Humans can mitigate climate change or lessen its severity by reducing greenhouse gas concentrations through processes that move carbon out of the atmosphere or reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Actions taken by individuals, communities, states, and countries all influence climate. Practices and policies followed in homes, schools, businesses, and governments can affect climate. Climate-related decisions made by one generation can provide opportunities as well as limit the range of possibilities open to the next generation. Steps toward reducing the impact of climate change may influence the present generation by providing other benefits such as improved public health infrastructure and sustainable built environments. Jump to: “Humans can mitigate climate change impacts”
Culture, Climate Science & Education
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Principle Nine: Humans can Take Action
The Cultural Values are Level-headedness, Creativity, Resourcefulness, and Reciprocity
Episode Nine: Buffalo
Episode 9: Buffalo
Transcript with Description of Visuals
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Audio |
Visual |
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(Alyssa and Rylee’s grandfather, Johnny Arlee, praying in Salish) |
Johnny Arlee stands before a group of four or five bison, talking to them in a prayer-like way in Salish, his hands gesturing as he speaks. The bison, on a green grassy ridge with juniper trees in the background, watch him. Several move forward in his direction. |
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(soft instrumental music) |
An aerial view of a green mountain, a river flowing at its base. Snow covered peaks rise up in the background. |
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Rylee: |
Rylee, Alyssa, and Johnny stand together beneath a blue sky, the sun shining above them. |
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My Sx̣epeʔ says that q̓͏ʷiq̓͏ʷáy has always been at the center of our lives. |
A loan cow bison standing in grass atop a mountain, the river far below in the distance, flows through a mountain valley. |
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Alyssa: |
Johnny talking to Alyssa and Rylee with a few bison standing in the distance. Snow-covered peaks are in the distance. |
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So we journeyed across the mountains to the grasslands to go after buffalo as our people had done for thousands of years. |
An aerial view of a lush green landscape with wooded mountains in the background. A few scattered bison graze as the camera moves away across a grass covered plain. |
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(Johnny Arlee singing the Buffalo Calling Song) |
Johnny is singing to a group of bison. |
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Alyssa: |
A historical black and white photo of cowboys riding horseback behind a herd of two dozen or so bison. |
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Johnny Arlee: |
A lone bull bison stands in the grass, looking at the camera. |
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They were being slaughtered just for their hide. Their carcasses were left out in the prairies. |
A lone bull, lying in the grass. |
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Their lives are just so parallel with ours. |
Johnny standing with Alyssa and Rylee, looking at bison, with the snow covered peaks in the background. |
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Alyssa: |
An aerial scene of a green, grassy plain with five bison grazing on it. The camera slowly flies over the plain. |
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The tens of millions of buffalo that had once blanketed the Plains, the animals that fed and clothed our people for thousands of years, were gone. |
Camera is looking up at Johnny, the sun behind his head. He has a sad, thoughtful expression on his face. |
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Rylee: |
Gray clouds moving quickly over a landscape of dry hills. |
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Alyssa: |
A group of bison walking through the grass, the river in the background. Another group of perhaps two dozen bison feeding in a grassy field with wildflowers. |
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They became the nation's trust of free-roaming wild bison. |
A group cow bison close up, a calf walking along side its mother. |
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The animals were taken to Canada and Yellowstone, and helped bring buffalo back to the landscape. |
More bison, some with calves, feeding on a hillside above a large river flowing in the distance. |
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Johnny Arlee: |
Johnny talking to Alyssa and Rylee. |
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that you was up here close to the buffalo, that we sang a song for him, to honor him, for his many years yet to come. |
A cow bison licking her calf. Other bison graze nearby. |
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For our children, for our great-great-grandchildren, and generations yet to come. That they'll still have beauty around them. |
Johnny talking to Alyssa and Rylee. |
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Alyssa: |
A large bull bison rolls in the dirt, sending up a cloud of dust that is carried away by the wind. |
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During that time, they saw all kinds of changes, and they survived. |
Camera pans out to show many bison scattered across the landscape. |
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Now the earth is changing again. |
The tops of several teepees with the sun behind them, the teepee poles reaching high into the sky. Scene changes. |
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The climate is changing, but we are resilient Native people. |
Alyssa stands near a teepee. She is dressed in a fine beaded dress and holds a fan of white feathers and a beaded purse. |
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We know how to take care of the Earth, how to give back, and we know how to adapt when the Earth does change. |
She walks forward a confident, subtle smile on her face. |
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Rylee: |
The camera is looking up at Johnny, the sun shining behind him. He is looking out across the landscape and has a broad smile on his face. |
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(soft instrumental music) |
The following credits in white text over a black background: |
Principle 9
What You Need to Know About Principle 9: Humans can take actions to reduce climate change and its impacts
We can choose to minimize our impacts, build resilient communities, and protect the ecosystems that sustain us all. But it will require acknowledging the reality and the seriousness of human-caused climate change and addressing the important social, economic, and environmental issues climate change presents by implementing solutions based on the best available science. Read more…
What You Need to Know About Principle 9: Humans can take actions to reduce climate change and its impacts
We can choose to minimize our impacts, develop and employ technologies to remove carbon from the atmosphere, build more resilient communities, and protect the ecosystems that sustain us all. But it will require acknowledging the reality and the seriousness of human-caused climate change and addressing the important social, economic, and environmental issues climate change presents by implementing solutions based on the best available science.
As the impacts of climate change become more prevalent, Americans face choices. Especially because of past emissions of long-lived heat-trapping gases, some additional climate change and related impacts are now unavoidable. This is due to the long-lived nature of many of these gases, as well as the amount of heat absorbed and retained by the oceans and other responses within the climate system. The amount of future climate change, however, will still largely be determined by choices society makes about emissions. Lower emissions of heat-trapping gases and particles mean less future warming and less-severe impacts; higher emissions mean more warming and more severe impacts. Efforts to limit emissions or increase carbon uptake fall into a category of response options known as “mitigation,” which refers to reducing the amount and speed of future climate change by reducing emissions of heat-trapping gases or removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
The other major category of response options is known as “adaptation,” and refers to actions to prepare for and adjust to new conditions, thereby reducing harm or taking advantage of new opportunities. Mitigation and adaptation actions are linked in multiple ways, including that effective mitigation reduces the need for adaptation in the future. Both are essential parts of a comprehensive climate change response strategy.
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- Understanding climate science and integrating that knowledge into human society is key
Climate science can be used to reduce vulnerabilities or enhance the resilience of communities and ecosystems affected by climate change. But that knowledge must be integrated into human society. Jump to: “Understanding Climate Science and Integrating that Knowledge into Human Society is Key”
- Humans can mitigate climate change impacts
- Humans can also take measures to reduce their vulnerabilities
Humans can reduce their vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. Actions such as moving to higher ground to avoid rising sea levels, planting new crops that will thrive under new climate conditions, or using new building technologies represent adaptation strategies. Adaptation often requires financial investment in new or enhanced research, technology, and infrastructure. Jump to: “Humans can take measures to reduce their vulnerabilities”
- Tribes can lead the way
To meet the challenge of climate change, we will need to adopt policies and practices—a way of life really—that ensures future generations can enjoy the beauty and plentitude of the earth that past generations have. Because tribes thrived in North America for thousands of years, we can learn from their practices, their cultures, their ways of life, as we navigate this new terrain in a way that guarantees a healthy and livable world for future generations. Jump to: “Tribes can lead the way”
Principle 9a
Understanding climate science and integrating that knowledge into human society is key
Climate information can be used to reduce the vulnerability of communities and ecosystems and to ensure they are more resilient. That’s why it important to improve our scientific understanding of the climate system and to get reliable information to policy makers.
Reducing human vulnerability to climate change depends not only on our ability to understand climate science, but also on our ability to integrate that knowledge into human society.
Decisions that involve Earth’s climate must be made with an understanding of the complex interconnections among the physical and biological parts of the environment and how the consequences of decisions will affect humans—socially, economically, and culturally.
Unique Challenges Face Oglala Lakota as they Prepare and Adapt to Climate Change
8 Tribes That Are Way Ahead of the Climate-Adaptation Curve
Source: http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/10/15/8-tribes-are-way-ahead-climate-adaptation-curve-151763
Much has been made of the need to develop climate-change-adaptation plans, especially in light of increasingly alarming findings about how swiftly the environment that sustains life as we know it is deteriorating, and how the changes compound one another to quicken the pace overall. Studies, and numerous climate models, and the re-analysis of said studies and climate models, all point to humankind as the main driver of these changes. In all these dire pronouncements and warnings there is one bright spot: It may not be too late to turn the tide and pull Mother Earth back from the brink.
None of this is new to the Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island. Besides already understanding much about environmental issues via millennia of historical perspective, Natives are at the forefront of these changes and have been forced to adapt. Combining their preexisting knowledge with their still-keen ability to read environmental signs, these tribes are way ahead of the curve, with climate-change plans either in the making or already in effect.
1. Swinomish Tribe: From Proclamation to Action
On the southeastern peninsula of Fidalgo Island in Washington State, the Swinomish were the first tribal nation to pass a Climate Change proclamation, which they did in 2007. Since then they have implemented a concrete action plan.
The catalyst came in 2006, when a strong storm surge pushed tides several feet above normal, flooding and damaging reservation property. Heightening awareness of climate change in general, it became the tribe’s impetus for determining appropriate responses. The tribe began a two-year project in 2008, issued an impact report in 2009 and an action plan in 2010, said project coordinator and senior planner Ed Knight. The plan identified a number of proposed “next step” implementation projects, several of them now under way: coastal protection measures, code changes, community health assessment and wildfire protection, among others.
The tribe won funding through the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services and the Administration for Native Americans to support the $400,000 Swinomish Climate Change Initiative, of which the tribe funded 20 percent. When work began in 2008, most estimates for sea level rise by the end of the century were in the range of one to one-and-a-half feet, with temperature changes ranging from three to five degrees Fahrenheit, said Knight. But those estimates did not take into account major melting in the Arctic, Antarctica and Greenland, he said.
“Now, the latest reports reflect accelerated rates” of sea level rise and temperature increases, Knight said. Those are three to four feet or more, and six to nine degrees Fahrenheit, respectively, by 2100. “We are currently passing 400 ppm of CO2, on track for [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] worst-case scenarios.”
Since the Swinomish started work on climate issues, many tribes across the country have become active on these issues as they also realize the potential impacts to their communities and resources. The Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP) has been funded over the last few years to conduct climate adaptation training, Knight said, “and probably more than 100 tribes have now received training on this.”
2. Jamestown S’Klallam: Rising Sea Levels and Ocean Acidification
Jamestown S’Klallam tribal citizens live in an ecosystem that has sustained them for thousands of years, on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State. Over the past two centuries they have successfully navigated societal changes, all while maintaining a connection to the resource-rich ecosystem of the region. Though they have also adapted to past climate variations, the magnitude and rapid rate of current and projected climate change prompted them to step it up. That became apparent when tribal members noticed ocean acidification in the failure of oyster and shellfish larvae.
The Jamestown S'Klallam are dealing with rising sea levels and ocean acidification. (Photo: ClimateAdaptation.org)
“Everyone who was part of the advisory group all had their personal testimony as to the changes they’d seen,” said Hansi Hals, the tribe’s environmental planning program manager, describing a meeting of a sideline group. “Everybody had something to say.”
Tribal members brought their concerns to the attention of the Natural Resources committee and tribal council three years ago, Hals said. This past summer they released their climate vulnerability assessment and adaptation plan, which identified key tribal resources, outlined the expected impacts from climate change and created adaptation strategies for each resource. It included sea-level-rise maps are for three time frames, near (low), mid-century (medium) and end of century (high).
3. Mescalero Apache: Bolstering Tribal Resilience
Tribal lands of the Mescalero Apache in southwestern New Mexico flank the Sacramento Mountains and border Lincoln National Forest, where increased frequency and intensity of wildfires is due to drought-compromised woodlands. Mike Montoya, director of the Mescalero Apache Tribe’s Fisheries Department, executive director of the Southwest Tribal Fisheries Commission and project leader for the Sovereign Nations Service Corps, a Mescalero-based AmeriCorps program, has observed climate-driven changes to the landscape in his years in natural resource management.
Mescalero Apache Tribe’s holding pond can contain 500,000 gallons of water and nourishes the community garden. (Photo courtesy Mescalero Apache Tribe)
The tribe has undertaken innovative environmental initiatives to help bolster tribal resilience to climate change impacts, Montoya said. One example is a pond constructed for alternative water supply to the fish hatchery in the event of a catastrophic flood event. It holds 500,000 gallons of water from a river 3,600 feet away.
“It’s all gravity fed,” Montoya said. “Now, with the aid of solar powered water pumps, we are able to supply water to our community garden.”
4. Karuk Tribe: Defending the Klamath River
With lands within and around the Klamath River and Six Rivers National Forests in northern California, the Klamath Tribe is implementing parts of its Eco-Cultural Resources Management Draft Plan released in 2010. The plan synthesizes the best available science, locally relevant observations and Traditional Ecological Knowledge to help the Karuk create an integrated approach to addressing natural resource management and confront the potential impacts of climate change.
5. Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes: Strategic Planning
Fire management planning on Salish and Kootenai tribal lands in Montana. (Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
These tribes, who live in what is today known as Montana, issued a climate change proclamation in November 2012 and adopted a Climate Change Strategic Plan in 2013. The Tribal Science Council identified climate change and traditional ecological knowledge as the top two priorities for tribes across the nation in June 2011, according to Michael Durglo, the tribe’s division of environmental protection manager and climate change planning coordinator, as well as the National Tribal Science Council’s Region 8 representative.
So did the Inter-Tribal Timber Council, which his brother, Jim Durglo, is involved with. In fall 2012 the confederated tribes received financial support through groups affiliated with the Kresge foundation and from the Great Northern Landscape Conservation Cooperative to develop plans, Michael Durglo said. A year later, in September 2013, the tribes’ Climate Change Strategic Plan was completed and approved by the Tribal Council. Next the tribes will establish a Climate Change Oversight Committee.
“This committee will monitor progress, coordinate funding requests, continue research of [Traditional Ecological Knowledge], incorporate the strategic planning results into other guiding documents such as the Flathead Reservation Comprehensive Resource Management Plan and others, and update the plan on a regular basis based on updated science,” said Michael Durglo.
6. Nez Perce: Preservation Via Carbon Sequestration
More than a decade ago the Nez Perce Tribe, of the Columbia River Plateau in northern Idaho, recognized carbon sequestration on forested lands as a means of preserving natural resources and generating jobs and income, while reducing the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere. In the mid to late 1990s the Nez Perce Forestry & Fire Management Division developed a carbon offset strategy to market carbon sequestration credits. The purpose of the afforestation project, about 400 acres in size, was to establish marketable carbon offsets, develop an understanding of potential carbon markets and cover the costs of project implementation and administration. 
Nez Perce project before and after. (Photo: NAU ITEP)
As carbon markets soften and actual project development slows, the tribe cites the increased awareness and education of other tribes of the carbon sales process and opportunities for more carbon sequestration projects in Indian country as its biggest accomplishment of the last two years.
Photo: NAU ITEP
7. Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians: Attacking Greenhouse Gas Emissions
This tribe in southern California has taken numerous steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address the impacts of climate change on tribal peoples, land and resources. In 1998 the tribe formed the Santa Ynez Chumash Environmental Office.
“We are also looking into opening a public compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station, replacing our fleet with CNG vehicles, are installing EV charging stations, implementing an innovative home, and building upgrade training program through an EPA Climate Showcase Communities grant,” said Santa Ynez environmental director Joshua Simmons.
