Climate Change & Sustainable Living

Diana Rashash, PhD, EI

Area Specialized Agent – Nat. Resources

Background

There has been much debate over whether "climate change" (formerly known as global warming) is occurring and what may or may not be contributing to it.

"Sustainable living" is nearly as contentious.  What is it?  Is it the same for all people?  Who defines "sustainable"?

Agenda

• Briefly discuss current public and agency perceptions on both climate change & sustainable living

• Discuss University positions on these issues

• Discuss Extension efforts– Past, current, & future

Objectives

• Participants will:

– gain updated understanding of both climate change and sustainable living issues and definitions,

– have a list of websites that provide programming resources, and

– better understand current efforts and positions by NOAA, USDA, and NIFA.

Climate Change

• Once upon a time…

• Climate change is NOT a fairytale, but it is something that people have a hard time understanding or believing.

United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009

United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009

Public perception issues

• Our planet is cooling!....Oops, wait! Our planet is heating!

• Then again…the data was manipulated by scientists. It’s all bogus!

• Our planet may be heating, but it isn’t due to human activities.

• So what if it’s warming? It just means my winters will be more mild.

The Six Americas

http://environment.yale.edu/uploads/SixAmericasJan2010.pdf

NIFA Structure• 5 Institutes:

– Institute of Food Production and Sustainability

– Institute of Bioenergy, Climate, and Environment

• Division for Global Climate Change

– Institute of Food Safety and Nutrition– Institute of Youth, Family, and Community– Center for International Programs

NIFA Priority Areas

• Global Food Security & Hunger

• Climate Change

• Sustainable Energy

• Childhood Obesity

• Food Safetywww.csrees.usda.gov/newsroom/factsheet.pdf

NIFA: Climate Change• “NIFA-funded projects generate knowledge

to develop an agriculture system that maintains high productivity in the face of climate changes. This will help producers plan for and make decisions to adapt to changing environments and sustain economic vitality and can take advantage of emerging economic opportunities offered by climate change mitigation technologies.”

“The USDA Cooperative Extension and NOAA Sea Grant Extension currently provide extension agents of all specializations with training in under-standing and communicating climate change information to support adaptation; these efforts should be expanded.”

(source: Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Progress Report, October 5, 2010)

(source: Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Progress Report, October 5, 2010)

DefinitionsIt is unlikely that we will “stop” climate change; so we need to focus on what we can do:

•Adaptation

•Resilience

•Mitigation

Definitions• Adaptation:

Adjustment in natural or human systems to a new or changing environment that exploits beneficial opportunities or moderates negative effects.

Definitions• Resilience:

A capability to anticipate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from significant multi-hazard threats with minimum damage to social well‐being, the economy, and the environment.

Definitions• Mitigation: An intervention to reduce

the causes of changes in climate, such as through reducing emissions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.

Source: Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change, America’s Climate Choices: Panel on Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change, National Research Council, (2010).

Climate Change Impacts

• More frequent heat waves

• More frequent high-intensity precipitation

• More prolonged droughts

• Rising sea levels• Ocean acidification

• Changes in human, animal, and plant pest ranges (seasonally and geographically)

• Plant growth changes (seasonally and geographically)

• Air quality problems

(source: Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Progress Report, October 5, 2010)

A Quick Look at the Impacts

• More frequent heat waves:– Global warming does not mean that we will

stop having cold spells (January and February 2010 were COLD!)

– It means that the odds of having new and more frequent record highs is becoming greater than the odds of having new record lows

– NOAA: Jan.-Sept. global temperature ties with 1998 for warmest on record

Number of Days > 90° F

(source: http://www.globalchange.gov/)

• More frequent high-intensity precipitation:– Increased snowfall, rainfall, and other

intense events– A good example is the area south and east

of the Great Lakes. If the lakes don’t freeze over, there is much more “lake effect” snow. Eastern NC may see snow increases due to warmer ocean.

• More prolonged droughts:– 2002– 2007– Parts of 2008 & 2009– 2010 (until September)

And more people arguing over the water that is available!

• Rising sea levels– NC Sea Level Rise Risk Management Study

• Evaluate the potential changes in coastal flooding hazards due to sea-level rise and changes in storm frequency and intensity

• Includes societal and economic impacts• Strategies will be evaluated on estimated

economic impacts, regulatory costs, implementation costs, and stakeholder acceptance

http://www.ncsealevelrise.com/

• Ocean acidification:– Possible pH drop of 0.3 - 0.5 by 2100

• This could lead to a 60% drop in available calcium carbonate.

