Cimate Change Watch - How climate literate are people in Brockport?

How climate literate are people in Brockport? How brain washed have they been by the climate change deniers paid by the Fossil Fuel industries? The future of our region, country and planet depends on an educated, literate, informed population. The Brockporter has been providing articles on most Thursdays tagged "Climate Change Watch" and will continue to do so. If you appreciate these articles please make a small donation using the PayPal button in the right hand column.

What is a climate literate person and why is it important for people to become climate literate? Keep reading:

From "Climate Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Science":

What is climate literacy?

Climate Science Literacy is an understanding of your influence on climate and climate’s influence on you and society.

A climate-literate person:

• understands the essential principles of Earth’s climate system,

• knows how to assess scientifically credible information about climate,

• communicates about climate and climate change in a meaningful way, and

• is able to make informed and responsible decisions with regard to actions that may affect climate.

Why does climate literacy matter?

Over the 21st century, climate scientists expect Earth’s temperature to continue increasing, very likely more than it did during the 20th century. Two anticipated results are rising global sea level and increasing frequency and intensity of heat waves, droughts, and floods. These changes will affect almost every aspect of human society, including economic prosperity, human and environmental health, and national security.

Society needs citizens who understand the climate system and know how to apply that knowledge in their careers and in their engagement as active members of their communities.

People who are climate science literate know that climate science can inform our decisions that improve quality of life. They have a basic understanding of the climate system, including the natural and human-caused factors that affect it. climate science literate individuals understand how climate observations and records as well as computer modeling contribute to scientific knowledge about climate. They are aware of the fundamental relationship between climate and human life and the many ways in which climate has always played a role in human health. They have the ability to assess the validity of scientific arguments about climate and to use that information to support
their decisions.

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Climate change watch - Connect with nature at Tillman Rd. Wildlife Management Area in Clarence

Watchable Wildlife: Frogs at Tillman Rd. WMA

The croak, ribbit and peep of frogs are unmistakable signs that spring is here. At Tillman Road Wildlife Management Area, you can walk through the marsh during the spring and summer, and seven different species of frogs will serenade you.

Two hiking trails and a self-guided nature loop encircle the wetlands and grassy fields. The area, in the town of Clarence, 8 miles east of Buffalo, also includes a deciduous swamp and hardwood forest and is home to muskrats, beaver, mink, deer, grebes, wading birds, herons and ducks. A boardwalk with a viewing platform is located at the Bergtold Road entrance.

The property, totaling 230 acres, is a prime spot for wildlife watching, fishing and hiking. The interpretive trail and viewing platform are accessible to persons with disabilities. For more watchable wildlife opportunities, visit the New York Watchable Wildlife webpage.

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The Brockporter Climate Change Watch - Are we educating our children for what they are in for?

From NPR web site on 03/27/13:

"National Public Radio highlighted climate change education in a segment of its Morning Edition show broadcast on March 27, 2013, featuring NCSE's Mark McCaffrey. "By the time today's K-12 students grow up, the challenges posed by climate change are expected to be severe and sweeping," the segment began. "Now, for the first time, new nationwide science standards due out this month [i.e., the Next Generation Science Standards, now expected in April 2013] will recommend that U.S. public school students learn about this climatic shift taking place."

McCaffrey told NPR, "the state of climate change education in the U.S. is abysmal," citing survey data indicating that only one in five students "feel like they've got a good handle on climate change from what they've learned in school" and that two in three students feel that they're not learning much about it at all in their schools. NCSE's recent report "Toward a Climate & Energy Literate Society" (PDF) was cited as offering recommendations for improving climate and energy literacy in the United States over the course of the next decade."

For more click here

To listen to the NPR segment click here

Editor's note: Climate change watch is a regular feature of the Brockporter Online News Magazine which appears most Thursdays. If you appreciate this feature, please make a donation to the Brockporter today by using the PayPal button in the right hand column. Thank you.

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Climate change watch - "Mitigation" and "adaptation" the new memes

The climate change deniers have been lying to the American people funded by the energy corporations and its is widely recognized that climate change is real and we are probably beyond the point of no return. Our climate will continue to warm and change in ways that are detrimental to the current ways of life of peoples and animals and fauna around the planet. Now scientists are talking about "mitigation" and "adaptation". Adaptation can minimize some of the negative effects of climate change. Are you ready? Are we ready in Western New York, in Brockport?

From the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority ClimAID report:

Click on graphic to enlarge for easier reading.

What is the strategy for making and evaluating adaptation plans?

Click on image to enlarge for easier reading.

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ClimAID report a must read for all Brockporters

Responding To Climate Change in New York State is a must read for every New Yorker/Brockporter if you want to understand what will be happening to our climate and environment over the next several decades as a result of climate change. It reads in the introduction of the report:

The Brockporter will be presenting the findings of this report over the next several weeks on Thursdays as part of its climate change watch feature. You can download your own copy or read it on line so that you can be prepared to participate in the discussion in a knowledgeable way. To access the document click here.

