Science Wednesday: Science To Support Decision Making In A Changing Climate
Posted on August 5th, 2009 - 10:30 AM
Each week we write about the science behind environmental protection. Previous Science Wednesdays.
During my 22 year career at EPA, it’s been exciting to work on the environmental issue which has been called the “capstone issue for our generation”: climate change. Climate change affects every individual in every community around the world. The team I am a part of at EPA is working closely with communities around the country to shed light on how climate change affects the things they care about, and to find ways to respond and adapt to its impacts.
There’s nothing more rewarding than meeting the people who are benefitting from the science we’re doing. It’s one thing to work in a laboratory or office and explore strategies and develop tools to help local communities respond to climate change. It’s another thing to actually meet the people whose lives you are touching.
I first had that chance in 2007 when I traveled to Alaska and met people from several Native Alaskan villages such as Shishmaref, Newtok, and Kivalina. I listened to heart-wrenching stories about how they must soon evacuate their coastal villages because homes and infrastructure are being destroyed by rising sea levels, storm surges, and the melting of the permafrost upon which they sit. I was faced with the stark realities of a changing climate, not with some “plausible projection” from one of our climate impacts models.
When I first started working on climate change, people imagined it to be something that wouldn’t happen for another 50 to 100 years. We quickly came to understand that the climate is already changing. It’s changing more and more rapidly as a result of human activities. When we burn fossil fuels to power our automobiles and run our factories and heat our homes, we emit greenhouse gas pollution which contributes to global warming. And we’re already seeing the impacts of global warming on peoples’ lives.
My own appreciation for the critical importance of the work we’re doing in our Global Change Research Program at EPA rose dramatically during that visit to Alaska. We’re empowering people to protect their communities and the things they value by providing the scientific information that enables them to anticipate the effects of a changing climate, developing alternative strategies for them to adapt to change, and providing tools that can help them incorporate considerations of climate change into their day-to-day decisions. We are making a difference in people’s lives.
About the author: Dr. Joel Scheraga is the National Program Director for EPA’s Global Change Research Program in the Office of Research and Development. He has been with EPA since 1987. He is also the EPA Principal Representative to the U.S. Global Change Research Program, which coordinates and integrates scientific research on climate and global change supported by the U.S. Government.
Tags: Climate Change, Global Change Research Program, global warming, Sea Level Rise
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Question of the Week
August 5th, 2009 at 11:11 am
Joel I am glad you had a chance to see the people and places your research impacts. I hope you and people like you can actually do something to help us understand our planet better and not destroy it. I recently visited a web site that your readers may find interesting. It is a free and very detailed site about solar power. The author walks you through step by step on how to build your own solar panel.
[Reply]
Joel Scheraga reply on August 5, 2009 12:46 pm:
Hi Frank,
Thanks for your thoughtful response. Our team in EPA’s Global Change Research Program are working very hard to partner with people all around the country to better understand our planet and how we can be good stewards of the environment.
Thanks for sharing the interesting website about solar power. Each of us can take actions that will help protect the environment. The information you’ve shared is one example of the many opportunities that exist for all of us.
Joel
[Reply]
August 5th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
I was spending my time by making my auto-analytic on people behaviors.
My philosophy brings to understand that disforestation and rural region would play a role important in human socio-behavior.
The Global initiative for climate change will be very important for all society by changing human thought and brain recovery for medical care.
People living in dense forest region are very creative in art specially.
[Reply]
August 5th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
Hi Jackenson,
Thanks for your thoughts. Behavioral changes are an important element of any effort to address the problems posed by climate change. The ways in which people behave can have a profound impact on greenhouse gas emissions (which contribute to climate change), and on the extent to which they are vulnerable to the impacts of a changing climate. Simple measures like using more energy efficient light bulbs and properly inflating automobile tires can reduce greenhouse gas emissions – while also reducing air pollution, increasing the nation’s energy independence, and saving money. Planting trees that shade and cool your home will also provide a “sink” for carbon dioxide, since trees absorb (“sequester”) carbon dioxide and remove it from the atmosphere as they grow. Many other opportunities exist for people to change their behavior and become better environmental stewards.
Our Global Program is trying to promote these behavioral changes by providing timely and useful information to the public about ways in which their behavior contributes to climate change, and the opportunities that exist to reduce (“mitigate”) greenhouse gas emissions to slow the rate of climate change. We’re also identifying ways that states and local communities can anticipate and adapt to a changing climate in order to reduce the risks it poses and protect human health and the environment.
Joel
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August 6th, 2009 at 12:16 am
An important first step to begin dealing with climate change is the President’s new initiative to develop and support electric powered transportation. That should greatly reduce GHG emissions and greatly increase our energy independence from unstable parts of the world. Other important steps are being taken by the California EPA and the California Public Utilities Commission in support of the climate change legislation passed by the legislature and sined by the governor that will help to greatly reduce GHG emissions in the state through much cleaner utilities, transportation, and other things like the handling of waste from home to landfill or recycling center to ultimate elimination or reuse. Electricpowered transportation is the first step on the road to hydrogen power transportation. Electric power generation will still generate some GHG emissions but far less than we have now. Hydrogen power will generate pure water vapor for its emissions and manufacturing the hydrogen can be done using solar energy. Burlington Northern/Santa Fe Railroad will be using an all hydrogen power locomotive in its large Los Angeles Train Yard for switching duties. And the City of Sao Paulo, Brazil, is running its first all hydrogen powered city bus in its transit system–the first of four hydrogen busses and a factory to make the hydrogen for them. Best wishes, Michael E. Bailey.
[Reply]
August 6th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Hi Michael,
Thanks for sharing these thoughts about the importance of electric-powered transportation. As noted on the EPA’s Climate Change website (www.epa.gov/otaq/climate/index.htm), transportation sources accounted for approximately 29 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2006, and is the fastest-growing source of U.S. greenhouse gases. It is therefore imperative that more energy-efficient and lower-polluting modes of transportation be developed and adopted.
EPA is conducting research to develop clean automotive technologies to achieve ultra-low pollution emissions, increase fuel efficiency, and reduce greenhouse gases (http://www.epa.gov/otaq/technology/index.htm). EPA is also encouraging the commercialization of innovative technologies by actively pursuing the transfer of EPA’s technologies into the private sector.
Thanks again for your informative note and for identifying several of the exciting initiatives underway in the United States and Brazil.
Joel
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