Global Global Warming Concert

Live Earth Concert

7/7/07



Live Earth is a 24-hour, 7-continent concert series taking place on 7/7/07 that will bring together more than 100 music artists and 2 billion people to trigger a global movement to solve the climate crisis.



The concert will be broadcast on NBC, check your local stations. If you don't have television, you can use your computer:

Live Earth concerts will be broadcast to a live worldwide audience by MSN at http://www.liveearth.msn.com/.



The concert will host today's most popular and entertaining musical acts around the world. What a great reason to gather friends at your house or community center for a potluck. There will be lots of Global Warming education and solutions included in the broadcast. So watch, enjoy, and learn!





Host a Live Earth House Party!!! http://www.liveearth.org/

Climate Hearings - Kotzebue!!

June 28th, 2007

4:00pm - 6:00pm Public Testimony

Alaska Climate Impact Assessment Commission

Rural Hearing - Kotzebue

Northwest Arctic Borough Assembly Chambers, Kotzebue, Alaska


Those wishing to testify during the open public comment period must sign up prior to 4:00pm.

Those wishing to submit written testimony may give it to staff at the hearing, or fax it to the number below.

If you wish to mail written comment, please send it to Rep. Ralph Samuels, Chairman, ACIAC, 716 W. 4th Avenue #630, Anchorage, AK 99501-2133.

For those wishing to access the hearing by teleconference, please go to the nearest Legislative Information Office (LIO) and join the hearing. You should request your LIO to schedule the hearing, AHEAD of the hearing on June 28th.

If you are not able to go to an LIO, you may access the hearing by calling the legislative bridge number, (888) 295-4546 and asking for the hearing. You can call in to this number to listen to the hearing, and testify.

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Here is a tentative list of people on the agenda as invited speakers:


Mayor Martha Whiting, Northwest Arctic Borough


Jim Dau, Wildlife Biologist Game Mgmt. Unit 23


Alex Whiting, Member Native Village of Kotzebue


Colleen Swan/Enoch Adams, Kivalina


Brad Reeve, General Mgr. Kotzebue Electric


Tony Weyiouanna, Sr., President Shishmaref Native Corp.


Stanly Tom, Tribal Administrator Village of Newtok


Levi Cleveland, Regional Elders Council



There have probably already been changes to this list additions & substitutions. Send me an email, and I'll update the speakers list. Please let everyone in your area know about the hearing, and how to listen in.

Mothers on National Radio

by Lori Fickus

At 10:00 this morning, I was up on the UAF campus to attend Science Friday, a nationally broadcast radio show on NPR. The host is the thrilling and brilliant Ira Flatow, and he lead today's conversations right where they needed to go. There were four ice/snow scientists on panel for the first hour, and three panelists the second hour who spoke on public health related issues. I had the priviledge to ask a question to the panel, and I chose to speak about Mothers for Alaska.

Here's my attempt at paraphrasing myself, "I'm with a group, Mothers for Alaska, and we are a group of mothers and grandmothers concerned about climate change, mostly from villages in the Arctic of Alaska. We formed our grassroots group specifically to testify before our legislators, and to get out the word we must talk to our representatives. These mothers tell of the impacts of berries boiling in the pods, their coolers in the permafrost, to keep food safe, are melting, and their salmon show up with diseases. My question is this, is there any organized effort to send public health education to the villages regarding climate change?

The response, in short, was no.

Please visit www.sciencefriday.com for more information or to listen to the podcast.

Anchorage Daily News Article from April 2007

Natives and scientists state their worries about climate warming
CLIMATE CHANGES: Rural residents feel impact, express concerns to committee.
By ELIZABETH BLUEMINKAnchorage Daily News
Published: April 14, 2007 Last Modified: April 14, 2007 at 05:51 AM