SYCEO’s projects are numerous and have had impressive results, including major reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. An example is the Chumash Casino’s implementation of a shuttle bus program that eliminated 800,000 car trips in 2009, replacing them with 66,000 bus trips. The casino is reducing its energy consumption, chemical waste and use of one-use materials. It also has an extensive rainwater and gray water collection and treatment system. Many of these initiatives have economic benefits and provide a model and economic incentive for tribal and non-tribal businesses to implement similar changes.
8. Newtok Village: Ultimate Adaptation Plan—Evacuation
This Native village on the western coast of Alaska is home to some of the U.S.’s first climate refugees. They leapfrogged over mere adaptation-mitigation as sea and river cut through and then eroded the permafrost beneath their village and a 1983 assessment found that the community would be endangered within 25 to 30 years. In 1994 Newtok began work on what then seemed the ultimate adaptation plan: relocation.
They selected Mertarvik nine miles to the south as the relocation site in 1996. Their efforts intensified when a study by the Army Corps of Engineers found that the highest point in the village would be below sea level by 2017. The Newtok community, government agencies and nongovernmental organizations formed the Newtok Planning Group in 2006, but as Newtok’s administrator Stanley Tom searched for funding he struck little pay dirt. Mostly, he hit walls. Now Tom is calling for evacuation, exposing it as the true ultimate in adaptation.
"It's really happening right now,” He told the Guardian last May. “The village is sinking and flooding and eroding."
Tom told the British newspaper that he was moving his own belongings to the new, still very sparse village site over the summer–and advised fellow villagers to start doing the same.
Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/10/15/8-tribes-are-way-ahead-climate-adaptation-curve-151763
4 PATHS TO BUILDING RESILIENT CITIES AND COUNTIES
Resilient communities are better able to bounce back from disasters and disruptions in a sustainable way and maintain a good quality of life for all. They are better prepared for uncertainties and able to adapt to changing conditions.
There is no one-size-fits all approach to building resilience, because the challenges our communities face vary from place to place. Local governments define their own goals based on local priorities. But many leading cities and counties have prioritized the follow actions in response to extreme weather, energy, and economic challenges.
1. Prepare for Climate Change and Extreme Weather
- Evaluate local vulnerabilities to extreme weather and a changing climate, from heat waves and air pollution to droughts and floods.
- Adopt and implement preparedness policies that protect vulnerable populations and natural resources from extreme weather and other climate impacts.
- Reduce the carbon emissions causing destructive extreme weather to help reverse climate change and avoid the costs of adapting to more severe climate impacts.
- Transition to a renewable energy future to achieve greater energy independence, protect communities from price spikes, and ensure more reliable power during heat waves and other disruptions. Create new jobs in the process.
- Implement energy efficiency programs that help residents, businesses, and municipal government save money and energy, lower carbon emissions, and reduce demand on the grid during severe weather events.
- Upgrade or protect critical infrastructure against extreme weather and other threats.
- Create new models to finance improvements and manage risks to community assets through engagement with the private sector.
- Harness innovations in information technology and green infrastructure to optimize performance and reduce costs through more efficient operation.
- Work to retain and attract investment by safeguarding businesses from extreme weather and ensuring reliable access to energy, water, and other key resources.
- Support the private sector in creating more diversified local economies that are more resilient to economic downturn, through job creation in sectors such as clean energy, advanced manufacturing, and local agriculture.
Source: http://www.resilientamerica.org/how-we-build-resilience/paths-to-resilience/
Principle 9b
Humans can mitigate climate change impacts
Humans may be able to mitigate climate change or lessen its severity by reducing greenhouse gas concentrations through processes that move carbon out of the atmosphere or reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A combination of strategies is needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Read more…
Humans can mitigate climate change impacts
Humans may be able to mitigate climate change or lessen its severity by reducing greenhouse gas concentrations through processes that move carbon out of the atmosphere or reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A combination of strategies is needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The most immediate strategy is conservation of oil, gas, and coal, which we rely on as fuels for most of our transportation, heating, cooling, agriculture, and electricity.
Short-term strategies involve switching from carbon-intensive to renewable energy sources, which also requires building new infrastructure for alternative energy sources. Long-term strategies involve innovative research and a fundamental change in the way humans use energy.
Actions taken by individuals, communities, states, and countries all influence climate. Practices and policies followed in homes, schools, businesses, and governments can affect climate. Climate-related decisions made by one generation can provide opportunities as well as limit the range of possibilities open to the next generation.
Steps toward reducing the impact of climate change may influence the present generation by providing other benefits such as improved public health infrastructure and sustainable built environments.
Climate Change Mitigation’s Best-Kept Secret
Credit: Blue Spruce Farm
By Jim Motavalli, Ensia
At Blue Spruce Farm in Bridport, Vt., the black-and-white dairy cows are used to the routine. In what looks like a choreographed dance, 1,400 milk cows delicately step over the scrapers that run along the concrete floors and collect their manure, which goes into a huge digester capable of holding 21 days’ worth of waste. Inside, highly flammable methane gas is built up under low pressure and then burned in a 600-kilowatt generator, with the capacity of powering 400 homes.
Blue Spruce doesn’t have to capture the methane, but taking that approach has turned waste into a profit center, bringing in a premium price for energy. Ernie Audet, one of the owners, says “cow power” has become an integral part of the dairy operation. “We wouldn’t run the farm without it,” he says, adding that after six years in place the $1.5 million digester was close to paying for itself. At least a dozen other Vermont farms are also selling cow power to eager buyers.
Methane gas from Blue Spruce Farm cow manure generates enough electricity to power 400 homes. Credit: Blue Spruce Farm
Stories like this are increasingly important in a warming world because methane is a bad climate actor. Produced by ruminants, energy production and rotting organic material, and the main ingredient in natural gas, methane is a far more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. “It packs a heck of a wallop,” says David Doniger, director of the climate and clean air program at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Although methane comprises only about 14 percent of total climate emissions and has a lifespan in the atmosphere of only about 12 years — compared to roughly 100 years for CO2 — it is many times more potent than CO2 in the short term, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. And global methane release has shown significant increases since 2007.
Methane is produced naturally by forest fires, permafrost, wild animals, rivers, lakes and wetlands. But more than half of the methane entering the atmosphere comes from human activities. According to the Global Methane Initiative, anthropogenic sources worldwide include the digestive process of ruminant animals (29 percent), oil and gas systems (20 percent), landfills (11 percent), rice paddies (10 percent, with other agricultural production at 7 percent), wastewater (9 percent), coal mining (6 percent) and manure from farmed animals (4 percent).
Estimate global anthropogenic methane emissions by source, 2010.
Credit: Global Methane Initiative
The good news is that there are fairly easy ways to dramatically slow our methane emissions — if we make the commitment to do so.
Oil and Gas Production
Methane is a by-product of oil and gas production, and emissions come from widespread leakage and intentional venting when there’s no commercial use for it. Leaks occur at many points as wells are drilled and afterwards including from compressors, drilling rigs, pumps and storage tanks, as well as during delivery to power plants and distribution networks.
But experts say the oil and gas industry could clean up its act with fruit so low-hanging it’s essentially sitting on the ground. A 2014 ICF International report for the Environmental Defense Fund estimates that existing technology could reduce oil and gas methane emissions by 40 percent at a cost of one penny per 1,000 cubic feet. Industrywide, that would require an investment of $2.2 billion, which according to Oil and Gas Journal is less than 1 percent of the industry’s annual capital expenditure in the U.S. What’s more, the EDF report said, making those changes could save consumers $100 million per year if the full value of the recovered gas is realized.
A 2014 study by the Natural Resources Defense Council, Clean Air Task Force and Sierra Clubsaid the industry’s methane emissions could be cut even further — by 50 percent.
“Yes, rice paddies and animal husbandry are sources of methane emissions, but the point is often lost that nations are scrambling for new sources of natural gas, and we have a simple solution to reduce leaks by installing new equipment,” says Mark Brownstein, associate vice president and chief counsel of the U.S. Climate and Energy Program at EDF. “It would be an easy thing to do.”
The urgency of reducing methane emissions from oil and gas production was underscored by the recent discovery of a large “hot spot” over northern New Mexico. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Michigan.
The urgency of reducing these emissions was underscored by the recent discovery of a large methane “hot spot” visible from space and hovering over drilling operations in northern New Mexico. According to The Washington Post, oil and gas operations in the U.S “lose” 8 million metric tons of methane annually.
Some oil and gas producers have taken voluntary steps to reduce methane emissions by buying the new equipment recommended in the EDF report, and the American Petroleum Institute claims a 12 percent reduction since 2011. Last September, six international oil companies — including Statoil from Norway, Britain’s BG Group, Italy’s ENI, Mexico’s Pemex and Thailand’s PTT — said they would work with host countries on a major methane-cutting initiative. The U.S.-based global giants were not in the group, though Houston’s Southwestern Energy was included.
Despite these industry claims, the international picture is not encouraging. The United Nations and the World Bank worked together in the 1990s on a project to capture and use the commonly vented methane from Chinese mining operations, but the $10 million spent then would have to be increased dramatically to address the problem just in China, the world’s largest coal producer. And in 2014, a legal push for fracking regulation in the European Union that could have included guidelines on methane leaks was thwarted by Britain.
Because the available data are poor, Rob Jackson, a professor of environmental earth science at Stanford, said, “we don’t know as much as people think” about how much methane is actually emitted by industry. “When scientists really dig in and look,” he says, “the inventories are often higher than they should be, about 50 percent higher. In worst-case scenarios, it’s two to three times higher.” Meanwhile, looking at the production side, the oil and gas industry has been selling the exact counter-narrative — a 2012 American Petroleum Institute study claims that the EPA has been “significantly overestimating methane emissions from natural gas operations.”
API, which represents both oil and gas interests, declined several requests to be interviewed for this story, but in a 2014 primer on hydraulic fracking, the group said industry is “developing and implementing new technologies to reduce methane released during production.” Citing EPA estimates in the same report, API said the methane leakage rate for natural gas systems is below 2 percent, which is “less than the 3 percent cited as necessary for immediate climate benefits for the use of natural gas in power plants and well under the 8 percent estimate cited for delivering long-term benefits as compared to coal.”
Investigators measure methane levels in a Boston neighborhood.
Credit: Robin Lubbock/WBUR via Ensia.com
Leaky Pipelines
In the U.S., two bills introduced by Massachusetts Senator Edward Markey would address yet another major source of methane leaks — those from the aging pipeline networks under American cities. In many cases, the cast-iron and corroded steel lines are more than 100 years old, and modern technology is showing us just how bad the problem is. EDF and Google Earth Outreach teamed up to build colorful interactive maps of leak points that show Boston to be thickly populated with hot spots, while Indianapolis — which recently updated its infrastructure — is relatively clean. A new study led by Harvard graduate student Kathryn McKain concludes that in a one-year period beginning in 2012, approximately 3 percent of the gas being delivered to customers in greater Boston was leaked to the atmosphere.
Stanford’s Jackson was a pioneer in developing pipeline leak mapping in 2012. He says that cutting off the flow “means more money in the pockets of the producers, or in the pockets of consumers who pay for the lost gas.” But as Jackson points out, gas companies would have more incentive to fix leaks were it not for the fact that in many communities they’re allowed to estimate leakage and then bill the end users — us — for natural gas that goes missing. Also dampening their ardor in some places are mandated caps on the cost recovery for pipeline repairs.
Interactive maps highlight methane leaks in natural gas pipes beneath Boston, where infrastructure is aging, and Indianapolis, where pipes are newer. Credit: Screenshots via Environmental Defense Fund.
Kathryn Clay, vice president for policy strategy at the American Gas Association, said at the 2014 SXSW Eco conference in Austin that 3,000 to 4,000 miles of cast iron (or bare uncoated steel) pipelines are being replaced annually across the country, and that the “rate of emissions per mile is down 40 percent since 1990.” But Jackson says the record is spotty: The state of Ohio has replaced nearly all its cast iron, but Baltimore, he says, “is on track to replace its last old pipes in 2150.”
Methane Hydrates
Whichever claims are more accurate, at least oil and gas leaks can most likely be fixed. Methane hydrates, on the other hand, are a much more difficult problem. The frozen deposits, formed from the long-ago decomposition of plankton, are mostly at the bottom of deep oceans. This methane is being released into the atmosphere at an accelerating rate as the world warms. In 2013, for example, an international research team reported that the East Siberian Arctic Shelf — or ESAS — is venting at least 17 million tons of methane annually, which Natalia Shakhova, a member of the team and professor at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, says is equal to the gas emitted by the arctic tundra — long considered one of the Northern Hemisphere’s principal sources.
According to a 2014 article in Scientific American, however, it might be possible to derive benefit from this burden. Undersea hydrate deposits have attracted considerable attention from energy producers — they could, writer Lisa Margonelli noted, “hold at least as much carbon as all the coal, oil and natural gas reserves on the planet.” Just in the waters off the contiguous United States, hydrates could hold what amounts to a 2,000-year supply of natural gas. And Japan, without significant oil and gas reserves of its own, has shown strong research interest in hydrate mining.
But the promise is counterbalanced by nightmare climate scenarios in which, as part of a warming world, methane hydrates vent into the atmosphere. According to the EPA, “Pound for pound, the comparative impact of [methane] on climate change is over 20 times greater than CO2 over a 100-year period.”
“Emissions will continue to grow, because warming in the Arctic region is occurring twice as fast as the rest of the globe, and this trend is continuing,” Shakhova says. “‘Hot spots’ — and we believe the East Siberian Arctic Shelf is the world’s hottest spot — occur where permafrost has reached the thaw point.”
The possibility of a massive release of hydrate methane “could not be excluded,” Shakhova says. In a 2008 scientific paper she and colleagues wrote, “We consider release of up to 50 gigatons [10 times the current amount of methane in the atmosphere] of predicted amount of hydrate storage as highly possible for abrupt release at any time.” That would cause “consequent catastrophic greenhouse warming.” In 2013, she co-wrote a paper in Nature Geoscience concluding, “significant quantities of methane are escaping the East Siberian Shelf.”
A Nature commentary by three European scientists estimated that a release of 50 gigatons between 2015 and 2025 could cost a whopping $60 trillion in global economic damage and adaptation costs. Of course, many scientists think methane releases will occur over centuries, not in an abrupt and catastrophic event.
Keep in mind that Earth’s methane hydrate deposits are estimated to be 1,800 gigatons (1,400 in the East Siberian Arctic Shelf alone), so a 50-gigaton release is just, as it were, the tip of the iceberg for a global problem. Changes in the Gulf Stream are “rapidly destabilizing methane hydrate along a broad swathe of the North American margin,” Southern Methodist University scientists Benjamin Phrampus and Matthew Hornbach wrote in 2012 in Nature. Deep deposits are relatively safe from small-scale warming, but shallower hydrates — like those under the East Siberian Arctic Shelf — are vulnerable.
Farming Reforms
In the meantime, the 29 percent of human-related global methane production attributable to those black-and-white dairy cows and other ruminant livestock offers a more hopeful opportunity for near-term reductions.
Farmers in China are working with scientists on rice-growing methods that cut emissions. Instead of flooding fields throughout the growing season, rice farmers are draining them halfway through, which cuts both water use and to a great extent methane production. Since Chinese paddies release an estimated 5.1 million tons of methane annually, it’s a really big benefit. The Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants and its partners are working with rice farmers in Bangladesh, Colombia and Vietnam to reduce methane intensity 30 percent by 2019, a process that also brings food security and adaptation benefits.
