Resources North Association

   
 

January 2011 NCCN Listserv

  

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NORTHERN CLIMATE CHANGE NETWORK LISTSERV                                          January / 2011 – Issue 23
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The NCCN newsletter focuses on climate change information that fosters greater awareness of community level climate change impacts and adaptation, and which have relevance to north-central British Columbia. The views expressed by the organizations and websites referenced in this newsletter do not necessarily reflect the views of Resources North Association. Contributions from readers for future issues are welcome. Send us your ideas.
 
BC NEWS and LINKS
 
NCCN launches new “Climate Change Links” web pages
The Northern Climate Change Network (NCCN), a program of the Resources North Association, has launched its Climate Change Links web pages. These web pages provide links to key climate change-related organizations, programs and publications, many of which have been captured in the contents of the NCCN newsletters published over the past two years. Readers will find these links organized into themes such as climate change and global warming science, adaptation, forests and rangelands, and resilient communities. In addition to the newsletters and profiles in climate change action, these new climate change links web pages form a substantial introduction to climate change impacts and adaptation, and to many of the people and programs behind climate change action in BC and elsewhere.

JOIN LiveSmartBC Climate Action Community
LiveSmartBC has initiated “an online community for Climate Action Leaders.” Interested stakeholders can join the community by going to the LiveSmartBCcommunity website, and selecting the “Request an Invitation” link to send an email to the community’s coordinator. Members of the online community can access the full website with its various tools, resources and contacts, in order to share or obtain climate change information. Users can search for information or contacts by region or by sectors and workspaces, and post or view climate change-related events.
 
UNBC receives awards for Bioenergy Project and climate change-related research
In October 2010, the University of Northern British Columbia’s bioenergy project “received the top award in 2010 from North America’s premier college and university sustainability organization. The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) selected UNBC’s bioenergy project for its ability to connect teaching and research to campus operations, while serving as a model for communities and other campuses.” UNBC tied with Harvard University in this achievement. The bioenergy project also won the local Technology and Industry News Maker of the Year Award at the Business and Technology Awards Show in Prince George in January 2011. Three UNBC researchers engaged in climate change-related work also received research funding awards from the BC Government in December 2010. In addition, UNBC is participating in the goBEYOND Teach-In 2011: Climate Solutions from Classroom to Community.
 

NEWS and LINKS from CANADA and ABROAD
 
Record high temperatures in Canada and globally in 2010
Environment Canada’s Climate Trends and Variations Bulletin - Annual 2010 states that “the national average temperature for the year 2010 was 3.0°C above normal, based on preliminary data, which makes this the warmest year on record since nationwide records began in 1948.” The temperature trend graph in the documentation shows that annual temperatures in Canada have been above normal since 1997. At the same time, according to scientists with the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), notwithstanding regional weather variability over the course of the year, “2010 tied with 2005 as the warmest year of the global surface temperature record, beginning in 1880. This was the 34th consecutive year with global temperatures above the 20th century average.” See also the World Meteorological Organization’s January 2011 press release, 2010 equals record for world’s warmest year.

Canadian Geographic – Climate Futures: Can you prosper in a hotter, wetter world?
The October 2010 issue of Canadian Geographic Magazine was devoted to stories about various impacts of climate change affecting many Canadians, including impacts upon human health, upon Canada’s resource-based industries, and even on the possible eventual disappearance of maple syrup. In a concluding article to the magazine entitled “To the crew of Spaceship Earth”, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert Thirsk writes “I came to view this blue planet as another space vehicle… Earth’s life-support system is much more sophisticated than that of the space station, and it relies upon finely tuned interactions among land, oceans, atmosphere, the freshwater cycle, flora and fauna. Its resources are limited. No cargo ships will visit Spaceship Earth to replenish its atmosphere, water and topsoil or to remove its trash. Living in space is precarious, whether we fly as six astronauts aboard the International Space Station or as seven billion astronauts aboard Spaceship Earth. In both cases, our ultimate goal is to develop an advanced life-support system that is reliable, repairable and 100 percent renewable. For us to succeed on Spaceship Earth, each one of us will have to think – and act – like an astronaut.” (Canadian Geographic, October 2010, p. 90.)

Climate Change in Google Earth
The Google Earth website Climate Change in Google Earth provides links to a number of videos and presentations related to climate change. Among the links are videos of former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan commenting on Coping with Climate Change; Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai, founder of the The Green Belt Movement in Kenya, on A Voice for Trees; and other Cop15-related videos. The website includes a link to greenhouse gas emissions map and data provided by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
 
 
EVENTS
 
Pacific Climate Seminar Series
A reminder to readers that the Pacific Climate Seminar Series, jointly hosted by the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS) and the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium (PCIC), takes place every third Wednesday of the month from 3.30 to 4.30 pm at the University of Victoria. All the seminars are available via live webcast at http://www.pics.uvic.ca/broadcast.php. The January 19 webcast featured Anita Girvan speaking on "Troubling the Carbon Footprint: An Exploration of the Effects of Metaphor". Presentation slides and abstracts can be downloaded from PCIC’s Pacific Climate Seminar Series web page.

International Student Energy Summit – June 9-11
The second International Student Energy Summit (ISES) will be held at the University of British Columbia campus in Vancouver, BC from June 9-11, 2011. ISES is “a global forum that focuses on sustainable resource management and the role that students will play in defining the future of energy development.”
 

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES, REPORTS and LINKS
 
Reports and Publications:
Organizations and Programs:
  • U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Conservation in a Changing Climate web pages.                                                 
Additional links of interest:                                                         
 
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