I am finally reporting on 4th International Polar YearThe International Polar Year (IPY) is a two year (2007-2009) program of international research and education focused on the Arctic and Antarctic. Click here for more information about IPY. (IPY) Science Conference and PolarTEACHER conference I attended in Oslo, Norway on June 5-12, 2010.
For those of you unfamiliar with the IPY, it is a large scientific research effort involving hundreds of scientists from over 60 nations that started in March 2007 and culminated in March 2009. What I am learning is that the science is far from over and as the Crown Prince Haakon of Norway suggested we should have a polar decade.
The one message that I heard in Oslo is that regardless of where you are living, "Everyone is affected by what is happening at the Poles." The Earth is actually a "system of systems" as Mary Albert from Dartmouth College said. I also teach my students when we study the environment that everything is interconnected.
As sea ice and ice sheets melt average global temperatures warm. This changes weather patterns and events throughout the world. Arizan Abu Samah, University of Malaya, recognized these effects on his country as he explained why his country created the Malaysian Antarctic (research) Program. One of their goals that I could relate to was, "To develop hardy and resilient scientists." That goal parallels my own experience of working in the Arctic. Some of his scientists had never seen snow before embarking on research expeditions in Antarctica.
The polar bear is an example of one of the species of animals greatly affected by a change in climate that has been studied in the IPY. They are suffering from a habitat loss as the sea ice that they rely on to hunt seals is diminishing. I also saw scientific posters that measured concentrations of Persistent Organic PollutantsSubstances that have a harmful effect on human and/or ecosystem health when present in high enough concentrations in water, air, or soil (POPs) in polar bear blood. These pollutants that are released in locations much further south accumulate in the Arctic due to long-range transport in the atmosphere.
I learned about how the Sami People are being affected by a changing climate in the European Arctic. The Sami are indigenous (or native) to the Arctic regions of Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia. The Sami at this conference taught us about how their livelihood of reindeer herding has been changing. A young Sami herder explained changes that she has seen in her lifetime. Temperatures in her native Finland have been warming. When the winter average temperature changes from -25ºC to -23ºC it doesn't seem significant to people that live in the South. However, the temperature changes bring changes in weather events. There are times that weather warms and causes snow to melt. When it refreezes it changes the snowpack from dry and fluffy snow to harder more compact snow. This creates difficulties for the reindeer that are trying to dig through the snow to find food. This can cause starvation of the reindeer, which affects the Sami's major food supply.
One of the legacies of the 4th IPY is the partnerships that were created. The scientific community is partnered with the education community to provide outreach to students and the general public. Indigenous people such as the Sami, Inuit, Inupiaq and others affected by climate change are also collaborating (working) with the scientists. The native way of knowing about the environment is based upon rich traditional, experiential and survivalist knowledge. Scientists are learning about the same regions in a data-driven manner. These "two ways of knowing" are being combined. It is helping indigenous people, who may rely on subsistence hunting, to adapt to these rapid changes.
The latest data from NOAA-ESRL Mauna Loa is showing that the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide is still increasing.
This increase in carbon dioxide since the Industrial Revolution is causing the climate to change and is not only affecting the Poles, but the entire Earth. This leaves me with two questions for my readers:
How are you affected by climate change in your own community?
What are you doing to reduce your carbon footprint?
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