The day her toddler son demanded to eat maktak, the skin and fat of the bowhead whale, was unforgettable for Mary Sage, a young Barrow mother.
Keeping the Inupiat culture strong in her children is important to her. But the state's warming climate is throwing a monkey wrench in her family's future, she said Friday.
"How will our children and grandchildren feel when they are not able to hunt these animals anymore?" Sage asked.
All over Alaska, not just along the coastline, residents are noticing that the ice is ebbing -- with direct consequences for anyone digging in the ground, crossing the tundra or venturing out over ice to hunt.
A number of rural Alaskans flew or drove to Anchorage this week to tell their personal stories about a warming Alaska to a state commission the Legislature set up to take stock of climate change's consequences for Alaska.
"Less ice for us means less opportunity for food," Sage told the Alaska Climate Impact Assessment Commission on Friday.
The 11-member commission also heard from scientists describing how caribou, marine mammals, birds, fish and other species are shifting geographically. Some species could be in trouble due to the warming trend's effects on the availability of their food.
In the Northwest town of Selawik, villagers are worried about winter travel and hunting. Two years ago, the village lost two young girls and one man who fell through ice. The ice was considered safe in previous years, testified Hannah Loon, a part-time University of Alaska student who grew up in the village of about 850 and transmitted the concerns from one of the village's elders to the commission.
Teenagers and college environmentalists from Anchorage and Fairbanks also spoke. Many of the students asked the commission to tell the Legislature and Palin administration to start regulating greenhouse gas emissions in Alaska.
Hazel Apok of Kotzebue told the commission she is worried about less snow in the area surrounding Kotzebue harming future subsistence berry crops.
She shares the berries she gathers with other locals who want it for Eskimo ice cream. "Blueberries also help keep my cholesterol down," she said.
Safe hunting is a big concern in Barrow. With recent years of dramatic loss in the Arctic Sea ice, and scientists predicting more ice loss in the future, hunters and their families have immediate safety concerns, Sage said.
"Multiyear ice is thick and stable and preferred while conducting the spring whaling hunt. Young ice is thin and not so stable," explained Sage, whose husband is co-captain of a whaling crew.
Twice in the past 10 years, shore ice at Barrow became unstable and broke apart, sending about 160 whalers adrift in the Arctic. All of the hunters were rescued, but not all of their snowmachines, she said.
The last time the Barrow whalers had a similar event was in the 1940s.
Sage asked the commission, "How often will this reoccur? Will we be so fortunate as to save every whaler every time this happens? Will the ice be stable enough this year for whaling? How much longer will we be able to continue our traditional spring hunt on the ice?"
She mentioned another perplexing problem for some Barrow whale hunters: Umiaks, the sealskin boats used for spring whaling, are sprouting mold due to warmer weather.
"It is very expensive to change the cover of your umiak," Sage said.
Kathleen Carroll of Fort Yukon and Rita Buck of White Mountain described hitting water instead of permafrost when digging outhouse pits. That didn't happen in the past, they said.
The commission will hold a second public hearing in Anchorage, probably in the fall.
The commission plans to develop a complete overview of the likely impacts of climate change in Alaska and make recommendations to reduce harm.

House Bill 152 Renewable Energy Fund

The renewable energy fund bill HB 152 <http://www.legis.state.ak.us/BASIS/get_bill.asp?session=25&bill=hb152> passed the House unanimously on April 19th.

The next step is the Senate.

Urge your senator to support this bill and let them know you want it to pass by the end of this session. Find your senator's name and contact information here http://w3.legis.state.ak.us/legdist/24/legdist.htm.

**TAKE ACTION! /**Now is the time for you to write /*Letters to the Editor*/ and to encourage your own Senator to keep this important priority bill moving this year!

Check out Senator Ellis and Representative Thomas’ excellent Compass piece in last week's ADN, compass piece <http://www.adn.com/opinion/compass/story/8801530p-8702751c.html>.

submitted by Becky Baird, Northern Alaska Environmental Center

Wonderful Climate Change Editorial

http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/042507/opi_20070425024.shtml

Web posted April 25, 2007 My Turn: Time to act against climate change
By KATE TROLL
With the latest report from the International Panel on Climate Change, there is no more pussy-footing around it; greenhouse gas emissions from human activity are creating ecological, economic and social challenges around the world, including Alaska, which is ground zero for global warming.
Warming here in Juneau? With all the snow and the late spring, it hardly feels like global warming. But it is. One of the major symptoms of climate change is more extreme and unpredictable weather patterns. That's why the term "climate change" is a better descriptor of what's going on than global warming.
In Alaska, we hear about climate-change problems everyday. Alaska's northern communities are seeing beach erosion, deep permafrost thaws and receding ice. All this wrecks havoc on infrastructure. In Anchorage, officials report shifting weather patterns are disrupting air travel, a significant issue for such an important transportation hub.
Changes in climate patterns and rising temperatures have caused a significant increase in the frequency of wildfire and intensity, as well as an unprecedented increase in insect outbreaks that increase fuel loads. Alaska witnessed record-setting fire seasons in 2004-05, burning more than 11 million acres and costing more than $160 million to battle. On the Kenai Peninsula and around Anchorage, the spruce bark beetle has cost millions in property damage.
Across rural Alaska, traditional hunting patterns are disrupted as animal movements shift in response to the changing climate. In Bristol Bay, unfamiliar weather patterns and the early arrival of marine mammals are throwing the annual fishing and hunting cycles off. Lake Iliamna is freezing later and later, making travel difficult. Low-lying towns are suffering increased floods, as with Koyukuk's recent floods within the 100-year flood plain.
Commercial and sport fishing, two of Alaska's economic mainstays, are taking hits, too. Temperatures in Kenai Peninsula streams now consistently exceed Alaska's standard to protect salmon-spawning areas. Diseased salmon are common in the Yukon River. The Bering Sea is seeing lower crab productivity as more Arctic ice melts each year. In Southeast Alaska, the 2006 pink-salmon harvest was dramatically lower than expected due in large part to the warm temperatures of 2004, when the parents of the 2006 season would have been affected.
Finally, Gov. Sarah Palin and the Legislature are giving us glimpses of hope and of economic opportunity. Palin's choice to create a climate change sub-Cabinet position to address ways to reduce our contribution to the problem and mitigate its effects is visionary and sensible. This, with the renewable energy development fund (House Bill 152 and Senate Bill 96) currently being considered in the Legislature, will provide some essential tools to address this pressing challenge. These efforts will enable Alaska to join the ranks of other states actively charting a course to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
It is important to note that many other states found policies addressing climate change were not a burden on commerce. Instead, they presented economic opportunities. Some states are using action on climate change to position themselves in new markets related to climate action: producing and selling alternative fuels, attracting high-tech businesses and selling carbon-reduction credits. Even BP is looking at climate change as a way to make money.
Alaska can do all this and more. Though we are, sadly, the poster state for climate change impacts, we can also be global leaders in finding creative and ingenious ways to work toward solutions, develop renewable energy technologies and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. There is much to be gained from taking on this challenge.
As Alaskans, we pride ourselves on our ruggedness and our ability to get any job done, no matter how tough. We walked the path to statehood, figured out how to build the oil pipeline, and now climate change is that next grand challenge calling for the best from Alaskans. The time to act is now; let's pass the Renewable Energy Fund before the Legislature heads home in May and get Palin's climate change sub-Cabinet rolling.
• Kate Troll splits her time between Juneau and Anchorage. She is the executive director of the Alaska Conservation Alliance.