And changes to what livestock eat (increasing dietary fat intake, for instance) could, along with variations on cow power, significantly reduce agricultural methane output. A feed high in omega-3 fatty acids, for example, is in use at 600 French farms (some of them large industrial operations), the New York Times reported, and has yielded 30 percent methane reductions.
Next Steps
The Obama administration released a methane blueprint in 2014 that called for, among other things, updated standards for landfill methane, a capture plan for emissions from coal mines and voluntary strategies to reduce dairy sector methane by 25 percent by 2020. Earlier this month, the administration got tougher and said it would impose new rules to cut methane emissions from the oil and gas sector up to 45 percent from 2012 levels by 2025. Final regulations are expected in 2016.
Getting a comprehensive methane bill through Congress would be difficult, but the President’s action relies on his authority to act independently under the Clean Air Act. Doniger says that methane regulations could legally be adopted by the EPA under current law, as has been done to control auto fuel economy and emissions from current power plants.
Internationally, there’s hope that the U.N. climate change conference to be held in Paris at the end of 2015 will result in an agreement that includes strong initiatives on reducing methane. Already, there are programs in place all over the world, including introduction of a new sheep breed in New Zealand estimated to produce 10 percent lower emissions and a Carbon Farming Initiative in Australia that includes carbon credits for methane cuts. A pilot project in Kenya is focused on reducing emissions by improving the diet of dairy cows.
As a global warming actor, methane is both deeply worrying and poorly understood. It’s also a moving target, arising with varying levels of intensity from many sources, both human — agriculture and the oil and gas sector — and natural — wetlands and hydrates in the depths of the ocean. At the same time, it’s one area where big impacts can be made in the very near future.
All that means that no comprehensive plan to curb greenhouse gas emissions can afford to ignore this major player.
Reprinted from Ensia with permission.
Hydrogen, hydrogen everywhere...
By Matthew Wall
Business reporter, BBC News
26 March 2015
Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-31926995
Hydrogen is most commonly found in water - H2O - and in fossil fuels
Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. And when you burn it or use it to produce electricity, the only waste product is water.
In the era of global warming, it would seem to be the perfect fuel.
So why aren't we all driving round in hydrogen-powered cars, moving our goods in hydrogen-powered lorries, and heating our homes and offices with this wonder element?
In short, fossil fuels got there first.
Oil, coal and gas were easily accessible and powered the industrial revolution. Around them, entire economies and transport infrastructures were built.
It was only much later that we realised the potentially catastrophic effects hydrocarbon waste products could have on the environment.
"In the Seventies, the oil crisis made people realise that oil-based economies were vulnerable, so people started to get excited about the potential for the hydrogen economy," says Alex Hart, hydrogen expert at the Carbon Trust.
"But then climate change saw a push towards electricity as the answer to hydrocarbons and hydrogen seemed like a distraction."
Now hydrogen is staging something of a comeback.
Fuel cell tech
Hydrogen fuel cells have been around for decades, but they have always been heavy and expensive.
1998: Peter Lehman, Schatz Energy Research Center, driving the first US road-legal hydrogen fuel cell car
Toyota's Mirai hydrogen fuel cell car will cost about €66,000 (£47,000)
Fuel cells are now smaller, cheaper and more efficient
Now Japanese car manufacturers in particular, like Honda, Toyota and Nissan, as well as Korea's Hyundai, believe they have finally made the fuel cell commercially viable and much more efficient.
Toyota's Mirai fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV), for example, is being rolled out in the US, Japan, Denmark, Germany and the UK this year.
With a range of about 300-400 miles (480-640km) and a tank that can be filled in a matter of minutes, Toyota is hoping FCEVs can give conventional electric vehicles (EVs) a run for their money.
How does a hydrogen fuel cell work?
A fuel cell is composed of an anode, a cathode and an electrolyte membrane. Hydrogen is passed through the anode and oxygen through the cathode. At the anode, the hydrogen molecules are split into electrons and protons.
The protons pass through the electrolyte membrane, while the electrons are driven through a circuit, generating an electric current and heat. At the cathode, the protons, electrons and oxygen combine to produce water molecules.
Fuel cells are clean - the only by-products are electricity, heat and water - and they are quiet, because they have no moving parts.
The proton exchange membrane fuel cell is currently the most suitable for vehicles because it can operate at lower temperatures than other fuel cells, but it is not the most efficient.
"In Japan we have a three-year waiting list for the car - demand is outstripping supply," says Toyota's Nik Pearson.
Earlier this year, Toyota announced that it would share nearly 6,000 of its hydrogen fuel cell patents in a bid to boost FCEV development.
The patent portfolio covers fuel cell stacks, high-pressure hydrogen tanks, software control systems and the industrial processes involved in generating and supplying the gas.
Pump priming
But will all the other manufacturers develop FCEVs - and consumers buy them - without a filling station network already in place?
"There are already 100 hydrogen stations in California," says Mr Pearson, "and in the UK the government has given £11m of backing for a small network of 15 stations in the South East."
This is still small beer compared to the hundreds of thousands of petrol and diesel stations worldwide.
Hydrogen cars can be refuelled in a matter of minutes, whereas electric battery vehicles take hours to recharge
"The technology of HFCEV has come on in leaps and bounds," says Dr Hamish Nichol, innovation manager for hydrogen at industrial gases giant BOC, part of the Linde Group. "But you need the infrastructure to fuel those cars - it's a chicken and egg situation.
"We're a commercial business - we're not going to build a hydrogen network just for the good of mankind. So we're going to need subsidy from the government."
Industrial gases companies, energy companies, vehicle manufacturers and governments are beginning to realise that they have to work together to build the infrastructure, otherwise each stakeholder will be waiting for the other to make the first move.
For example, in Germany just such a consortium - H2 Mobility - is building 100 hydrogen stations over the next two years, with a target of 400 by 2023. The project will cost about €350m (£250m).
And in the north-east of the US, Air Liquide is co-operating with Toyota to build 12 filling stations as a way of boosting interest in hydrogen cars.
But building a comprehensive network will cost billions, experts believe.
Grey or green?
Hydrogen may be a fuel with water as the only waste product, but producing it - most commonly by "cracking" hydrocarbons such as methane - uses a lot of energy and creates greenhouse gases as by-products.
"One of the reasons for using hydrogen is to reduce the carbon footprint, so splitting methane leaves you with the problem of what to do with the CO2 produced," says Dr Nichol.
This German power station can produce electricity, heat and hydrogen from renewable energy sources
This industrially produced "grey hydrogen" currently accounts for about 95% of total production, says Pierre-Etienne Franc, head of advanced business and technology for Air Liquide, another big industrial gases company.
Far more eco-friendly is hydrogen produced through electrolysis - splitting water into its constituent hydrogen and oxygen molecules - particularly if the electricity used has come from renewable sources, such as wind and solar.
This is the ideal zero-carbon solution.
Hydrogen facts
- Hydrogen is the first, lightest and simplest element in the periodic table
- It is the most abundant element in the universe
- Most of the hydrogen on earth exists in the form of water and organic compounds
- The sun converts hydrogen into helium, producing vast amounts of energy
- Hydrogen reacts explosively with oxygen, chlorine and fluorine
- Henry Cavendish discovered hydrogen, or "inflammable air" as he called it, in the 18th Century
- Hydrogen means "water producing"
Another big advantage of electrolysis is that it allows hydrogen to be produced on site, cutting out distribution costs.
Denmark already has five hydrogen filling stations with embedded electrolysers, and Aberdeen City Council recently opened the UK's largest hydrogen production and bus refuelling station, owned and operated by BOC.
Aberdeen is now home to Europe's largest hydrogen bus fleet
The station will fuel 10 hydrogen fuel cell buses.
"But [electrolysis] is about 10 times more expensive than industrial production," admits Mr Franc.
These costs could come down if night-time wind power electricity were used to produce hydrogen when domestic demand is at its lowest, he argues. Oil companies like Shell are currently exploring this option.
Hydrogen future?
So are we well on the road to a fully-fledged hydrogen economy, weaned off our dependence on damaging hydrocarbons?
Possibly, but most industry experts believe that road will be a long one.
"It's going to take a long time because you're completely changing the paradigm - the infrastructure, the regulations - everything," says Mr Franc. "We're on a journey, but we can't go too fast."
The Carbon Trust's Alex Hart is similarly cautious: "Vehicles will definitely be fuelled differently in future, but whether by hydrogen, electricity or biofuel is less clear. We just don't know what the dominant technology will be.
"But we will decarbonise our world - we have to."
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- What You Can Do
- At Home
1. Change five lights
Replace your five most frequently used light fixtures or the lightbulbs in them with ENERGY STAR® qualified products and you will help the environment while saving $70 a year on energy bills. ENERGY STAR lighting provides bright, warm light; generates 75% less heat; uses about 75% less energy than standard lighting; and lasts from 10 to 50 times longer.
2. Look for ENERGY STAR
When buying new products for your home, look for EPA's ENERGY STAR label to help you make the most energy-efficient decision. You can find the ENERGY STAR label on more than 60 kinds of products, including appliances, lighting, heating and cooling equipment, electronics, and office equipment. Over their lifetime, products in your home that have earned the ENERGY STAR label can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 130,000 pounds and save you $11,000 on energy bills.
3. Heat and cool smartly
Heating and cooling accounts for almost half your energy bill--about $1,000 a year! There is a lot you can do to drive down this cost. Simple steps like changing air filters regularly, properly using a programmable thermostat, and having your heating and cooling equipment maintained annually by a licensed contractor can save energy and increase comfort, while helping to protect the environment. Depending on where you live, you can cut your annual energy bill by more than $200 by replacing your old heating and cooling equipment with ENERGY STAR-qualified equipment.
4. Seal and insulate your home
Reduce air leaks and stop drafts by using caulk, weather stripping, and insulation to seal your home's envelope and add more insulation to your attic to block out heat and cold. A knowledgeable homeowner or skilled contractor can save up to 20% on heating and cooling costs and significantly enhance home comfort with comprehensive sealing and insulating measures.
5. Reduce, reuse, recycle
Reducing, reusing, and recycling in your home helps conserve energy and reduces pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from resource extraction, manufacturing, and disposal. If there is a recycling program in your community, recycle your newspapers, beverage containers, paper, and other goods. Also, composting your food and yard waste reduces the amount of garbage that you send to landfills and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Visit EPA's Individual WAste Reduction Model (iWARM) to learn about the energy benefits of recycling, rather than landfilling, common waste products.
6. Use water efficiently
It takes lots of energy to pump, treat, and heat water, so saving water reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Saving water around the home is simple. Three percent of the nation's energy is used to pump and treat water so conserving water conserves energy that reduces greenhouse gas pollution. Reduce the amount of waste you generate and the water you consume whenever possible. Pursue simple water-saving actions such as not letting the water run while shaving or brushing teeth and save money while conserving water by using products with the WaterSense label. Did you know a leaky toilet can waste 200 gallons of water per day? Repair all toilet and faucet leaks right away. Running your dishwasher only with a full load can save 100 pounds of carbon dioxide and $40 per year. Be smart when irrigating your lawn or landscape. Only water when needed, and do it during the coolest part of the day; early morning is best. See EPA's WaterSense site for more water saving tips.
7. Be green in your yard
Composting your food and yard waste reduces the amount of garbage that you send to landfills and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. EPA's GreenScapes program provides tips on how to improve your lawn or garden while also helping the environment.
8. Purchase green power
Power your home by purchasing green power. Green power is environmentally friendly electricity that is generated from renewable energy sources such as wind and the sun. There are two ways to use green power: You can buy green power, or you can modify your house to generate your own green power. Buying green power is easy. It offers a number of environmental and economic benefits over conventional electricity, including lower greenhouse gas emissions, and it helps increase clean energy supply. There are a number of steps you can take to create a greener home, including installing solar panels and researching incentives for renewable energy in your state.
9. Calculate your household's carbon footprint
Use EPA's Household Carbon Footprint Calculator to estimate your household greenhouse gas emissions resulting from energy use, transportation, and waste disposal. This tool helps you understand where your emissions come from and identify ways to reduce them.
10. Spread the word
Tell family and friends that energy efficiency is good for their homes and good for the environment because it lowers greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. Tell five people and together we can help our homes help us all. - At School
High School Students
- Track your school's climate impact: High school students can investigate the link between everyday actions at their high school, greenhouse gas emissions, and climate change. Using EPA's Climate Change Emission Calculator Kit (Climate CHECK) (WinZip of Excel spreadsheet, 3.4MB), students can learn about climate change, estimate their school's greenhouse gas emissions, and identify ways to mitigate their school's climate impact. Students gain detailed understandings of climate-change drivers, impacts, and science; produce an emission inventory and action plan; and can even submit the results of their emission inventory to their school district. They can also use Portfolio Manager to compare the energy use of your school with other schools nationwide, and earn the ENERGY STAR for your school if it qualifies as a top performer.
- Spread the word.
- Give a presentation to your family, school, or community group that explains how their actions can cause or reduce climate change. You can use EPA's “Create a New Climate for Action” presentation or develop your own. Get creative, and think of more ways to help others make a difference!
College Students
College students can play an important role in reducing greenhouse emissions at their colleges or universities by reducing their emissions from energy they use in dorm rooms. Students can also work with school administrators to develop an inventory, increase energy efficiency on campus, and reduce their school's greenhouse gas emissions by using green power.
Educators- Teach students about climate change and ecosystems
- Use the teacher resources on EPA's Students Guide to Climate Change. Use the Climate Change, Wildlife and Wildlands: A Toolkit for Formal and Informal Educators to learn about the science of climate change and its potential effects on our nation's wildlife and their habitats. Download and share EPA's eight-page brochure, Frequently Asked Questions About Global Warming and Climate Change: Back to Basics (PDF) (8 pp, 1.6MB, About PDF), which provides illustrated answers to frequent questions.
- Engage middle school students in estimating emissions.
- Enhance critical-thinking skills by introducing the Global Warming Wheel Card Classroom Activity Kit to middle school students. A hand-held wheel card and other resources help students estimate household greenhouse gas emissions in order to encourage students to think about ways they can reduce their personal, family, school, and community contributions to climate change. If you are an informal educator, simply use the Global Warming Wheel Card as a part of your field activities.
- Learn from other educators
- Investigate what other schools and organizations are doing to educate their audiences on climate change by clicking on Educators' Links, a database offering links to resources such as lesson plans, videos, books and toolkits.
Administrators- Save money and the environment
- The least efficient schools use three times more energy than the best energy performers. By partnering with the highly successful ENERGY STAR for K-12 School Districts and using Portfolio Manager to track and rate the energy performance of your portfolio of school buildings, school districts can serve as environmental leaders in their community, become energy efficient, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and save money! If you're considering a new building, EPA's voluntary School Siting Guidelines can provide tips for reducing climate and health impacts.
- Estimate your emissions and take the challenge
- School administrators can also work to reduce their school's greenhouse gas emissions by developing an inventory of their school's emissions or by taking the College & University Green Power Challenge.
- Reduce, reuse, recycle
- Recycle school or classroom paper, newspapers, beverage containers, electronic equipment and batteries. Reducing, reusing, and recycling at school and in the classroom helps conserve energy, and reduce pollution and greenhouse gases from resource extraction, manufacturing, and disposal. You can reduce, reuse, and recycle at school or in the classroom by using two-sided printing and copying, buying supplies made with recycled content, and recycling used printer cartridges. For your old electronics, donate used equipment to other organizations, or investigate leasing programs to ensure that used equipment is reused and recycled.
