaciers and permafrost melt and sea ice distribution changes, northern landscapes are revealing more of their secrets.
As a result, potential damage to towns, roads and infrastructure is now a major concern.
"We're moving into a period of rapid change," said Berger. "What we're trying to see is if there are lessons to be learnt from the record of the past that will prepare us for the near future, that will change how people think and behave."
By focusing on the First Nations and their ancestors, the original peoples of the North, he added, we're attempting to work out how they were affected by climate and landscape changes, how they coped and how they moved through the Arctic.
"Exploring how past societies reacted could have implications for formulating today's environmental and public policies," added Suzanne Leroy from Brunel University in the U.K. at Wednesday's convention.
Not all landscape changes have a negative impact. In fact, some changes, such as forest fires, are nature's way of renewing itself.
However, earthquakes, landslides or floods can have serious consequences on societies, and avoiding catastrophic damage is the goal of the global scientific community.
Human response to natural disaster follows one of two paths. Either we learn from it and recover, or we don't.
The latter is often seen when people insist on returning to and rebuilding their homes in tsunami-ravaged areas or within dangerous proximity to a volcano or previous landslide sites.
"Politicians and scientists must work closely together to find a solution to this," said Leroy. "The displacement of peoples, however painful, is the most beneficial solution in the long run."
This is far easier said than done, particularly in northern Canada where displacement of peoples has often proved disastrous and brought many negative secondary effects.
"In theory, we will save their lives," said Leroy. "In practice, it is extremely difficult."
And politicians respond to politics, not science as one convention delegate noted. They are more interested in retaining political power than preventing ice from melting.
Fault also lies with the world's youth, who are becoming less and less involved (or even interested) in politics, despite the fact they will be most affected by global landscape changes.
A bridge between the two definitely needs to be built.
"The world can tell us everything we want to know," said Marianne Douglas, a paleoecologist from the University of Toronto, quoting an old Inuit saying.
"The only problem with the world is it doesn't have a voice. But the world's indicators are there and they are always talking to us."
"The polar climates are changing, but can we catch up with it in time?" she asked. "Environmental instruments in the Arctic only allow scientists to measure and predict 50 years ahead. But is 50 years enough?"
The Arctic is going to affect the broader globe and we need to find long-term environmental data, she added.
Where can you find the answers? Well, Douglas looks in mud.
By checking diatoms and microfossils found in the sediment of Arctic oceans and lakes, Douglas can infer climatic conditions and reconstruct the past.
Using these bio-indicators to see what has changed may help Douglas see what's coming.
Scientists have found areas experiencing global warming are also experiencing the most change.
This is particularly prevalent in the Arctic, where the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment found temperatures to be rising at nearly twice the rate of the rest of the world.
Humans have also left their fingerprint on the Arctic, noted Douglas, who was the principal investigator of a research team sent to Somerset Island, Nunavut, in January.
The team found that the Arctic island used to be home to the Thule people, who used it as a whaling station.
Once caught, the mammals were dragged up on shore and butchered near the edge of Savelle Pond.
Despite the whalers having abandoned their whaling sites four centuries ago, there are still higher nutrient levels and more productive conditions in Savelle Pond than other areas.
"The activities of these people, long since gone, have helped us track landscape changes," said Douglas of the expedition.
The team found the prehistoric Inuit whalers had dramatically altered the Arctic pond ecosystems through their hunting practices, a legacy still evident today, 800 years later.
"Digging deeper into the sediment gives us a slice of time. If we have a full crew, we will have a great multiproxy reconstruction of the past and we can put all the pieces of the puzzle together and start predicting future environmental conditions," said Douglas.
The finding of all scientists, both at the Whitehorse convention and abroad, serve as proof that rapid landscape change is happening and it's happening now.
While it is up to the scientific community to research various landscapes, collect data and offer possible solutions, it is the job of the international community to do something about the findings.
In February, the Climate Stewardship Act was re-introduced into U.S. Congress.
The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment expressed hope that this comprehensive global warming legislation will take an important first step towards limiting heat-trapping emissions that contribute to global warming.
Climate and landscape changes in the Arctic can be dangerous and problematic and have the possibility to affect the globe.
The solution to the problem lies in a combined, universal attempt to move away from fossil fuel energy systems and towards efficient, renewable system, such as solar and wing power.
"What is needed now is the political leadership to ensure that dangerous climate change is kept to a minimum," wrote Tonje Folkestad, the World Wildlife Funds climate change adviser, in its most recent Arctic Bulletin. "Rapid change in the Arctic tells us there is no time to lose."
For more information on how to help slow global warming, visit the Natural Resources Defence Council's website at www.nrdc.org.
© 2005 Yukon News