Editorial from a "Mother"

by: Lori Fickus Daily Newsminer 4/21/07

Earth Day is time to consider our future
On April 12 and 13, the legislatively appointed Alaska Climate Impact Assessment Hearings were held in Anchorage. I traveled south with a group of mothers -- Mothers for Alaska -- from around the state concerned about climate change to give testimony to the commission about the impacts we are experiencing.
Mothers can be a powerful collective force when advocating for their kids. Both of my children are born and raised in Alaska and are being directly affected by the adverse changes in climate. The last three summers I've had to take my kids out of state to escape the threatening air quality in Fairbanks, caused by wildfires decimating Interior forests.
We should not have to go to Seattle to hike and ride bikes. I'm sensing a threat to my children's future safety and quality of life. I am compelled to act.
Mothers for Alaska members are experiencing dramatic changes in our communities, such as forest fires, insects killing millions of acres of our trees, threatened animal populations, flooding, severe erosion, and loss of lifestyles.
These alterations to our ecosystem will have the most impact on our children and future generations. Like a mother polar bear, we moms have an inner mechanism to protect our young from harm. We sense a pending crisis that will negatively alter the quality of life for our children, and we cannot help but take action to defend them.
Mary Sage, a mother from Barrow, testified, "My husband hunts whales, seals and walrus to provide food for our family. How fast will the ice melt? What will we feed our families? Our concerns are real. Our cultural traditions, our livelihood, our way of life is at stake."
With Earth Day this Sunday, we need to pause and reflect on what is at risk. The planet will adapt, but it's the future generations we must consider.
Shelly Morgan of Anchorage told commission members, "Like a child who cares for an elder, we must care for our Mother Earth who is suffering the consequences of our actions. The ball has been set in motion and we cannot stop the chain of events that have already been set. It is up to us now to stop the ball from rolling any further, understand the current and predicted impacts and work to mitigate these damages and abate future impacts."
My hope is that the commission listened intently to what the Mothers for Alaska told them and then will report back to legislators the urgency of this crisis.
Alaska should not pose passively as the global warming poster child.
Instead, Alaska should move forward as an innovative leader on the issue. It should set an example of leadership for the nation, for the world, and protect this place with legislation, corporate and individual action, and utilize Alaska's vast resources of renewable energy opportunities. Our members of Congress must support bills that have the strongest emissions regulations and caps and continue to introduce renewable energy legislation like Sen. Lisa Murkowski's REFRESH Act of 2007.
Global warming is the result of an extreme excess of carbon emissions from human activities. We need to reduce these emissions to slow it down and reduce the harmful effects. Scientists tell us there is still time to act.
This Earth Day, start locally with your family. For you parents, here is a list of 10 things to do as a family to begin to save ourselves:
Drive less. Walk or bike with your kids to do your errands.
If you must drive, carpool.
Pack a waste-free lunch. Use reusable containers, utensils, cups and cloth napkins.
Buy fewer plastic toys.
Shop garage sales and thrift stores.
Make it a habit from an early age to turn off the lights and electronics when not in use.
Use the library, the ultimate in reuse.
Replace regular light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs in bedrooms to save 150 pounds of CO2 emissions each year.
Support companies that are creating change and practicing carbon-reducing business methods.
Teach by example. Frequently write and call your government representatives, supporting climate change and renewable energy legislation.
Making changes to lessen your carbon emissions is not about losing your comfort level; it's about a smarter, healthier, and money-saving lifestyle. Start at home with your family, but it is urgent to also tell your community, state, and federal government to proceed promptly on this issue.
Take action.
Create solutions.
Generation to generation -- what will your legacy be?
Lori Fickus lives in Fairbanks.