- On the Road
1. Buy smart: Purchase a fuel-efficient, low-greenhouse gas vehicle
When shopping for a new or used vehicle (or even renting a vehicle), choose the cleanest, most fuel-efficient vehicle that meets your needs. With a wide range of clean, fuel-efficient vehicles available today, it’s easier than ever to go green—for the environment, and for your wallet. Check out EPA's Green Vehicle Guide or www.fueleconomy.gov to find the best, most comprehensive information on vehicle emissions and fuel economy.
Gasoline Vehicle Label
You can also learn more about the fuel economy and environment label that you’ll see on all new vehicles. The label has been redesigned and updated for even easier comparison shopping. These new window stickers provide fuel economy and environmental ratings for all new vehicles, including advanced technology vehicles like electric cars and plug-in hybrids. And while at the showroom, you can scan the QR Code® on each vehicle’s label to be connected to additional information online, including personalized cost and energy-use estimates.
2. Drive smart
To improve your fuel economy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, go easy on the brakes and gas pedal, avoid hard accelerations, reduce your time spent idling (no more than 30 seconds), and unload unnecessary items in your trunk to reduce weight. If you have a removable roof rack and you are not using it, take it off to improve your fuel economy. Use cruise control if you have it, and for vehicles with selectable four-wheel drive, consider operating in two-wheel drive mode when road conditions make it safe to do so.
For more information, take a look at these tips for driving more efficiently.
3. Remember maintenance...
Get regular tune-ups, follow the manufacturer’s maintenance schedule (which can be found in your owner’s manual), and use the recommended grade of motor oil. A well-maintained car is more fuel-efficient, produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions, is more reliable, and is safer!
For more details, including potential fuel savings, check out these tips for keeping your car in shape.
4. ... and don’t forget your tires!
Check your tire pressure regularly. Under-inflation increases tire wear, reduces your fuel economy, and leads to higher greenhouse gas and other air pollutant emissions. If you don’t know the correct tire pressure for your vehicle, you can find it listed on the door to your vehicle’s glove compartment, or on the driver's-side door pillar.
And when it’s time for new tires, consider purchasing tires with “low rolling resistance,” an energy-saving feature.
5. Give your car a break
Use public transportation, carpool, or walk or bike whenever possible to avoid using your car. Leaving your car at home just two days a week can reduce your greenhouse gas emissions by an average of two tons per year.
Also consider telecommuting (working from home via phone or the Internet), which can reduce the stress of commuting, reduce harmful emissions, and save you money. And when driving, try combining your errands and activities into one trip.
- At Home
- What We Can Do as a Society
- Our Energy Supply
Switch over to renewable heat and power sources (hydropower, solar, wind, geothermal and bioenergy); where renewables are not possible switch from coal to gas; develop advanced renewable energy, including tidal and wave energy, concentrating solar, and solar photovoltaics. See what major corporations are committing to do.
- Our Means of Transportation
Require more fuel-efficient vehicles; hybrid vehicles; cleaner diesel vehicles; modal shifts from road transport to rail and public transport systems; non-motorised transport (cycling, walking); land-use and transport planning; higher efficiency aircraft; advanced electric and hybrid vehicles with more powerful and reliable batteries
- Our Buildings
Efficient lighting and daylighting; more efficient electrical appliances and heating and cooling devices; improved cook stoves, improved insulation; passive and active solar design for heating and cooling; alternative refrigeration fluids, recovery and recycling of fluorinated gases; integrated design of commercial buildings including technologies, such as intelligent meters that provide feedback and control; solar photovoltaics integrated in buildings
- Our Farms and Ranches
Improved crop and grazing land management to increase soil carbon storage; restoration of cultivated peaty soils and degraded lands; improved rice cultivation techniques and livestock and manure management to reduce CH4 emissions; improved nitrogen fertiliser application techniques to reduce N2O emissions; dedicated energy crops to replace fossil fuel use; improved energy efficiency; improvements of crop yields
- Our Forests
Establish forests where in areas where there is not now a forest (afforestation); reforestation; forest management; reduced deforestation; harvested wood product management; use of forestry products for bioenergy to replace fossil fuel use; improved remote sensing technologies for analysis of vegetation/soil carbon sequestration potential and mapping land-use change
- Our Waste
Landfill CH4 recovery; waste incineration with energy recovery; composting of organic waste; controlled wastewater treatment; recycling and waste minimisation; biocovers and biofilters to optimise CH4 oxidation
- Put a Price on Carbon
Many countries are lowering their carbon emissions very effectively by putting a price on carbon. This short video explains how that might be done either by taxing carbon or by instituting a cap and trade system.
- Our Energy Supply
Principle 9c
Humans can Take Measures to Reduce their Vulnerabilities
Humans can reduce their vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. Actions such as moving to higher ground to avoid rising sea levels, planting new crops that will thrive under new climate conditions, or using new building technologies represent adaptation strategies. Adaptation often requires financial investment in new or enhanced research, technology, and infrastructure.
To learn about climate change impacts on tribal communities and ways they can reduce their vulnerabilities click to open the tabs
Vulnerabilities and Impacts
Higher temperatures will cause a shift or loss of traditional fish, plant and animal species
Earlier snowmelt will cause barriers to fish species migration/ movement; shift or loss of traditional fish, plant, and animal species
More rain, less snow will cause greater stress on cold-water species from warmer runoff; shift or loss of traditional fish, plant, and animal species
More extreme flood events will cause reduced water quality for traditional aquatic species; habitat disturbance/loss
Longer, more frequent droughts will cause reduced productivity/ greater stress on traditional fish, plant, and animal species
More erosion will cause reduced water quality for traditional aquatic species; stream channel changes; habitat disturbance/loss
More frequent & intense wildfires will cause reduced water quality for traditional aquatic species; increased sedimentation in streams; habitat and species disturbance/ loss
Cumulative Impacts on tribes include dietary changes; loss of local food resources; change in hunting/ gathering practices, and loss of culture & traditional medicinal plants and materials for jewelry, sculptures, ceremonial pieces, basketry, nets, and lodgings.
Ways to Reduce Vulnerabilities
Higher Temps: Restore habitat to provide thermal refugia (i.e. riparian corridors); manage ecosystems to promote native species; promote traditional practices to restore traditional landscapes; promote policies that ensure tribal rights for subsistence practices
Earlier Snowmelt: Restore habitat to remove barriers to fish migration; restore meadows restoration and implement forestry practices that help retain water in upper watersheds
More rain, less snow
Restore habitat to provide thermal refugia for cold water species; manage ecosystems to promote native species; promote traditional practices to restore traditional landscapes; promote policies that ensure tribal rights for subsistence practices
More extreme flood events
Restore and enhance exisiting floodplain and wetland habitat; restore and manage watersheds to reduce erosion
Longer, more frequent droughts
Restore and manage habitat to promote native species; implement land use practices that promote water retention on-site; remove or minimize invasive species
More erosion
Restore and enhance riparian corridors; promote ranch land and forest management practices that reduce erosion
Longer wildfire season/ More frequent & intense wildfires
Reduce forest density where needed via mechanical or hand thinning and/or prescribed burning; restore soil mantle; construct and maintain fuel breaks; restore meadows to help retain water; remove or minimize invasive species
Source: http://www.water.ca.gov/climatechange/docs/ClimateChange_TribalMatrix_Final_2014.pdf
Vulnerabilities and Impacts
Higher temperatures will cause a shift or loss of traditional fish, plant and animal species
Earlier snowmelt will cause reduced streamflows in summer/fall
More rain, less snow will cause reduced streamflows in summer/fall
More extreme flood events will cause damage to sacred sites; temporary inaccessibility to sacred sites; exposure of sacred artifacts and remains
Longer, more frequent droughts will cause a reduction in streamflows; reduced productivity/ greater stress on traditional fish, plant, and animal species
More erosion will cause damage to sacred sites; loss of access to sacred sites; exposure of cultural resources
More frequent & intense wildfires will cause damage to sacred sites; species disturbance/loss
Cumulative Impacts on tribes include loss of traditional materials for ceremonies; loss or exposure of sacred sites, artifacts, & remains; changes in traditional timing of spiritual practices
Ways to Reduce Vulnerabilities
Higher Temps: Restore and manage ecosystems to promote traditional materials/ native species; promote traditional practices to restore traditional landscapes
Earlier Snowmelt: Restore forests and implement practices that help retain water in upper watersheds; promote traditional practices to restore traditional landscapes
More rain, less snow
Restore and manage ecosystems to promote traditional materials/ native species; promote traditional practices to restore traditional landscapes
More extreme flood events
Restore habitat to buffer sacred sites; build infrastructure (i.e., levees, sea walls) to protect sacred sites
Longer, more frequent droughts
Restore and manage habitat to promote native species; impement land use practices that promote water retention & reduce forest fuels; remove or minimize invasive species
More erosion
Restore habitat to buffer sacred sites; build infrastructure to protect sacred sites
Longer wildfire season/ More frequent & intense wildfires
Manage fuel loads to reduce fire severity; create fire breaks to protect sacred sites; remove or minimize invasive species; restore habitat
Source: http://www.water.ca.gov/climatechange/docs/ClimateChange_TribalMatrix_Final_2014.pdf
Vulnerabilities and Impacts
Higher temperatures will cause changes in runoff timing reducing seasonal availability; higher water demands
Earlier snowmelt will cause reduced reliability; less groundwater recharge; decrease in summer/ fall runoff
More rain, less snow will cause changes in runoff timing reducing seasonal availability; less groundwater recharge; reduced reliability
More extreme flood events will cause damage to conveyance infrastructure; increased treatment; service interruptions
Longer, more frequent droughts will cause reduced availability and reliability of surface water; less groundwater recharge; increased treatment; increased potential for overdrafting groundwater
More erosion will cause damage to conveyance infrastructure; increased treatment
More frequent & intense wildfires will cause damage to conveyance infrastructure; increased treatment; service interruptions; sedimentation
Cumulative Impacts include reductions in water availability; reduced quality or increased contamination of local surface and groundwater supplies; increase in water- related illnesses; potential conflicts over water rights; higher human water demands reduce water needed to support ecosystems/ species
Ways to Reduce Vulnerabilities
Higher Temps: Increase storage capacity; improve conjuctive mgmt; conserve water; restore habitat
Earlier Snowmelt: Increase storage capacity; facilitate groundwater recharge basins; conserve water and energy; restore habitat in upper watersheds
More rain, less snow
Increase storage capacity; facilitate groundwater recharge basins; conserve water and energy; restore habitat in upper watersheds
More extreme flood events
Reinforce or relocate vulnerable conveyance infrastructure; improve treatment capacity
Longer, more frequent droughts
Increase storage capacity; improve conjuctive managment; conserve water and energy; promote reduction of forest fuels
More erosion
Protect vulnerable conveyance infrastructure with habitat buffers; improve treatment capacity
Longer wildfire season/ More frequent & intense wildfires
Create fire breaks to protect infrastructure; improve treatment capacity; manage fuel and restore habitat to reduce risk
Source: http://www.water.ca.gov/climatechange/docs/ClimateChange_TribalMatrix_Final_2014.pdf
Vulnerabilities and Impacts
Higher temperatures will cause an increase in water-borne illnesses; taste and odor issues; decrease in dissolved oxygen increase in algal blooms; impacts to aquatic species
Earlier snowmelt will cause seasonal changes in quality due to decreased summer/fall runoff
More rain, less snow will cause seasonal changes in quality (such as reduced dissolved oxygen) due to decreased summer/fall runoff
More extreme flood events will cause wastewater spills; contaminated stormwater runoff; turbidity
Longer, more frequent droughts will cause increase in water-borne illnesses; taste and odor issues; higher contaminant loading; increase in algal blooms; decrease in dissolved oxygen; impacts to aquatic species
More erosion will cause damage to conveyance and wastewater infrastructure; increased turbidity
More frequent & intense wildfires will cause damage to infrastructure, increased turbidity/ sedimentation
Cumulative Impacts include reductions in water availability; reduced quality or increased contamination of local surface and groundwater supplies; increase in water- related illnesses; potential conflicts over water rights; higher human water demands reduce water needed to support ecosystems/ species
Ways to Reduce Vulnerabilities
Higher Temps: Improve treatment capacity; promote use of wetlands in wastewater treatment
Earlier Snowmelt: Habitat restoration that help retain water in upper watershed to support summer/fall baseflows
More rain, less snow
Habitat restoration to support summer/fall baseflows; groundwater recharge/ conjunctive use
More extreme flood events
Improve wastewater systems to avoid spills; use green infrastructure to filter stormwater runoff
Longer, more frequent droughts
Improve treatment capacity; promote use of wetlands in wastewater treatment
More erosion
Protect vulnerable conveyance and wastewater infrastructure; improve treatment capacity
Longer wildfire season/ More frequent & intense wildfires
Fire breaks to protect infrastructure; improve treatment capacity; fuel management and habitat restoration to reduce risk
Source: http://www.water.ca.gov/climatechange/docs/ClimateChange_TribalMatrix_Final_2014.pdf
Vulnerabilities and Impacts
Higher temperatures will cause increased mortality rates (especially for children and elderly); poor air quality; allergens increase; illnesses1 exacerbated; increased health care costs
Earlier snowmelt will cause reduced water supply reliability and quality
More rain, less snow will cause a change in prevalence & spread of disease; reduced water supply reliability and quality
More extreme flood events will cause a change in prevalence & spread of diseases; mortality; displacement
Longer, more frequent droughts will cause a change in prevalence & spread of diseases; mortality; reduced water supply reliability; increased malnutrition; increased health care costs
More erosion will cause displacement; poor water quality; mudslides
More frequent & intense wildfires will cause poor air and water quality; displacement; illnesses exacerbated, esp. respiratory illnesses; mortality; mudslides
Cumulative Impacts include an overall reduction in community health; increase in chronic and infectious diseases; increased heath care costs; impacts associated with displacement
Ways to Reduce Vulnerabilities
Higher Temps: Establish community cooling centers; develop renewable energy sources; provide education and outreach on heat-related illnesses
Earlier Snowmelt: Improve water supply reliablity and water quality (see stratgies above)
More rain, less snow
Provide education and outreach on disease prevention; improve water supply reliability and water quality
More extreme flood events
Provide education and outreach on disease prevention; establish emergency shelters; establish funding for recovery assistance
Longer, more frequent droughts
Education and outreach on disease prevention; establish emergency water supplies; establish funding for assistance programs
More erosion
Establish emergency shelters and water supplies; establish funding for recovery assistance
Longer wildfire season/ More frequent & intense wildfires
Establish emergency shelters and water supplies; establish funding for recovery assistance
Source: http://www.water.ca.gov/climatechange/docs/ClimateChange_TribalMatrix_Final_2014.pdf
For a good summary of climate change vulnerabilities for indigenous peoples in the U.S., visit the National Climate Assessment:
For a summary of how the Great Plains Region is adapting to climate change impacts and vulnerabilities, click the button below:
Reducing Vulnerabilities: Tribal Profiles
Tribes across the United States are leading the way with innovative efforts to address climate change through adaptation and mitigation strategies. The Tribal Climate Change Profiles are intended to be a pathway to increasing knowledge among tribal and non-tribal organizations interested in learning about climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts. The Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals also publishes these profiles, as well as additional profiles they generate on their Tribes & Climate Change website: www4.nau.edu/tribalclimatechange/tribes/northwest.asp.
