Climate news this week: The Holiday Edition

This week, a new survey published by the U.S. Geological Survey indicates that climate change is occurring much fasterthan earlier reports predicted.

The survey -- which was commissioned by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program and issued this month -- expands on the 2007 findings of the United Nations Intergovernment Panel on Climate Change. Looking at factors such as rapid sea ice loss in the Arctic and prolonged drought in the Southwest, the new assessment suggests that earlier projections may have underestimated the climatic shifts that could take place by 2100.

 

However, the assessment also suggests that some other feared effects of global warming are not likely to occur by the end of the century, such as an abrupt release of methane from the seabed and permafrost or a shutdown of the Atlantic Ocean circulation system that brings warm water north and colder water south. But the report projects an amount of potential sea level rise during that period that may be greater than what other researchers have anticipated, as well as a shift to a more arid climate pattern in the Southwest by mid-century.

Thirty-two scientists from federal and non-federal institutions contributed to the report, which took nearly two years to complete. The Climate Change Science Program, which was established in 1990, coordinates the climate research of 13 different federal agencies.

Tom Armstrong, senior adviser for global change programs at USGS, said the report "shows how quickly the information is advancing" on potential climate shifts. The prospect of abrupt climate change, he said, "is one of those things that keeps people up at night, because it's a low-probability but high-risk scenario.

In other news this week, we learned that in Colorado, climate change is endangering a favorite holiday pastime.

Colorado’s ski areas will have to carve runs higher up the mountains and triple their snowmaking if they are to co-exist with global warming over the coming decades, a new study says.

 

That extra snowmaking will require a lot more water at a time when it is very expensive to buy senior water rights, says the study presented today to the American Geophysical Union conference in San Francisco. And it would have to come from a distance away, because any diversion close by would harm wildlife habitats.

Gondolas will have to be revamped — to take skiers from skimpy snow at the bottom of the mountain high up to where there is a permanent snowpack.

Aspen Mountain’s snowpack line — the elevation at which winter-season snowpack can be assured — will be 2,400 vertical feet higher up by the end of the century.

 

“Ski resort operators are really scrambling,” co-author Mark Williams, a geography professor at the University of Colorado, said. “The bottom line is that in order to survive, these ski areas will need to find the necessary water wherever they can and hold it in storage to satisfy future snowmaking needs.”

Fortunately, in the spirit of the holiday season, Santa Claus may be coming to save the day – that is, according to a new children’s book that incorporates climate change into the repertoire of Christmas stories.

Santa Goes Green (Mackinac Island Press, $15.95) is the story of a boy, Finn, who writes Santa and asks him to help raise awareness about global warming. Finn is interested in the issue because he has adopted a polar bear, and polar bears are losing their habitat.

 

Finn tells Santa he does not need any toys for Christmas, but instead he wants the jolly old elf's help. "Santa can do anything in (Finn's) mind," says author and publisher Anne Margaret Lewis.

The book has sold about 13,000 copies since the small Traverse City children's books publisher put a previewable version of the entire book online last month (at mackinacislandpress.com). Now in its second printing, it's a runaway hit.

Early last summer, Anne and [her son] Cameron were reading a "National Geographic" article about how global warming has melted glaciers, which in turn reduced places for bears to live and hunt. "He asked how we could help the polar bears, so we started going around the house every time we left a room and shut the lights off. Then we would say, "We just saved another polar bear,' " she says. "I was trying to convince him that you can make a difference, and it worked."

Although last week we heard that the European Union’s new Emissions Trading Scheme may be weaker than some environmentalists would have liked, we were excited to hear about a successful carbon trade that occurred on our own shores!

A consortium of 10 Northeastern states held its second carbon dioxide auction last week, a key step in creating a market-based program to cut the emissions that contribute to global warming. Advocates say the regional program could be a template for the incoming Obama administration to create a federal system.

 

Scores of buyers from the energy, financial and environmental sectors bid for permits to emit more than 31.5 million tons of carbon dioxide, with the allowances selling at a rate of $3.38 per ton. That compares to a price of $3.07 a ton at the first auction in September.

The auction raised $106.5 million for the 10 states in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

All told, Connecticut has tallied $8.9 million from the first two carbon dioxide auctions.

Nearly 70 percent of the revenue will go to promote efficiency through rebates, energy audits, weatherization assistance and other programs. Another 23 percent will support the Clean Energy Fund, which promotes renewable energy. A 7.5 percent share of auction proceeds pays for administrative costs.

Perhaps inspired by the hustle and bustle of holiday travel, this week the San Francisco International airport announced a new plan to help travelers offset their carbon emissions.

Environmentally conscious travelers flying out of San Francisco International Airport will soon be able to assuage their guilt and minimize the impact of their air travel by buying certified carbon offsets at airport kiosks.

 

The experimental program, scheduled to start this spring, would make SFO the first airport in the nation - possibly the world - to offer fliers the opportunity to purchase carbon offsets.

"We'd like people to stop and consider the impacts of flying," said Steve McDougal, executive vice president for 3Degrees, a San Francisco firm that sells renewable-energy and carbon-reduction investments and is teaming up with the airport and the city on the project. "Obviously, people need to fly sometimes. No one expects them to stop, but they should consider taking steps to reduce their impacts."

San Francisco's Airport Commission has authorized the program, which will involve a $163,000 investment from SFO, but is still working out the details with 3Degrees. Because of that, McDougal said, he can't yet discuss specifics, such as the cost to purchase carbon offsets and what programs would benefit from travelers' purchases.

But the general idea, officials said, is that a traveler would approach a kiosk resembling the self-service check-in stations used by airlines, then punch in his or her destination. The computer would calculate the carbon footprint and the cost of an investment to offset the damage. The traveler could then swipe a credit card to help save the planet. Travelers would receive a printed receipt listing the projects benefiting from their environmental largesse.

That concludes this week’s (slightly) holiday-themed news roundup. Please add other notable stories if you have them!