• Less available calcium carbonate would negatively impact numerous marine species.

– To reduce the acidification of the ocean, the atmospheric CO2 concentration needs to be kept below roughly 450 ppm

– Acidification is already being observed in Alaska’s coastal waters.

• Changes in human, animal, and plant pest ranges (seasonally and geographically)– Seasonal shifts:

• Pests active for a longer period of the year (example: mosquitoes, crop pests, diseases)

• Less cold weather die-off, more over-wintering

– Geographical shifts:• Ranges extended (example: USFS has seen

some tree beetles move both further north and up in elevation)

• Plant growth changes (seasonally and geographically)– Seasonal shifts:

• In some areas of the US, plants are beginning to break dormancy earlier than before. In Florida, some plants are breaking dormancy and blooming later than before.

• USA National Phenology Network

http://www.usanpn.org

– Geographical shifts:• Invasives!!!!• Changes to planting zones

• Air quality problems– The IPCC predicts

• Declining air quality in cities• Altered dispersion rate of pollutants• Altered ozone and particle pollution generation• Increased emissions from the biosphere, fires,

and dusthttp://www.epa.gov/airtrends/2010/report/

climatechange.pdf

– National Center for Atmospheric Researchhttp://ncar.ucar.edu/

Impacts on Alaska• Permafrost is thawing:

– Adversely impacting roads and building foundations

– Leading to the “drying” of interior• Ponds “perched” above permafrost are now able

to drain down to the water table– Visible from airplane

• Last summers fires were attributed to this drying

• Plant and plant pest changes observed

Sustainable Living

• The term “sustainable living” has gone through a variety of definitions and diagrams.

Secretary Vilsack letter, Feb. 2009“Everyone has a personal responsibility to use his or her skills and expertise to modernize USDA systems and programs, improve policies, reach out to underserved constituencies, assure a discrimination-free workplace, and use Government resources wisely and efficiently. I hope you can look at every day that you come to work as an opportunity to make a difference-for the public and for your co-workers. It may be as seemingly small an act as turning off lights that aren't being used or finding other ways to reduce office expenses. For many people, you are the face of Government. How you act and interact goes a long way toward defining who participates in Government programs and policymaking and how the public views our stewardship.”

Science, Sustainability, & SocietyDr. Roger Beachy NIFA Director and USDA Chief ScientistUSDA Outlook Forum 2010

“So why then are discussions about sustainability so charged?  First, I believe it’s because we have framed or allowed others to frame sustainability as a practice itself or a set of practices.  It’s not.  Sustainability is a goal, and therefore the focus should be on outcomes rather than specific practices…..Secondly, by its very nature sustain-ability has multiple dimensions—economic, environmental, and social.  And all of these dimensions must be addressed simultaneously if we are to truly develop sustainable agriculture.” http://www.nifa.usda.gov/about/speeches/10_beachy_outlookforum.html

Sustainable Living & Universities

• American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment

http://www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org/–Signatories of the Presidents’ Climate Commitment are required to submit Implementation Profiles, Greenhouse Gas Reports, Climate Action Plans, and Progress Reports in the ACUPCC Reporting System.–NCSU is a signatory

Sustainable Living & Universities

• Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education

http://www.aashe.org/

• Southeast Climate Consortiumhttp://seclimate.org/–NCSU is a member

Extension Efforts

• JCEP (Joint Council of Extension Professionals)

http://www.jcep.org/sustainability.htm

has links to several sites, including:

A Vision for Relevance White Paper, 2008; which was written by NNSLE members

Extension Efforts

• Sustainable Living Education: A Call to all Extension

http://www.joe.org/joe/2008april/comm1.shtml

• 2011 PILD–"We will be focusing on emerging issue programming efforts including Sustainability and Sustainable Living Education…”

Extension Efforts

• NNSLE: National Network for Sustainable Living Education– Created by ANREP folks, but members of all

Extension associations are invited to join us!– Monthly conference calls hosted by our NIFA

contacts: Greg Crosby & Luis Tupas– Chairperson: Viviane Simon-Brown, OSU– 4th Tuesday of the month, 1 pm eastern time

NNSLE on eXtension• Climate Change & Sustainable Living

Education Collaborate wiki– http://collaborate.extension.org/wiki/

Climate_Change_%26_Sustainable_Living

• Living Sustainably: dealing with Climate Change eXtension user-created community– http://www.extension.org/people/

communities/1251

NNSLE Publications

Notable Quotes

• "The economy is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the environment, not the other way around.”

• "The ultimate test of man's conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard."

US Senator Gaylord Nelson