Nooksack Indian Tribe: Rivers and Glaciers —Keeping salmon and the ecosystem healthy in light of climate change and distressed ecosystems. In response to concerns about the Nooksack River and the glaciers that drain into it, the Nooksack Indian Tribe is undertaking efforts to address climate change and its impacts on Nooksack Usual and Accustomed lands and its people. Specifically, the Tribe is exploring climate impacts facing their lands as a way to address the continued health of salmon: riparian ecosystem health, stream and river temperatures, sediment loading in the watershed, and impacts of climate change on glaciers and the hydrology of the Nooksack River. Salmon in the Nooksack River are already severely stressed by a variety of factors including wide scale-watershed alteration by forest practices, channelization of the river, pollution and human-induced habitat loss. Climate impacts, therefore, have the potential to cause major additional harm to salmonid populations in the Nooksack River. Mitigating the impacts of climate change is therefore an integral part of ensuring that the Nooksack watershed is able to continue supporting salmon at harvestable levels. This profile draws on the work of the Nooksack Indian Tribe to address climate change impacts on the hydrology of the Nooksack River and salmon survival and recovery.
Nez Perce Tribe: Clearwater River Subbasin Climate Change Adaptation Plan. In an effort to prepare for changes to their homelands’ ecology, the Nez Perce Tribe’s Water Resources Division created a climate change adaptation plan for the Clearwater River Subbasin in 2011. The plan focuses on climate impacts to water and forestry resources, two areas of natural resource management that are both culturally and economically important to the Nez Perce Tribe. The adaptation plan includes an assessment of existing conditions in the subbasin, and data on how changes in climate may impact forests, waters, and the local economy. This profile highlights the efforts of the Nez Perce Tribe to increase awareness of climate change issues in their region through this plan, as well as their strategies for integrating adaptation into existing and future management plans. http://www4.nau.edu/tribalclimatechange/tribes/northwest_nezperce_clearwater.asp
Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes: Climate Change Strategic Plan In response to growing concerns about the impacts of climate change on tribal members and on their homelands, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes have developed a Climate Change Strategic Plan. The Tribes worked with several partners, including Salish-Pend d’Oreille Culture Committee, Kootenai Culture Committee, Next Seven Group LLC, the Great Northern Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC), the Kresge Foundation, and the Roundtable of the Crown Continent Adaptive Management Initiative, to develop a plan to inform the tribal policy and actions moving forward. This plan brings together the knowledge of elders with scientific observations to document existing impacts and prepare for future changes. http://www4.nau.edu/tribalclimatechange/tribes/northwest_kootenai.asp
Jamestown S’Klallam Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation Plan In order to promote climate resilience in their community, the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe has developed a Climate Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation Plan. Drawing on an Environmental Protection Agency Indian General Assistance Program (IGAP) grant, and in collaboration with Adaptation International and Washington Sea Grant, the Tribe developed a plan that addresses sea level rise, ocean acidification, salmon health, natural disasters and shifts in species ranges. The plan drew on input from tribal leaders, elders and technical staff to ensure that tribal concerns were considered. The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe sees climate adaptation as a process, not an outcome; this plan is part of an ongoing effort by the Tribe to prepare for climate impacts on their community. http://www4.nau.edu/tribalclimatechange/tribes/northwest_skallam.asp
The Swinomish Tribe and Tsleil Waututh First Nation Correlation and Climate Sensitivity of Human Health and Environmental Indicators in the Salish Sea
In 2012, the North Pacific Landscape Conservation Cooperative awarded over $300,000 to seven projects aimed at increasing the use of TEK in climate change adaptation and natural and cultural management. The Swinomish Tribe and Tsleil Waututh First Nation, two peoples of the Salish Sea, collaborated together on one of these projects. By bringing together data on environmental, cultural and human health impacts, the project partners are refining their understanding about what areas within their communities may be most sensitive to climate impacts. In doing so, the Swinomish Tribe and Tsleil Waututh First Nation are gaining a more complete understanding of how climate change may affect their communities. This innovative approach builds upon previous work done by the Swinomish Tribe and has potential as a model for other tribal communities aiming to better understand climate impacts to their people and homelands. http://www4.nau.edu/tribalclimatechange/tribes/northwest_swinomish_tsleil.asp
South Central Climate Science Center: Tribal Climate Change Variability Workshops In the South Central US, particularly severe climate impacts are projected to occur. With support from the South Central Climate Science Center (SCCSC) and Southern Climate Impacts Planning Program (SCIPP), the University of Oklahoma (OU) hosted a series of five intertribal workshops on climate impacts. Paulette Blanchard, a Master’s candidate at OU who played an instrumental role in organizing the workshops, brought together native filmmakers with tribal participants to discuss ways that native people can document their experiences and challenges with climate impacts. These workshops also provided an opportunity for tribes and governmental agencies such as the SCCSC to establish working relationships. http://www4.nau.edu/tribalclimatechange/tribes/plains_sccsc.asp
Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians: Climate Change and Environmental Management Programs Concerned about the effects of climate change on their homeland and surrounding environment, the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians have taken numerous steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address the impacts of climate change on tribal peoples, land, and resources. This profile describes the climate change programs implemented by the Santa Ynez Chumash Environmental Office and the Chumash Casino Resort to address climate change adaptation and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. http://www4.nau.edu/tribalclimatechange/tribes/southwest_chumash.asp
Indigenous Peoples and Northwest Climate Initiatives: Exploring the Role of Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Resource Management
In 2012, the North Pacific Landscape Conservation Cooperative (NPLCC) and the Northwest Climate Science Center (NW CSC) awarded funds to seven projects that facilitate the use of traditional ecological knowledge to help inform natural and cultural resource management. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service provided funds to the NPLCC for these projects, with two of the projects co-sponsored by the Northwest Climate Science Center. This profile is the first step in an ongoing effort to share information about these tribally led projects. It provides information on each of the grants awarded to tribes and First Nations in the NPLCC, and includes an overview of the NPLCC and the NW CSC. The profile showcases projects and shares the diverse ways in which tribal, First Nations and Alaska Native communities are gathering TEK, integrating this knowledge into resource management, and addressing gaps in climate change information. http://www4.nau.edu/tribalclimatechange/tribes/tdk_nplcc.asp
Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Healthy Ecosystems Summit
In August 2012, the Snoqualmie Tribe of Washington celebrated indigenous knowledge systems by hosting the Traditional Knowledge and Healthy Ecosystems Summit. The Summit, held at the Skamania Lodge near Stevenson, WA, brought together indigenous leaders, tribal members, resource managers, academics and students to discuss and learn about the importance of traditional knowledge in natural resource management and in everyday ways of life. Participants came from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, and British Columbia to partake in the various presentations, roundtables, panels, and workshops that formed part of this event. This profile describes some of the highlights from the event, including talks from keynote speakers Daniel Wildcat and Larry Merculiefff, storytelling by elders, presentations on traditional knowledge in contemporary resource management and indigenous health, and field trips featuring traditional sites and activities.
Vulnerability of Coastal Louisiana Tribes in a Climate Change Context
Living among the bayous in southern Louisiana, coastal tribes have a long history of vulnerability to and impacts from a range of environmental and human-caused events, including storms, subsidence, land sinking and shrinking, sea-level rise and oil spills. These events have posed uncommon challenges to these indigenous communities. In January 2012, several tribal communities from coastal Louisiana (including Grand Bayou Village, Grand Caillou/Dulac, Isle de Jean Charles and Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribes) met to “share knowledge, support, cultural connectivity and adaption strategies” in response to the significant environmental changes they face. This meeting, convened by the tribes and attended by the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), brought together local tribal members, national tribal leaders, faith leaders, government agency representatives, and resource specialists to share information on the various opportunities, resources, and programs available to tribal communities experiencing the impacts of large-scale environmental change. This profile explores the ways in which climate change may exacerbate the challenges already facing coastal Louisiana tribes and potential strategies to assist these tribes in addressing their vulnerability. http://www4.nau.edu/tribalclimatechange/tribes/gulfcoast_lacoastal.asp
First Stewards Symposium: Coastal Peoples Address Climate Change
In July 2012, four coastal treaty tribes from Washington State: the Hoh, Makah, and Quileute Tribes and Quinault Indian Nation, hosted the First Stewards Symposium at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC in recognition of the rapid changes coastal tribes are experiencing from climate change and changes in marine ecosystems. The Symposium convened coastal people from across the United States to discuss the impacts of climate change and strategies for mitigation and adaptation. Tribal leaders, governmental and non-governmental agency representatives, academics, and non-profit indigenous advocates came together to demonstrate the impacts of climate change in regions throughout the U.S. and its territories and how indigenous adaptations to climate change can guide society moving forward. The Symposium emphasized strategies to promote actions in society-at-large to adapt to climate change and discussed the opportunity for native people to be leaders and provide models for other native and non-native communities. The First Stewards Symposium led to a resolution illustrating the impacts of climate change on traditional ways of life and culture and calling for the formal recognition and inclusion of indigenous communities in the formation of policies, management and other government action. This profile highlights the speakers, issues and outcomes from the First Stewards Symposium. http://www4.nau.edu/tribalclimatechange/tribes/tdk_firststwrds.asp
Siletz Tribal Energy Program The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, located on the Oregon coast, have created an innovative renewable energy program. The Siletz Tribal Planning Department created the Siletz Tribal Energy Program (STEP) through a grant from the Administration for Native Americans in 2009. STEP works within the tribal community to encourage efficient energy use and reduced energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Much of their work is focused on improving tribal buildings and homes. STEP prioritizes community involvement as a way to increase awareness of tribal members, promote skills-training in the tribal community and promote tribal independence in energy; tribal outreach is a major aspect of STEP’s work. This profile examines the ranges of their programs, including weatherization and energy efficiency, conservation, renewable power and solar. http://www4.nau.edu/tribalclimatechange/tribes/northwest_siletz.asp
Karuk Tribe: Integrating Traditional Ecological Knowledge within Natural Resource Management Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) plays a significant role in the Karuk Tribe’s approach to natural resource management, which is guided by a respect for the relationships between species, their habitats and the belief that fostering ecosystem resilience is critical to ensuring sustainability. In 2010, the Karuk Tribe released a draft Eco-Cultural Resources Management Plan to create a long-term adaptation strategy for the protection, enhancement and utilization of cultural and natural resources. The Eco-Cultural Resources Management Plan establishes a framework for considering a wide range of human and environmental stressors to the Karuk Tribe, including climate change. This profile explores the role of traditional ecological knowledge in the Karuk Tribe’s Eco-Cultural Resource Management Plan, the ways in which this unique approach may contribute to tribal efforts to address climate change, and the importance of the federal-tribal relationship in addressing climate change. http://www4.nau.edu/tribalclimatechange/tribes/northwest_karuk.asp
First Foods and Climate Change (Download First Foods Profile) Indigenous populations in North America face significant threats from climate change. One area of great concern is how first foods will be impacted by climate change. Because of the vital role that first foods play in the physical, mental and spiritual health of native communities, impacts from climate change on first foods may negatively affect tribal culture and livelihood. This profile explores the challenges that indigenous peoples face in maintaining their historically important relationships with first foods in the context of climate change. The profile also outlines the impacts that climate change may have on many first foods, describes challenges facing indigenous peoples in continuing their relationship with first foods, and explore ways in which they have adapted or responded to these challenges. Also available at: http://www4.nau.edu/tribalclimatechange/tribes/tdk_firstfoods.asp
The Lummi Nation: Pursuing Clean Renewable Energy (Download Lummi Nation Profile)
The Lummi Nation has launched a number of renewable energy projects to reduce its environmental impact and to contribute to its goal of energy self-sufficiency. These projects include conducting a wind energy development feasibility assessment, lighting a walking trail with solar LEDs, installing a geothermal heat pump system for a new administrative building, and developing a strategic energy plan to coordinate future efforts. This profile provides detailed information on the wind energy development feasibility assessment project and also examines the opportunities and motivation that inspired the Lummi Nation to explore the options for renewable energy on their tribal lands. Also available at: http://www4.nau.edu/tribalclimatechange/tribes/northwest_lummi.asp
Climate Change: Realities of Relocation for Alaska Native Villages (Download Alaska Native Relocation Profile)
As temperatures across the Arctic rise at twice the global average, the impacts of climate change in Alaska are already being felt (IPCC 2007). Alaska Natives are among the most impacted in this region, and, according to the Government Accountability Office in 2004, flooding and erosion affected 86% of Alaska Native villages to some extent, and by 2009, the GAO reported that flooding and erosion imminently threatened thirty-one villages. This profile examines the challenges of relocation and offers examples from three Alaska Native villages working to protect their people, culture and natural resources. Also available at: http://www4.nau.edu/tribalclimatechange/tribes/ak_inupiaq_AkRelocation.asp.
Swinomish Climate Change Initiative: At the Forefront of Planning for Climate Change (Download Swinomish Profile)
In 2007, the Swinomish Tribe passed a climate change proclamation in response to growing concerns about potential impacts of climate change on the Swinomish Indian Reservation. This profile highlights the projected climate change impacts on the tribe, the tribe’s planning process for the impact assessment and action plan development, as well as key partners and project successes and challenges. Also available at: http://www4.nau.edu/tribalclimatechange/tribes/northwest_swinomish.asp
Climate Change and the Coquille Indian Tribe: Planning for the Effects of Climate Change and Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Download Coquille Profile)
In 2008, the Coquille Indian Tribe established a Climate Change Committee to engage tribal government, tribal members, and natural and cultural resource managers in the development of a Climate Change Action Plan. This profile highlights key concerns and potential climate change impacts to the Coquille Tribe, and initial tribal strategies to address climate change. Also available at: http://www4.nau.edu/tribalclimatechange/tribes/northwest_coquille.asp
Nez Perce Tribe: Carbon Sequestration Program (Download Nez Perce Profile)
In the 1990’s, the Nez Perce Forestry & Fire Management Division began developing a carbon offset strategy to market Carbon Sequestration Credits. This profile describes the tribe’s initial trial afforestation project, and their strategies for reinvesting revenue from the sale of carbon to invest in additional afforestation projects, wildlife rehabilitation and forest development. Also available at: http://www4.nau.edu/tribalclimatechange/tribes/northwest_nezperce.asp
Principle 9d
Tribes can Lead the Way
Much of the world's plant and animal communities has been in the hands of traditional peoples—societies of hunters and gatherers, herders, fishers, agriculturists—for a great many generations. In fact, pre-scientific, traditional systems of knowledge and management have been the main way that societies have managed the land and natural resources for many thousands of years. Those uses of the land and systems of management are sustainable. They do not compromise the interests of future generations because they enable societies to use their environment in a way that maintains the integrity of their local ecosystems.
In that sense, traditional systems of knowledge are not just curiosities, but are important for rediscovering principles and techniques for how our modern societies, in the face of a major climate crisis, can mitigate and adapt and in the end develop sustainable ways of living. Tribes throughout the Americas and around the world are working hard to deliver this message as the video below shows.
click the image to enlarge it
Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) is different from science. Using your knowledge of what science is, can you identify some differences between what TEK encompasses and what science encompasses? Can you identify some similarities? Traditional knowledge is complementary to western science, not a replacement for it. It enriches and expands our knowledge of the natural world and can teach us how we can live more sustainability in the world.