Editor's note: Climate change watch is a regular feature of the Brockporter Online News Magazine which appears most Thursdays.

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Brockporter Climate Change Watch - Climate Change and Protecting Environment is a Social Justice Issue

Editor's note: The Brockporter Climate Change Watch is a regular feature of the Brockporter Online News Magazine which appears most Thursdays.

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Climate change - How will Brockport adapt?

From PBS Frontline web site:

There are two ways to tackle climate change: One is mitigation, [such as] policies that stop emissions, stop carbon. The other is adaptation. If you know the impacts that are coming, if there’s going to be higher sea levels, if there’s going to be increased drought, if there’s going to be stronger storms, if there’s going to be flooding, and that’s what the science tells us is coming, then there’s adaptation. 

The White House has tasked all of the federal agencies with coming up with adaptation plans. In other words, how can the agriculture department come up with ways for farmers to adapt to the drought that we know is coming? How can the transportation and housing and urban development departments help cities and towns adapt to the storms that we know are coming; to build roads and bridges that we know will be safer in a world of higher sea levels; to build infrastructure that can handle more intense flooding?

Editor's note: While we have to work on mitigation, in some ways, it is too late in the sense that human induced climate change is here. It may not be possible to undo the damage we've done for centuries. In the meantime we will have to adapt. How will climate change affect Brockport? What ideas do you? The Brockporter will be reporting on these possibilities in future articles which will appear on most Thursdays. Leave your ideas about how Brockporters will adapt to climate change in the comments. If you would like to contribute an article to this feature email it to davidgmarkham@gmail.com.

Sen. James Imhoff (R-OK) is noted for suggesting that climate change is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people. He's also the ranking minority members on the Senate's Environment and Public Works committee.
Wonder why nothing ever gets done about climate change?
I would invite Imhoff and all his neanderthal colleagues down to Delaware, where up to 11 percent of the state could be swept away by flooding next century due to rising sea levels. It might be hard for Imhoff and his fellow deniers to convince residents who lost their home that the damage is all in their mind.

Yes, climate change is real. There is no serious scientific debate about it. None. Out of 13,950 peer-reviewed climate change articles studies between 1991 and 2012, a grand total of 23 reject global warming. That's 0.16 percent, or to say it another way, 99.84 percent of scientists agree that climate change is real.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, what does that mean for Delaware? Unfortunately, due to geologic factors specific to our state, our state is literally sinking. Sea levels in Delaware are rising twice as quickly as the global average, making everyone in the state a coastal resident. I always wanted to own a beach home, but on our current trajectory, my townhouse in Bear will soon qualify.
- See more at: http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/component/flexicontent/item/51596-climate-change-makes-every-house-in-delaware-a-beach-home-#sthash.GdDz4ZOk.dpuf

Sen. James Imhoff (R-OK) is noted for suggesting that climate change is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people. He's also the ranking minority members on the Senate's Environment and Public Works committee.
Wonder why nothing ever gets done about climate change?
I would invite Imhoff and all his neanderthal colleagues down to Delaware, where up to 11 percent of the state could be swept away by flooding next century due to rising sea levels. It might be hard for Imhoff and his fellow deniers to convince residents who lost their home that the damage is all in their mind.

Yes, climate change is real. There is no serious scientific debate about it. None. Out of 13,950 peer-reviewed climate change articles studies between 1991 and 2012, a grand total of 23 reject global warming. That's 0.16 percent, or to say it another way, 99.84 percent of scientists agree that climate change is real.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, what does that mean for Delaware? Unfortunately, due to geologic factors specific to our state, our state is literally sinking. Sea levels in Delaware are rising twice as quickly as the global average, making everyone in the state a coastal resident. I always wanted to own a beach home, but on our current trajectory, my townhouse in Bear will soon qualify.
- See more at: http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/component/flexicontent/item/51596-climate-change-makes-every-house-in-delaware-a-beach-home-#sthash.GdDz4ZOk.dpuf

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How are Brockporters coping with climate change?

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration New York State had the hottest year on record in 2012. The NOAA says that this extreme weather is influenced by human behavior in spite of what Rush Limbaugh and the other climate deniers say. Increasingly, Americans are realizing that Rush Limbaugh and his climate change denying colleagues have been lying to the American people. The corporations are destroying our habitat with their lies.

The good news which comes from the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication is that now almost 70% of Americans understand that climate change is happening and influenced by human behavior. Here is a brief quote from the Yale Project on CCC web site:

Americans’ belief in the reality of global warming has increased by 13 percentage points over the past two and a half years, from 57 percent in January 2010 to 70 percent in September 2012. At the same time, the number of Americans who say global warming is not happening has declined nearly by half, from 20 percent in January 2010 to only 12 percent today.

How are Brockporters coping with climate change? They are using more air conditioning in the summer and they are preparing for the climate change refugees as they move back into Western New York State where we have an abundance of fresh water and a longer growing season. More Brockporters are also walking and biking and decreasing their reliance on fossil fuel powered vehicles.

How are you dealing with the climate change? Let us know by leaving a comment or writing an article for The Brockporter.

