MONTHLY NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2019
Woods Hole Research Center Warning signs on Alaskan tundra Dr. Sue Natali
Report: land use policy shifts needed to fight climate change by Miles Grant
When I look back on this year’s Polaris Project trip to the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge, I’ll remember our incredible student and faculty participants, the world-class science they produced, and the local residents who shared their firsthand experiences with climate change impacts. I’ll also remember some unexpected glimpses into our climate-changed future—extreme heat, strong lightning storms, wildfire smoke, and huge slumps of rapidly thawing permafrost. Through the Polaris Project, WHRC scientists have been bringing students to the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta, investigating the impacts and implications of global climate change, permafrost thaw, and wildfires. Our journey took us through Anchorage to Bethel, and finally to the campsite, located about 50 miles from Bethel on the Alaskan tundra. The weather was cool and damp at the beginning of the expedition, but it soon turned hot, with temperatures hitting 90°F and continuing Bethel’s record-breaking year. Every month this year has been at least 5°F above the historic average. February was 17.3° above average (breaking the all-time record by 3.3°). On top of the heat, there was also a lot of smoke from nearby wildfires, which made for very difficult working conditions. We were fortunate the fires stayed clear of camp or we would have had to evacuate.
We saw signs of accelerating permafrost thaw, including massive ground collapse. In areas affected by a 2015 wildfire, thaw depths were a meter or more, which is roughly
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A major new report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UN IPCC), co-authored by WHRC’s Dr. Richard Houghton, calls for urgent improvements in land use, agriculture and forest management if the world is to contain climate change.
The IPCC’s Special Report on Climate Change and Land says 23 percent of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions now come from agriculture, deforestation, and destruction of peatlands. Animals raised for meat and dairy (cattle, buffalo, sheep and goats) account for 41 percent of humancaused methane emissions. Poor land management is also hurting soil, now being lost 10 to 100 times faster than it can be naturally replaced. Burning fossil fuels remains the world’s largest source of human-caused emissions. “What this report makes clear is that as human populations grow, we must manage land deliberately if we want to increase or even maintain prosperity,” said WHRC President Dr. Philip Duffy. “With proper management, land areas that are now contributing to climate change can become part of the solution. Our continued research will show how to do this.”
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WHRC is an independent research organization where scientists study climate change and how to solve it, from the Amazon to the Arctic. Learn more at www.whrc.org.