It's not just talk: The Evidence Speaks for Itself
Indigenous rights are key to preserving forests, climate change study finds
Leaving forests in communal hands cuts carbon emissions from deforestation, helps communities and offers long-term economic benefits: ‘Everyone wins’
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/nov/02/indigenous-rights-forests-climate-change-study
Jonathan Watts in Rio de Janeiro Wednesday 2 November 2016 09.43 EDT
Ashaninka girls walk through a forest path as they return to their village in the Peruvian Amazon. Photograph: Rodrigo Abd/AP
The world’s indigenous communities need to be given a bigger role in climate stabilisation, according to a new study that shows at least a quarter of forest carbon is stored on communal land, particularly in Brazil.
The research by a group of academic institutions and environmental NGOs is the most comprehensive effort yet to quantify the contribution of traditional forest guardians to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.
Authors say the expansion of tribal land rights is the most cost-effective way to protect forests and sequester carbon – an issue that they hope will receive more prominence at the upcoming United Nations climate conference in Marrakech.
The paper by the Rights and Resources Initiative, Woods Hole Research Centre and World Resources Institute aims to encourage governments to recognise indigenous land rights and include tribal input in national action plans. Currently this is not the case for 167 of 188 nations in the Paris agreement, including Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which are home to some of the world’s biggest forests.
It is also likely to feed into a growing debate in Brazil, which has won kudos for recognising more indigenous land than any other country in the past decade but is now under a new government that has yet to be tested in international climate talks.
Based on satellite surveys of 37 tropical countries, the study estimates community-claimed lands sequester at least 54,546m tonnes of carbon – roughly four times the world’s annual emissions.
Ownership of a 10th of that land is public, unrecognised or contested, which raises the risk that it could fall into the hands of developers, farmers, miners or others who want to clear the forest for short-term financial gain at the expense of long-term environmental costs.
Rainforest is cleared for agriculture in Amazonas state, Brazil. However, forest cover plays a vital role in rainfall levels and irrigation, which benefits farmers. Photograph: Brazil Photos/LightRocket via Getty Images
The authors argue there is a greater economic benefit from leaving the property in the hands of traditional residents and strengthening their ownership rights so they can protect the land.
Alain Frechette of Rights and Resources, one of the report’s authors, urged national governments and negotiators to make indigenous communities a more central part of climate policies.
“When communities have secure forest rights, not only are forests better protected, but communities fare better. It’s what economists call an optimal solution. Everyone wins,” he said. “By contrast, large-scale development initiatives produce quick wins, but the long-term environmental, economic and political costs are not taken into account. They are just pushed on to future generations.”
“As well as reducing 20-30% of carbon dioxide emissions, the forests provide benefits of clean water, pollination, biodiversity, flood control and tourist attractions that are said to be worth $523bn to $1.165tn in Brazil, $54-119 bn in Bolivia, and $123–277bn in Colombia over the next 20 years.
The data shows the most important region is Latin America, where 58% of emissions come from deforestation, more than double the global rate of 24%. Without protection, much more could yet be released. Five of the top 10 countries for forest carbon are in the continent. Brazil with 14,692 megatonnes has twice the amount of the next biggest country, Indonesia.
Having expanded indigenous land considerably since 2003, Brazil – and later Bolivia and Colombia – initially slowed deforestation. The World Research Institute estimates that tropical forests without such protection were two to three times more likely to be cleared.
But in recent years, forest destruction in Brazil has started to creep up again and many environmentalists are worried that the new centre-right government of Michel Temer could accelerate this trend.
Since the impeachment of former president Dilma Rousseff in September, the new government has cut the budget for the National Indian Agency (better known by its acronym Funai), and removed many of its key personnel.
“There are causes for concern,“ said Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, UN special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples. She urged Brazil not to backtrack. “As this report shows, if Brazil enhances its respect for indigenous peoples’ rights, they will be able to contribute more to the Paris agreement. It will be to their benefit. They can measure that in terms of the amount of tonnes of carbon that are being conserved.”
Paulo Moutinho, director of the Amazon Environmental Research Institute, called on the new government to declare the 71m hectares of currently undesignated public forest – equivalent to all the land cleared in the past 40 years – protected or indigenous land.
Although he acknowledged that this would be difficult to push past the strong agribusiness lobby in congress, he said farmers would eventually realise that strong forests were necessary not just for the global climate but for local rainfall patterns and irrigation.
“There is still time to do something impressive,” he said. “The world expects strong action from Brazil. It would be nice to consolidate and expand protected areas. Otherwise, it will be impossible to achieve what we have promised to the world.”
TEK Complements Western Science
Traditional Ecological Knoweldge
Traditional or Tribal Ecological Knowledge (TEK) refers to the way native people understand and pass on knowledge about the relationships between plant and animal species, ecosystems, and ecological processes. Because it encompasses knowledge that spans thousands of years and many, many generations, it has the potential to play a vital role in climate change adaptation. Not only does it hold relevance for tribes, it is also recognized as providing valuable contributions to larger climate change discussions at regional, national, and international levels. The table below identifies some of the most important differences between Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Western Scientific Knowledge.
Traditional Ecological Knowledge
Encompasses oral history, place names, and a spiritual relationship with the creator and creation
Encompasses ethical considerations, for example, relations between humans and the natural world that are based on the principle of reciprocity and obligations toward community and other beings
Holistic approach concerned with complete ecological systems rather than with the analysis of, treatment of, or dissection of it into parts
Acquisition of knowledge over multiple generations and over periods as long as thousands of years
Long-term wisdom (not just information but information paired with wisdom)
Prediction in local areas
Weak in predictive principles in distant areas (cannot necessarily predict how other landscapes will respond)
Models based on cycles, accepting variability
Explanations based on examples, anecdotes, parables, spiritual beliefs, and experience spanning generations
Western Scientific Knowledge
May encompass elements from written history but generally considers only data collected through experiments
Strives for objectivity so generally does not consider moral or ethical obligations
Compartmentalized approach (tends to dissect and look at individual parts of an ecological system)
Rapid acquisition (often data is collected in timespans of years or a few decades)
Short-term prediction
Predictability in natural principles (depending on the type of data collected)
Weak in integrated, local areas of knowledge (because of tendency to specialize or compartmentalize)
Linear modeling as first approximation
Explanations based on hypothesis, theories, laws, and scientific process and judgment
Traditional ecological knowledge involves the accumulation of highly localized, experiential, placed-based wisdom over a long period, most often passed down orally from generation to generation.
The two knowledge systems — TEK and western science — share some similarities. Both are founded on observations and critical evaluation of the landscape, processes, or plant or animal of interest. Both rely on observation in natural settings and on pattern recognition. Both allow for revisions in the way they understand the environment or a given phenomena when initial facts and assumptions are disproven or improved upon through additional experience or testing. Both relying on repetition to validate an assumed fact.
Traditional ecological knowledge can contribute qualitative, historical field data that Western science may lack, while Western science typically provides more quantitative data.
As it pertains to climate change, contributions from both knowledge systems are critical. Traditional ecological knowledge can identify on-the-ground climate-related changes occurring at a local level and contribute traditional management practices that have been time-tested.
Qualitative data deals with descriptions. The data can be observed but not measured, and includes descriptions of behavior, processes, timing, cycles, colors, textures, smells, tastes, appearance — information that characterizes but does not measure.
Quantitative data deals with numbers. The data are measurements — length, height, area, volume, weight, speed, time, temperature, humidity, sound levels, cost, members, ages, etc. Information that is a measure of something is quantitative.
Principle 9e
Local Relevance
Four Articles on how Great Plains Tribes are Coping with Climate Change
Intertribal COUP: Prairie Winds
Source: http://www7.nau.edu/itep/main/tcc/Tribes/plns_itcoup
Bob Gough, Intertribal COUP (Council on Utility Policy)
Until drought came to the northern Great Plains, hydropower had long been that region's predominant source of electrical-generating fuel for residents and industries from Wyoming east through the Dakotas. With dam-fed power production down these days due to extended drought (and aggravated by climate change), lignite-coal power plants now account for more than 80% of fuel produced in the region. "Lignite is basically dirt," says Bob Gough, secretary of Intertribal COUP (Council on Utility Policy), a tribal power collective working to develop one of the region's most abundant resources, wind power, and to do so on tribal lands. "They're burning dirt."
To help address the impacts of dirty-coal-a power source that fouls the air and contributes to global warming-fourteen tribes are presently allied with the I-COUP wind-power cooperative in developing and installing wind turbines on tribal lands. The organization has already facilitated the development of three major wind turbines on Great Plains-area reservations, and several smaller projects are in the works. In addition, I-COUP is working with the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) on a major study examining how wind-generated electricity might best be injected into the regional power grid.
I-COUP was established in 1994 to facilitate tribal discussion and input on energy regulatory and economic issues. The various wind projects it supports are funded by the tribes; private interests; federal agencies, including the U.S. Dept. of Energy and USDA Rural Utilities Services; and through fundraising support from non-governmental groups such as Winona LaDuke's non-profit organization, Honor the Earth.
Wind is the world's fastest-growing renewable power resource. Beyond the cost of turbine installations (slightly more than the cost of a coal plant), the "fuel" for wind-power electrical generation is free for decades, whereas coal-burners require constant fuel purchases. Blowing some 40% of the time at speeds ranging from about 14 to 24 miles per hour, northern Great Plains wind is uniquely suitable for wind-power generation.
Ironically, that unrelenting wind was once considered a curse by Euro-American farmer-colonists, who claimed much of the fertile bottomland, leaving the windy uplands largely to area tribes. Those tribes now stand to benefit in terms of jobs, economic-development potential, and clean, locally produced power that contributes to a crucial worldwide effort: eliminating climate-changing fossil fuel as a source of energy.
The largest I-COUP-supported project now underway, completed in 2003, is located at the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. There, a 750-kilowatt wind generator towers 47 meters over the land, spinning out power from an average 18-20 mph flow of wind through its triple-bladed turbine. That turbine provides an average 80% of the power required to operate the nearby Rosebud Casino and Hotel; excess power is fed into the regional grid, providing income to the tribe. "Green tags" (renewable-energy certificates) from the project have been sold to NativeEnergy in Vermont, which resells them to power users across the nation to offset their own grid-powered energy consumption.
I-COUP takes the long view on the wind projects it supports. Gough says the plan is to enable tribes to generate 3000mW of energy from the wind by 2015. He says spreading the benefits-and risks-of wind power production across numerous states and tribes is a major part of the plan, for two reasons: wind doesn't blow consistently in one place all the time, and dumping power into the WAPA grid from just one or a few points creates strains on the grid system, especially when that power is sporadic, as wind-based energy is. Constructing projects on different reservations also helps to share the wind-wealth, jobs, and eventually, turbine-manufacturing opportunities, utilizing as many low-income tribal workers as possible.
Photo courtesy: National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Another I-COUP sponsored project, a 120-foot, 65kW turbine, is also in place on the Oglala Dakota Nation. That turbine powers Lakota radio station KILI. A third turbine, located at the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation for the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation in central North Dakota generates 65kW of power. Many more projects are in various stages of development.
I-COUP estimates that tribal wind-power potential in the region could run as high as 535 billion kWh/year, enough to provide power for thousands of residents and businesses. More than 75 tribes are presently conducting wind assessments on their lands, with the aim of constructing turbines in the future.
I-COUP garnered worldwide recognition for its efforts when it was presented in June of 2007 with a "World Clean Energy Award" at the traditional "Faktor -4 Festival" in Basil, Switzerland. Seventy clean-energy projects from around the world were considered for the honors; I-COUP was among nine award winners. The organization was honored with a special "award for courage" for its work in the face of substantial economic and social challenges, including the Rosebud Tribe's location in a county that has consistently been among the nation's poorest.
I-COUP's efforts serve as a powerful model for tribes and communities looking to reap the benefits of sustainable energy. Whether it be solar, wind, wave, or biomass, sources of renewable energy that ease the Earth's warming burden represent important new goals and resources for the tribes. Such alternative energy modes also fit well with most tribal philosophies, furthering a sustainable, in-balance relationship with the land even as tribal communities move along the path of economic progress and enjoy the benefits of modernity.
The Northern Cheyenne Tribe
Source: http://www7.nau.edu/itep/main/tcc/Tribes/plns_ncheyenne
The Northern Cheyenne Tribe of southeastern Montana takes climate change seriously and is doing something about it. The tribe has been progressing on a showcase demonstration project on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 30 metric tons CO2e annually through energy retrofits of the Tribal Environmental Protection Department (EPD) building. This project is supported by a $200,000, two-year grant provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2010 through its Climate Showcase Community Program.
The primary goals of the project are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy use by the tribe and to serve as a model for other tribes and additional projects on the reservation. Additionally, the tribe has been using this project as a training tool to develop energy efficiency and building-retrofitting skills among students and community members while raising community awareness about climate change, renewable energy, and energy efficiency.
The Northern Cheyenne Tribe has deeply rooted cultural and historic connections to the land, wildlife, and water on the reservation. The tribe’s dedication to sustainability practices, commitment to protecting its resources, and awareness of the necessity of a healthy ecosystem for the well being and health of people are driving forces behind the desire to reduce its carbon footprint. The project also provides the tribe with opportunities to align its energy needs and use with its ecological and cultural values while providing many additional benefits.
Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation. (top)
Participants in one of the trainings. (bottom)
The tribe will see cost savings as buildings become more efficient through improved weatherization and energy efficiency, reducing the amount of electricity used for heating and cooling. Environmentally, greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced as the tribe lessens its dependence on fossil fuel. Additionally, the tribe will increase its use of sustainability measures and enhance its long-standing commitment to protecting and preserving the natural environment.
Providing job opportunities for tribal members is a major priority, especially given the tribe’s high unemployment rates (about 50-70%). The building efficiency and retrofit projects provide training to students and community members, giving them marketable skills that are transferable to the growing green job market. Through the development of training programs and budding partnerships with community colleges and local organizations, community members and recent graduates will find more reasons to stay on the reservation, giving back to their community and helping to develop the local economy.
Project Implementation and Progress:
Collaborative partnerships have been tremendously helpful in developing and implementing the building retrofit program. To date, the tribe has achieved many of its project goals.
Completed tasks include:
- Performing a feasibility study on the EPD building, including the goals for green building strategies, architectural building plans, and code and cost analysis. The feasibility study is a key component in the construction bidding process.
- Retrofits, including the installation of energy efficient windows and a tankless water heater.
- Developing an energy efficiency and strawbale building course. The course will be offered by Chief Dull Knife College to train students on energy-efficient straw bale building techniques.
- Contracting with local organizations/businesses to conduct three training courses for interested students and community members. Topics include energy audits, energy efficiency, and small-scale renewable energy. Results included the installation of 10 solar air heating systems in private residences.
- Conducting community education and outreach events to inform community members of the EPD building efficiency retrofit project.
The tribe has accomplished much in a short time and plans to continue moving forward in its efforts. Some of their future goals include:
- Updating the insulation in the walls and roof of the EPD building.
- Installing composting toilets and a greywater system for outdoor irrigation to reduce water consumption.
- Installing photovoltaic panels on the EPD building roof to supply renewable solar energy.
Participant in energy efficiency training gets hands-on experience.
Challenges and Lessons Learned:
In addition to the project's successes, there have been challenges and lessons learned. Regardless of the amount of planning, it is impossible to anticipate every obstacle, and the EPD building retrofit project was no exception. One challenge emerged as the project moved from the conceptualization and planning phase to the building and installation phase. Initially, the project team had no Green Building guidelines in place, making it difficult for contractors to work collectively toward a common goal. However, out of this came one of their best accomplishments—a building feasibility study that was completed in October 2011. Developed in collaboration with contracted architects, the feasibility study created a useful roadmap of codes, plans, and ideas. The study also helped enhance the building’s eligibility for the highest LEED building certification level, LEED Platinum.