Editor's note: The Brockporter features an article on climate change in its Online News Magazine most Thursdays. If you have an article for the climate change watch feature send it to davidgmarkham@gmail.com.

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Did you go to the Forward On Climate Rally in Washington, D.C. yesterday?

From Huffington Post on 02/17/13:

An estimated 40,000 people gathered in Washington, D.C. on Sunday for the Forward on Climate Rally on the National Mall. The rally preceded a march to the White House to urge President Barack Obama to take action against climate change and reject the Keystone XL pipeline.
350.org founder Bill McKibben said at the rally, according to a statement, “For 25 years our government has basically ignored the climate crisis: now people in large numbers are finally demanding they get to work." He added, "We shouldn't have to be here -- science should have decided our course long ago. But it takes a movement to stand up to all that money."

Editor's note: If you are from the Brockport area and went to the rally please leave a comment about your experience and/or write an article for the Brockporter.

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Climate change watch - Flooding will continue in Manhatten, wastewater treatment plants disabled, environmental refugees will come to New York looking for water

From Harper's Magazine, January, 2013 p.20

From Responding to Climate Change in New York State, a November 2011 report prepared for the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. Rising sea levels and extreme weather patterns due to global warming are believed to have increased the risk of flooding in parts of the state, which was hit by Hurricane Sandy in October.

Sea-level-rise projections of five, twelve, and twenty-three inches at Manhattan’s Battery for the 2020s, 2050s, and 2080s would result in four, sixteen, and 136 moderate flooding events each year, respectively. Under a rapid ice-melt scenario, New York State could experience between 200 and 275 moderate flooding events each year by 2080.

Many wastewater-treatment plants are located in floodplains, since this often coincides with a topographic low point and sewage can be conveyed to the plant by gravity. Raising the facility by several feet may prevent severe inundation.

Severe water shortages in western states, which are likely to become worse with climate change, may shift populations to eastern states, including New York. If so, New York could experience new population and economic growth with an associated increased demand for water.

Editor's note: Western New York has been derogatorily called the "rust belt" as people have moved south over the last couple of decades abandoning beautiful New York, but hold on to your property because we will be seeing a reverse tide. As the climate changes and things heat up people will migrate northward and want fresh water. Brockport will boom once again not so much because of the canal, although that helps for irrigation, cheap transportation, recreation, etc, but because of our proximity to Lake Ontario and Lake Erie and the Finger Lakes.

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Sun Magazine Discussion Group Monday, 01/21/13 at 6:30 PM at Lift Bridge

Interview with ethicist, Kathleen Dean Moore on Climate Change - "If Your House Is On Fire"

DeMocker: For Moral Ground you gathered testimony from political and cultural leaders about our moral obligations in the face of climate change. South African Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu wrote the foreword. President Barack Obama and Sheila Watt-Cloutier, former chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, made powerful arguments.

Moore: The strongest arguments in the book are the ones based on justice. Desmond Tutu writes with the moral authority of one who has worked steadfastly against apartheid. It’s unjust, he argues, for some people to bear the burden of others’ advantage. It’s unjust that people in Africa — who don’t reap the “benefits” of the reckless burning of fossil fuel — are suffering from droughts and crop shortages as a result of the West’s consumption of oil. He knows from experience that it is possible to bring down entrenched institutions. He says there should be worldwide outrage at the injustice of climate change, as there was against apartheid.

Sheila Watt-Cloutier identifies climate change as a form of cultural aggression — people of one culture destroying the material basis of another. We’ve seen this story before in the U.S., when settlers killed the buffalo in order to kill buffalo-hunting Native Americans. And we’re seeing it again as the rich nations create climatic conditions that are melting polar ice. Because the Inuit culture is based on a cold climate, Watt-Cloutier claims that her people have a right to ice. Those in the far north are suffering the most from the disrupted climate even as the effects spread to the rest of the globe. Climate change is damaging food supplies, spreading disease, and creating refugees, and it is poised to become the most massive human-rights violation the world has ever seen.

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Promised Land - Must see film

Editor's note: If you are at all interested in the fracking issue this is a must see film which is playing right now in theaters in the Rochester area.It is not playing this week, but is scheduled to play at the Strand. For show times in Rochester area theaters click here. When you see it, leave your comments here.

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New Year's resolution - Protect Mother Earth

Here's a New Year's resolution you can achieve right away - protecting our earth: New York State has proposed a new draft of rules that, if approved, could allow drilling under our land and waterways using slick water hydrofracking.

Research about hydrofracking has raised serious concerns about environmental and human health damage from the process. With the deadline for public response on January 11th, time is of the essence.

 Luckily, there are some who have made responding easy and even fun. See "Tis the season to write comments" at http://nyagainstfracking.org/commentsseason/ for info and even comment-writing party ideas. More info at nyagainstfracking.org/take-action/urgent-comment/.


Please respect the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.


There will be a presentation on fracking on Sunday, January 13, 2013 at 10:00 PM at the Brockport Unitarian Universalist Fellowship at the Historic Garland Church

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