Another obstacle the project team encountered was an unanticipated low turnout for the energy-audit training course. On the other hand, the training sessions on solar heating and energy efficiency were well attended. In retrospect, the tribe attributes the initial low response to insufficient advertising, which reduced awareness of the training opportunity among community members.
Key Partners:
Implementation of the project has been highly dependent on collaborative partnerships among many tribal departments, the local tribal college, non-profit organizations, and others. Without these relationships, completing the project would have been a daunting task. Partners in the project include:
- Chief Dull Knife College: The tribe worked closely with the college president, board members, instructors, and students to discuss the grant, project goals, and potential student participation. They developed a straw bale building course for students, as well as training courses on energy efficiency, small-scale renewable energy, and energy auditing for interested students and community members.
- National Wildlife Federation’s Tribal Lands Conservation Program (NWF): The NWF, an organization experienced in partnering and working with tribes on climate change issues, is playing a key role in helping the tribe develop and implement its weatherization and energy efficiency programs.
- Intertribal Council On Utility Policy: Intertribal COUP is conducting workshops on energy efficiency, energy planning, and renewable energy.
- Lakota Solar Enterprises: Lakota Solar Enterprises is one of the first 100% Native American-owned and operated renewable energy companies. The organization is helping to teach students and community members how to manufacture solar air heaters for use in tribally owned buildings.
- Tongue River Electric Cooperative (TRECo): TRECo is conducting pre- and post-retrofit energy audits on the EPD building. They are also providing technical assistance regarding energy retrofits and usage as well as summaries detailing the building’s post-retrofit energy use.
Oglala Lakota Nation:
Oyate Omniciyé | Oglala Lakota Plan
Source: http://www7.nau.edu/itep/main/tcc/Tribes/plns_oglala
Project Background:
In August 2010, a Consortium of dedicated Oglala Lakota programs and organizations was convened by the Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation (www.thundervalley.org) of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation of southwestern South Dakota to pursue a unique funding opportunity from the newly formed HUD Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities. By October 2010, this group was awarded nearly a million dollars in the form of a HUD Sustainable Communities Planning Grant to pursue a path towards creating a Regional Plan for Sustainable Development for the Oglala Lakota Nation. This was an impressive outcome considering that from across the United States, over 1000 letters of interest were submitted, over 360 actual proposals were turned in, only 45 grants were awarded and only three had any elements of tribal nations involved. Only one, the region proposed as the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, is taking on the challenge of defining what "sustainable" means for an entire Native Nation.
Once the grant was awarded, the project team sought to quickly give the process and the plan a culturally relevant and meaningful name. After engaging a small group of local Lakota elders about the process and concepts behind sustainable communities planning, many words were offered from the Lakota language itself. The term and philosophy Oyate Omniciyé (www.oglalalakotaplan.org) was chosen for many reasons. In English, this term is supplemented by the phrase "Oglala Lakota Plan" to support the idea of the task at hand. Oyate Omniciyé was used in the original treaties as a term for important gatherings of the people. Roughly translated to English, it means "Circle Meetings of the People" with the end purpose of achieving consensus on important decisions. Thus, the project was bestowed a name reflective of the intentions for the project to serve the people and strive for agreement in a more appropriate manner.
The project also involves a bold new approach by the federal agencies involved. The HUD-DOT-EPA Partnership for Sustainable Communities (www.sustainablecommunities.gov) is seeking to promote more streamlined collaboration and support amongst its partner programs. Developing more sustainable communities is important to strengthening economy, creating good jobs now while providing a foundation for lasting prosperity, using energy more efficiently to secure energy independence, and protecting our natural environment and human health. These three federal agencies came together to create the Partnership for Sustainable Communities to help places around the country develop in more environmentally and economically sustainable ways. To guide its work, the Partnership developed six livability principles to guide the work undertaken by the Oyate Omniciyé planning team in collaboration with the Consortium and Steering Committee:
- Provide more transportation choices.
- Promote equitable, affordable housing.
- Enhance economic competitiveness.
- Support existing communities.
- Coordinate and leverage federal policies and investment.
- Value communities and neighborhoods.
This funding allowed the participants in the Oyate Omniciyé planning project a unique opportunity to develop a regional plan for sustainable development, which not only addresses these livability principles, but also includes climate change adaptation and mitigation planning. There is a very intentional effort to approach this in a holistic and systems based way. Thus, the overall plan looks at various ways to integrate and empower the entire community by addressing climate change issues and protecting cultural resources from the impacts of climate change on the plains of the upper Midwest.
Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation. L-R, Scott Moore, Jo White, Nick Tisen, Georgine Looks Twice, Dallas Nelson.
Working Together:
This important planning effort is being led by the Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation, a Native American 501(c)3 non-profit public charitable organization based out of the Thunder Valley community of the Porcupine District on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Their mission is: "Empowering Lakota youth and families to improve the health, culture and environment of our communities through the healing and strengthening of cultural identity."
For the purposes of the Oyate Omniciyé | Oglala Lakota planning project, Thunder Valley entered into partnership with one of the U.S. leading green architecture and planning firms, BNIM (www.bnim.com). This brought together one of the Oglala’s most effective grassroots organizations with one of the most cutting-edge groups of architects and planners looking at "what's next" in the areas of green design and transformative sustainable community development. Together this team has been facilitating the right kinds of dialogue and information exchange so critical to positive forward momentum.
The government and the people of the Region defined by the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation have also been involved in new ways. The Oyate Omniciyé project brought together various stakeholders from the region in the form of a Consortium Agreement and the convening of a Steering Committee.
The primary goal of the Consortium Agreement is to outline the roles and responsibilities of members of the Consortium tasked with supporting the development of a Regional Plan for Sustainable Development (RPSD) to help guide decisions and create comprehensive, coordinated opportunities for the Region serving the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and portions of the counties (Shannon, Jackson and Bennett) primarily inhabited by Oglala Lakota People. Additionally, this Agreement is intended to help signees better understand the process being followed to develop and centralize information about the population, needs, concerns, and ultimately maximize potential for funding opportunities to provide help to any of Region's participants in furthering their own missions and aspirations. This Agreement also allows signees a forum to outline adequate safeguards to ensure sensitive information that should remain restricted is protected in a respectful and consistent manner.
Oyate Omniciye Consortium meeting.
Members of the Consortium are committed to seeking new ways to utilize existing information and inherent strengths in a more interconnected manner. They seek to set metrics, bring in new opportunities and define measurable and attainable goals as a means to combat the rampant effects of persistent poverty, disease, violence, drug and alcohol addiction, suicide, drop-outs, historical trauma, loss of language, housing shortages, economic distress and the other devastating effects of oppression that have plagued the Lakota People of this Region for far too long.
With a focus on strengthening the Nation's sovereignty, the Consortium reserves the right to consider the appropriateness of collaboration with state government or an entity established by a state government, a Council of Governments, rural planning organizations, regional transportation agencies, special districts (e.g. utility districts), unified school districts, other Indian Tribes, or a multi-tribal organization that has been delegated authority by member Indian Tribes, additional nonprofit organizations, foundations, and educational institutions, or any other public authorities, districts, business leadership groups, or regional governmental organizations. Private and for-profit entities may also become participants in the Consortium.
Additionally, a Steering Committee was brought together to help guide the planning process. The respected members of this committee represent interests of Oglala Lakota people including elders, youth, teachers, health care professionals, business owners, and people of varying educational backgrounds. The Steering Committee is intended to provide a community balance as the majority of Consortium members are comprised of tribal programs and governmental entities. This group assists in facilitating discussions in public meetings, gives its input to planning recommendations and acts as extensions of the grassroots public outreach effort.
Support of the Government:
In order to effect change, it is important to receive support from the government of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Thus, the planning team has worked diligently to engage and involve the various branches and programs of the Oglala Sioux Tribe (www.oglalalakotanation.org).
On March 21, 2011, OST President John Yellow Bird Steele signed a heartfelt Letter of Support for the Oyate Omniciyé | Oglala Lakota planning project. He stated, "We have faced many challenges as a people, and some new ones are yet to come – we face an increase in population, housing shortfalls, rising fuel costs and witness the increasingly unpredictable and often times costly impacts of climate change. More and more, if we are to survive and thrive, we must look at what sustainability means to us and plan accordingly. I know we can do this together, because the Oyate have always been naturals at adapting, striving to plan ahead and preparing for whatever is next in a good way."
On March 31, 2011, the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council passed a resolution placing the health and culture of their people first and foremost by supporting the Oyate Omniciyé | Oglala Lakota planning project. This signaled the desire to move forward full force to put together a comprehensive regional plan for sustainable development that helps the Oglala Lakota identify and streamline solutions to identify and develop mitigation and adaptation strategies for the climate change issues facing the communities of the Region now and in the future.
In April 2011, the planning team spearheaded the effort to work with OST Tribal Council and OST program directors to outline the steps needed to roll out a Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventory Initiative to identify and streamline what is needed to have a robust climate change program for the Tribe.
Climate Change:
Climate changes and impacts that are already being observed anecdotally and in other research on the Great Plains affecting the Oglala Lakota Nation are increasing drought and resulting water scarcity; stresses to agriculture, ranching, and natural lands; and changes in wildlife habitats. Other concerns being reviewed are observed changing precipitation and temperature patterns, with increases by as much as 20 percent in some parts of the state where Tribal members reside. In Pine Ridge and other parts of Indian County in South Dakota, the region has become wetter in the winter with greater changes in the area of the Pine Ridge Reservation.
Some climate change issues the Oglala Lakota Plan may eventually address include impacts on the Nations day-to-day life, ecosystems, and economy, such as:
- Less snow cover in winter, resulting in less surface water from runoff during the remainder of the year. This is of concern west of the Missouri River, where most of the reservation population lives and most people use surface water.
- Ecosystems and wildlife used for subsistence living may become more stressed, and wildlife ranges may move north.
- Some plants, including plants used for ceremonial purposes, may be so vulnerable changes in the climate that disappear in certain areas.
- Traditional food crops, such as berries and timpsila, may no longer be available in adequate quantities on native-held lands.
- Temperature and water impacts will change which crops can be grown in an area.
- Increasing heat in the summer might increase the number of severe storms. In addition to general destruction, these storms will throw off the timing of crop and forage production. Communities with fewer resources such as Oglala Lakota communities may be less able to recover from the impacts of the severe storms. In the winter, more precipitation will fall as rain and less as snow.
- There may be more heat-related deaths. Older members of the tribal population are more susceptible to heat and will be disproportionately affected. Inadequately insulated buildings, which make up most housing on reservations, will provide little protection from the heat. Important ceremonial practices such as the Sundance may be adversely affected by temperature extremes.
Oyate Omniciyé | Oglala Lakota Plan:
The path towards creating a Regional Plan for Sustainable Development began with leaders of the Oglala Sioux Tribe in March 2011 passing Resolution 11-26XB, to promote and protect the health, welfare and culture of the Tribe. They affirmed all participants in the Oyate Omniciyé | Oglala Lakota planning process will be working toward cultural preservation, sustainable development, enhancement of environmental programs, etc., including climate change adaptation to maintain Tribal lifeways. This journey continues as the planning team hosts community meetings and interviews with program directors and other stakeholders. Out of this process, a vision has been developed:
"It is the vision of the Oglala Lakota to heal from historical injustices and courageously build healthy, prosperous communities with wisdom, kindness, generosity and respect for all life, land, water and air. The Oyate (People), especially our Youth, are empowered to lead the way to this sustainable future while honoring our culture and history through the regeneration of our Lakota language."
Leaders from the Tribal government, non-profits and communities make clear that this vision represents the true intentions of the Oglala Lakota and not of the U.S. federal government. The creation of the Oglala Lakota Plan will be developed to work for the 9 districts and associated 52 communities of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation as well as the ecosystems and wildlife in this pristine region. In the implementation phases of the project, needs and concerns will critically inform policy reform and new projects prioritized in a manner most appropriate to support the overall vision. Oyate Omniciyé represents in essence a Tribal partnership program with federal agencies promoting synergy not just between agencies but also between traditions, tribal ecological knowledge and modern awareness of being Lakota.
The leaders and stakeholders involved with Oyate Omniciyé believe the level of crisis on the reservation is staggering with daily issues unimaginable to individuals living off the reservation. In the communities there is often minimal access to safe water and fresh food, which is made even more difficult with climate change affecting subsistence and traditional foods. The goal of the Oyate Omniciyé | Oglala Lakota planning project is to embody the voice of the people and to define the Oyate's vision for a future of the Oglala Lakota Nation that is regenerative, sustainable and more prosperous.
Visioning and listening session.
Oglala Plan Implementation and Strategies:
In 2010, the Oglala Sioux Tribe became the first official Tribal member of ICLEI USA–Local Governments for Sustainability. ICLEI is an association of over 1220 local government members from over 70 countries who are committed to sustainable development and addressing climate change impacts worldwide. ICLEI represents more than 569,885,000 people throughout the world, and it provides tools such as assistance with greenhouse gas emission inventories and a climate change toolkit.
By joining, the Oglala Sioux Tribe made a voluntary pledge to mitigate climate change, seek adaptation measures, and promote sustainability. The Thunder Valley CDC and Oglala Sioux Tribe then furthered their collaboration for the Lakota Oyate with the help of ICLEI when the Oyate Omniciyé planning project came online.
Another joint effort started in the spring of 2011 between several Tribal offices and the Thunder Valley CDC is the Oglala Sioux Tribal GHG Inventory Initiative. This initiative has a 10-step process, and begins with a preliminary inventory of energy consumption data that is entered into the ICLEI GHG tool. Next, a preliminary report will be produced to share with Tribal Council and Tribal agency partners. Finally, the information will be analyzed and used in outreach to the appropriate agencies such as DOE, NREL, EPA, NOAA and others to establish funding and technological assistance in implementing the project. Ultimately, a Climate Action Plan for the Tribe will be developed and included in the overall Oyate Omniciyé | Oglala Lakota Plan.
As a further extension of the implementation process, the Oyate Omniciyé planning team organized and co-hosted with NOAA the first ever Oglala Lakota Nation Climate Change Summit at the National Weather Service Center in Kansas City, MO. Representatives from NOAA, UCAR, the High Plains Climate Research Center, and the National Drought Mitigation Center, as well as the South Dakota State Climatologist, attended along with Tribal leadership, program directors, and key experts from other Tribes. This event provided the basis and dialogue needed to identify climate change impacts on the Oglala Lakota Nation that need to be addressed. A larger event will be held on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in early 2012 to involve more stakeholders and Tribal leadership and to identify the human, governmental, and physical infrastructure needed to support the Tribe’s efforts to face climate change in an informed and responsive manner.
Lastly, the Oglala Sioux Tribe will look to the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) to strengthen its climate change response in the future. NOAA convened a workshop in June 2001 to initiate a long-term commitment to providing tribes with the drought information and resources needed to better monitor and respond to inter-annual drought conditions and long-term climate changes. These efforts by NIDIS are grounded in the commitment to help facilitate and establish long-term partnerships between tribal constituents and federal agencies, universities, and other entities in order to meet the federal trust responsibility. In the expanded Oglala Lakota Nation Climate Change Summit planned for early 2012, the Tribe will take the steps needed to begin developing a Drought Management Plan.
Successes and Challenges:
Since the Oyate Omniciyé planning project formally kicked off in January of 2011, it has been an amazing journey for the Tribe and its members. Obtaining the funding to begin work on the project and having the Tribal leaders pass resolutions and write letters of support are successes, as is the development of the diverse public-private collaborative in the form of the Consortium with the voices of the Steering Committee committed to providing the people access to the project. Becoming the first Tribal nation to join ICLEI and to partner with several federal agencies under the mantle of the Sustainable Communities Planning Program to develop their climate change and sustainability program is clearly another early success.
However, in a region often forced to operate in "crisis mode", it has been a challenge for the planning team to access information and get feedback from the tribal programs and the citizens themselves. There has been some early success with public engagement methods that promote openness and more dialogue rather than "talking at" people. Regarding climate change, there are challenges in clearly identifying specific issues. These challenges are being addressed by the planning team and the Tribe during the meetings with NOAA, UCAR, HPRCC and others, as they develop the Regional Plan for Sustainable Development and associated Oglala Lakota Climate Action Plan.
Key Partners:
Currently, the Oyate Omniciyé | Oglala Lakota Consortium and the Oglala Lakota Nation are partnering with numerous stakeholders on this project. Tribal programs, organizations and groups involved in the project include:
- Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation and BNIM
- Oglala Sioux Tribe (OST) Office of the President
- Pine Ridge Bureau of Indian Affairs
- OST Land Office
- OST Rural Water Supply System
- OST Health Administration
- OST Office of Economic Development
- OST Environmental Protection Program
- OST Natural Resources Regulatory Agency
- Oglala Nation Education Consortium
- Oglala Sioux Parks & Recreation Authority
- Oglala (Sioux) Lakota Housing Authority
- OST Partnership for Housing
- Mazaska Owecaso Otipi Financial
- Lakota Funds
- Pine Ridge Area Chamber of Commerce
- Tusweca Tiospaye
- Native American Natural Foods
- Oglala Cultural and Environmental Revitalization Initiative (OLCERI)
- The Village of Pine Ridge
Additionally, there are a wide variety of public and private partners from outside the boundaries of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Some of the key players to date have been HUD, DOT, EPA, USDA and NOAA, along with the High Plains Regional Climate Center in Lincoln, Nebraska, Enterprise Community Partners, Supportive Housing Coalition and ICLEI-USA. These organizations are providing guidance, technical assistance, resources and tools to continue development of the regional plan. As the Oyate Omniciyé | Oglala Lakota planning project continues, more beneficial partnerships and collaborations are being made.
These partners have encouraged open communications to continue development of this ongoing project for the sustainability, regeneration and climate change preparedness for the current and future generations of the Oglala Lakota Nation.
South Central Climate Science Center:
Tribal Climate Change Variability Workshops
Source: http://www7.nau.edu/itep/main/tcc/Tribes/plns_sccsc
American Indians, Alaska Natives, and other Indigenous peoples are particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts—including extreme weather and natural disasters that continue to affect various regions of the United States (US)—in part because these impacts threaten tribal homelands and valued cultural resources (Maldonado et al. 2013). The South Central Climate Science Center (CSC) is a consortium of US agencies, tribes, and universities that serves a region of the southern US including Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. One major focus of the South Central CSC is helping regional tribes increase awareness of the unique climate-related challenges they face. This profile highlights the collaboration between tribes, academics and inter-agency organizations that are part of the South Central CSC, and one innovative approach these partners are developing to address climate change.
With support from the South Central CSC and the Southern Climate Impacts Planning Program (SCIPP), the University of Oklahoma hosted five Intertribal Workshops on climate variability and change during the summer of 2013, four in Oklahoma, and one in New Mexico. The workshop invitations were extended to the 63 federally recognized tribes within the service region of the South Central CSC. The objectives of the workshops were to (1) introduce participants to the SCCSC and Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs), (2) to provide information and tools to help tribes deal with drought and other climate impacts relevant to the region and (3) to promote the development of tribally-led video projects to aid in community education, climate impact documentation, and information sharing.
This project has also served to document participant opinions, experiences, and observations for thesis research of Absentee Shawnee graduate student Paulette Blanchard. Blanchard, a graduate of Haskell Indian Nations University, is currently a Master’s student at the University of Oklahoma’s Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability.
"[Blanchard] seeks to blend tribal perspectives with climate science in ways that might respect, enrich and sustain the natural and cultural resources distinguishing the places Native Peoples call home. She wants to know how video-mediated climate data might be used to document the impacts of environmental transformations, as well as the capabilities and needs of the region’s tribal nations (Smith 2013)."
Paulette Blanchard, workshop organizer and OU Master's Candidate.
Blanchard's work is motivated by the dearth of scholarship on how regional tribes have historically dealt with changes in climate. She has noted that in the past, most tribes in Oklahoma were forced to deal with climate change through relocation. For example, Cherokee people were forcibly removed from their homelands in the Southeastern US and sent on a death march—commonly known as the Trail of Tears—to reservations in Oklahoma. Less well publicized are the many successful adaptations of the Cherokee people to climate features of Oklahoma. Krakoff (2011) argues that Cherokee sovereignty was a central factor that enabled the Cherokee to adapt to extremely adverse conditions. Similarly, Indigenous workshop participants are finding ways to adapt to climate impacts that necessarily strengthen their peoples’ sovereignty.
Interestingly, little historical documentation exists on how native peoples in this region dealt with the Dust Bowl and other major droughts during the 20th century despite the fact that at the time, native peoples constituted a significant portion of the population in the region. More recent literature on how climate change has affected this region continues to lack a tribal perspective and features little information about how tribes in the region are adapting to and mitigating the effects of climate change. In response to this lack of tribal voices, the intertribal workshops included screenings of videos showcasing how some tribes currently address climate change. These videos helped cultivate a culturally-grounded understanding of climate change through historical accounts and stories about particular places.
Agency staff and tribal participants used the workshop as an opportuntiy to exchange information.
Creating Links between Tribes and Coordinating Organizations
This summer's intertribal workshops emerged out of the 2011 Oklahoma Intertribal Climate Change Meeting convened by Haskell Indian Nations University, Kiksapa Consulting and others which brought together 22 tribes to discuss climate change. This summer’s five intertribal workshops, which were funded by the South Central CSC, represent part of an institutional response to tribal interests and concerns on the part of this Climate Science Center. The data collected during this meeting will help to inform the forthcoming Tribal Chapter of the Third National Climate Assessment. One important outcome of the workshops was the discovery that, according to initial results, tribes are interested in convening more meetings focused on locally relevant information.
As climate change adaptation becomes a larger focus for tribes and US governmental agencies, more opportunities emerge for collaboration, coordination and support among these parties. While collaboration between different tribes to address climate change is ongoing and rapidly increasing throughout the US, collaboration among US governmental agencies and tribes too often lacks infrastructure and support. The South Central CSC and representatives from Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs) took part in these workshops to more effectively collaborate with tribes. In addition to seeking a better understanding of what tribes are experiencing, workshop organizers sought to share climate-induced drought adaptation data and tools with tribal participants.
These workshops provided an opportunity to initiate new and/or foster already established relationships among tribes and federal and state agencies. While tribal leadership and participants look forward to gaining more tools to help their communities adapt, tribes want to ensure full protection of Indigenous knowledge. With guidance from Paulette Blanchard, these workshops used regionally appropriate, Indigenous methods of respect and communication predicated on establishing trust and strong government-to-government relationships, which in turn enable effective collaboration. The workshops brought together agency personnel with tribal leadership in an effort to find common ground that respects tribal sovereignty and ensures tribes and agencies engaged on equal footing.
Randall Ware being interviewed; the workshop provided media makers with a chance to document native peoples' experiences with climate impacts.
Participatory Video as a Tool for Adaptation
These workshops promoted the use of participatory videos—videos created through a community-led process—in tribal adaptation efforts. Paulette Blanchard and Native media makers Filoteo Gómez Martínez and Jeffery Palmer led a video-making project during each workshop. Participatory videos can be a powerful tool for tribes as they adapt to climate change and can help to give tribes a broader audience when describing how climate is impacting their communities. Additionally, video documentation of climate impacts and community responses can be distributed within the community for educational purposes.
This project included interviews conducted during the workshops in order to provide voice to native concerns regarding climate impacts. The videos made with footage of these interviews allow tribal participants to document the climate impacts that their communities and homelands are facing. The workshops provided a place for native filmmakers and tribal participants—many of whom had experience creating and/or using video—to network, compare methods, and compare and contrast videos about climate impacts made by both native and non-native filmmakers. Among other topics, participants discussed how Indigenous methods result in very different representations of experience and convey particularly salient and impactful messages.
The media makers, as well as workshop organizers and supporters, hope that tribal participants will be inspired to tell their own stories about climate. Stories told by tribal participants are educational, provide historical and cultural documentation of tribes’ struggles with climate impacts, and can serve as public service announcements about adaptation planning. In addition, these videos can strengthen networks among different tribes and serve as educational pieces that tribes can distribute, not only between one another, but also to non-tribal organizations and individuals who want to learn about tribal efforts to address climate change. Most importantly, by creating videos, tribal participants ensure that the struggles they face as sovereign nations are recognized and more accurately depicted. Fundamentally, the videos are useful tools that help participants 1) tell stories about climate impacts that are culturally and socially appropriate, 2) document climate impacts on their region and people, 3) uphold their rights and enrich their capacity to control their own past and future, and 4) strengthen control of tribal intellectual property and knowledge.
By articulating their stories, participants are also asserting the validity of native science. Historically, western science has been promoted at the expense of native science and epistemologies; by visualizing their own ways of knowing, Indigenous videographers help correct this imbalance. Creating videos that demonstrate how native scientists observe and understand climate changes helps to dismantle the perception that western science is the only valid form of scientific or verifiable information.
Conclusion: Sharing Knowledge and Developing New Tools to Adapt
Climate researchers anticipate that the South Central US will be heavily impacted by drought and other climate-induced impacts. These projections underscore how critical planning is for tribes in the region. By networking with regional organizations, tribes can utilize existing resources, while fostering productive partnerships with other entities committed to climate adaptation. By making participatory videos, tribal planners refine their ability to create culturally appropriate resources, sometimes even in their own tribal languages. These videos are particularly useful because they aid tribes in disseminating information on what challenges their communities face, and what measures they are taking to adapt. Additionally, these videos are a tool for tribes to reinforce their sovereignty by exercising control over Indigenous science and stories around climate, which in turn strengthens tribes’ capacity to address climate issues. In the past, tribes in this region relied upon their legal and political sovereignty to respond to forced relocation and the associated changes in climate (Krakoff 2011). Today, tribes are continuing to empower themselves to adapt to climate changes by drawing on their sovereignty.
This summer's intertribal workshops provided tribes with information about existing resources that increased their capacity to respond to expected changes, and which encouraged them to continue planning for climate change. As an added benefit, the workshops permitted Paulette Blanchard, Filoteo Gómez Martínez and Jeffery Palmer to begin work on a feature-length documentary about the stories and experiences of native people from the Southern Plains and New Mexico as they cope with climate change impacts. Lastly, the workshops provided an opportunity for tribal participants and academics to give greater voice to their concerns regarding native people and climate impacts.
Principle 9f
Misconceptions about this Principle
The Misconception
CO2 limits that will mitigate climate change will harm the economy.
The misconception or myth goes something like this: “Passing laws to limit greenhouse gas emissions hurt the economy and damage the Gross Domestic Product “GDP” growth of developing countries [...] This in turn will increase poverty.”
The Science
Economic studies show that, while environmental regulations (like reducing CO2 emissions) may cost companies money, their net benefits often greatly exceed their costs.
In recent years, the U.S. set a 17% target [for emissions reduction]; the country is on track to meet that. At the same time, the U.S. has doubled our production of clean energy — wind-energy production is up three-fold, solar is up twenty-fold (as of 2015). All this while we have come out of the worst recession in the nation’s history. So, we've been able to grow the economy from the depths of a deep recession while emitting less carbon than we did previously. Read more…
The Science
Economic studies show that, while environmental regulations (like reducing CO2 emissions) may cost companies money, their net benefits often greatly exceed their costs.
In recent years, the U.S. set a 17% target [for emissions reduction]; the country is on track to meet that. At the same time, the U.S. has doubled our production of clean energy — wind-energy production is up three-fold, solar is up twenty-fold (as of 2015). All this while we have come out of the worst recession in the nation’s history. So, we've been able to grow the economy from the depths of a deep recession while emitting less carbon than we did previously.
Also, auto and truck regulations are on track to double the fuel efficiency of our vehicles by 2025 (saving consumers $1.7 trillion). America has been able to do all this while creating millions of jobs and dropping the unemployment rate. And none of the disasters that some predicted from those regulatory steps have taken place.
Four major factors account for this: increased use of low-carbon energy sources instead of fossil energy sources; increased efficiency in energy generation; increased energy efficiency on the consumer side; and a move away from energy-intensive manufacturing towards less energy-intensive service sector work.
The biggest driver has been the reduced cost of renewable energy, particularly solar power.
Renewables are the only source of energy that is continually getting cheaper. In many parts of the world, solar and wind power have become cost competitive with coal. Renewables are, increasingly, offering the best return for your money, in terms of new investments.
It is true that environmental regulations impose compliance costs on businesses, and can raise prices, and that can hurt economic growth. But it is also true that those regulations create jobs by requiring pollution clean-up and prevention efforts. And perhaps even more importantly, they save the economy billions by avoiding pollution’s harmful health effects and long-term economic costs. Particles from smoke stacks, for example, are implicated in respiratory diseases, heart attacks, infections and a host of other ailments, all of which require billions in health-care costs per year to treat. Preventing those particles from going into the air means healthier and more productive citizens, who can go spend that money on something other than making themselves well again. Another example is carbon emissions, which will impose costs on the economy in the form of future disruption to food supplies, destruction from extreme weather, and other upheavals if they’re not curbed.
The Office of Management and Budget* (OMB) study looked at a range of regulations across the economy, and found the benefits of regulations outweighed their costs across the board. The blue and red bars below represent the range of estimates for what the costs (in red) and benefits (in blue) of regulations were. In very few instances was even the very upper limit of cost estimates equal to the very lower limit of benefit estimates.
Source: Office of Management and Budget
But no where was the effect greater than with EPA regulations themselves. Over the last decade, they imposed as much as $45 billion in costs on the economy, but they drove as much as $640 billion in benefits (benefits are 14 times greater than costs).
The OMB study found that a decade’s worth of major federal rules had produced annual benefits to the U.S. economy of between $193 billion and $800 billion and impose costs of just $57 billion to $84 billion. Benefits far outweigh costs.
Rules from the EPA added significantly to both sides of the ledger. “It should be clear that the rules with the highest benefits and the highest costs, by far, come from the Environmental Protection Agency and in particular its Office of Air and Radiation,” the OMB study said.
So fighting climate change will provide a boost for the economy while helping to protect the planet from the catastrophic changes unabated global warming would bring.
* The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). The main function of OMB is to produce the President's Budget. OMB also measures the quality of agency programs, policies, and procedures and checks to see if they comply with the president's policies.
Adapted from: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/05/03/1955891/new-omb-study-the-economic-benefits-of-epa-regulations-massively-outweigh-the-costs/
How much will greenhouse gas emission controls impact growth rates?
Our best guess is that keeping greenhouse gas concentrations within "safe" limits (430-480 parts per million of carbon equivalent) would mean global average annual consumption growth rates of between 1.54% and 2.94% rather than between 1.6% and 3%.
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