ADK and Others Protest Global Warming

Mary Lou Recor, Tony Godwin, Pete Fish, Wes Lampman, Nola Royce, Phil Brown,
Dick Tucker, and Sally Dewes unfurl banner on Whiteface Mountain 04/14/2007

From Newsday.com -

Protesters Urge Action on Global Warming

By VERENA DOBNIK
Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK -- Americans worried about climate change gathered Saturday on
ski slopes and in cities for a nationwide day of demonstrations aimed at
drawing attention to global warming.

More than 1,300 events were organized in every state under the banner Step
It Up 2007 to push Congress to require an 80 percent cut in carbon dioxide
emissions by 2050.

"When it comes to global warming, I don't exactly think President Bush is
doing such a hot job," said 12-year-old New Yorker Tiffany Cordero. "A lot
of people are thinking just of now. But we won't have a 'now' if we don't
focus on the future."

Tiffany delivered a speech for a rally in lower Manhattan's Battery Park,
overlooking New York Harbor, where people dressed in blue -- some equipped
with scuba gear and beach balls -- gathered to form a Sea of People human
line to symbolically mark New York's future coastline.

Scientists say melting polar ice caps and glaciers will cause ocean levels
to rise, although estimates vary. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change has projected that ocean levels will rise 7 to 23 inches this
century, but other scientists warn the sea level could rise 10 feet or
more, enough to flood Lower Manhattan other low-lying coastal areas.

The threatened rise in the ocean also was dramatized by a New Coast Parade
in Portland, Maine, one of more than 30 observances in that state. "The
most important things that we have a responsibility to do in government
are to prepare our children for a bright future and to preserve and
protect our natural resources," Maine Gov. John Baldacci told a gathering
in Portland.

The nationwide events were spearheaded by a group of recent graduates from
Vermont's Middlebury College, who organized a campaign of blogs, e-mail
messages and word of mouth communications.

"We see this to be the most pressing issue of our time, and our
generation," said Will Bates, 23, one of six former Middlebury students
who helped organize the event with author Bill McKibben, a scholar in
residence at the college and among the first to write about global
warming, in his 1989 book "The End of Nature."

In Chicago's Daley Plaza, about 500 people listened to speeches from a
panel of environmental experts who called for a reduction in carbon
dioxide emissions. The crowd also waved signs exclaiming "Step it up
Congress."

In Santa Monica, hundreds gathered along the Third Street Promenade just
east of the Pacific Ocean to listen to lectures and listen to makers of
"green" products pitch their wares.

"We have such a wonderful planet and it is really tragic for us to ruin it
with global warming," said organizer Jim Stewart of Earth Day L.A. "The
bottom line is everybody needs to be carbon-neutral."

In one of the day's first demonstrations, skiers unfurled a protest banner
in April snow on Whiteface Mountain near Wilmington, N.Y. Another group
made an early morning hike to the summit of Maine's Cadillac Mountain,
which is the first spot in the U.S. to be lit by the rising sun.

The Whiteface Mountain skiers fear long-term temperature increases promise
trouble for native plants, wildlife and people in the Adirondack Mountains
of northern New York state.

"It's subtle," said Nola Royce, who has been going to the Adirondacks
since 1971. For example, she said, the region's notorious, biting black
flies are emerging earlier in the season.

Neil Woodworth, executive director of the Adirondack Mountain Club, said
less obvious concerns about warming include pests moving northward. He
mentioned tick-borne Lyme disease, now a problem farther south in
Connecticut, New Jersey and southern New York, as well as the Sirex wood
wasp, hemlock woolly adelgid and Asian longhorned beetle.

"All these tree eaters normally prefer more temperate climates than the
Adirondacks," Woodworth said. "And as the Adirondack climate gets warmer
in the winters the below-freezing barrier that has held these pests at bay
is going to be lost."

(Associated Press writers Michael Virtanen in Wilmington, N.Y. and Laurel
Jorgensen in Chicago contributed to this report.)

 

From Newsday.com -

Adirondack skiers join national global warming protest

By MICHAEL VIRTANEN
Associated Press Writer

WILMINGTON, N.Y. -- While demonstrators in more than 1,300 spots around
the U.S. were set to denounce global warming Saturday, one group skied up
Whiteface Mountain to unfurl a protest banner in April snow.

They fear the Adirondacks are another ailing canary in the coal mine of
greenhouse gases. Some of the southernmost boreal forests are here, and
outdoor sports support the tourism economy. Long-term temperature
increases promise trouble for native plants, wildlife and people.

"It's subtle," said Nola Royce, who began coming to the Adirondacks in
1971. For example, she said, the region's notorious black flies are
emerging earlier in the season.

The Whiteface ski area was open Saturday, but there was brown grass and
little snow at the base of the mountain.

"From melting glaciers to unseasonable and erratic weather patterns, we
are already feeling the impact," Bill McKibben said of the global
consequences. The former Johnsburg resident and author of "The End of
Nature" helped organize Saturday's "Step It Up" protests nationally to
push Congress to impose an 80 percent cut in carbon dioxide emissions by
2050.

McKibben planned to be in New York City among a "sea of people" in blue
shirts Saturday showing where the new tide line will be. But his 1989 book
"was written in large measure out of my fear for what would happen to the
Adirondacks _ a fear that is already starting to be borne out in changed
winters and summers," he said.

The scientific evidence was strong then, and the 1995 assessment from the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change should have ended the debate,
McKibben said. "Which is why it's frustrating we've wasted so much time
since."

America has about 10 years to transform its economy and lead the world
away from burning fossil fuels and toward alternative technology, he says,
or else face a changed planet.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says greenhouse gases
_ mainly water vapor and carbon dioxide _ trap needed heat in the lower
atmosphere. But the concentration of carbon dioxide has increased more
than 30 percent from preindustrial levels, mainly from burning coal, oil
and gas, and continues to rise. "There is no scientific debate on this
point," according to the NOAA and the National Climatic Data Center.

Meanwhile, global surface temperatures have increased about 1 degree
Fahrenheit since the late 19th century, though not uniformly and some
places like the Southeastern U.S. have actually cooled, according to the
federal scientists.

In the Adirondacks this year, skiers were short of snow until mid-January,
then it fell and temperatures plummeted to 30 degrees below zero.
Outdoorsman Clarence Petty, 101, standing in January rain, recalled
skating as a boy on frozen ponds at Thanksgiving and said the warming
trend had been clear there for years.

Neil Woodworth, executive director of the Adirondack Mountain Club, said
less obvious concerns about warming include pestilence. He mentioned
tick-borne Lyme disease, now a problem farther south in Connecticut, New
Jersey and southern New York, as well as the Sirex wood wasp, Hemlock
Woolly Adelgid and Asian Longhorned Beetle.

"All these tree eaters normally prefer more temperate climates than the
Adirondacks," Woodworth said. "And as the Adirondack climate gets warmer
in the winters the below-freezing barrier that has held these pests at bay
is going to be lost."

Statewide, 32 percent of greenhouse gas emissions come from
transportation, 24 percent power plants, 7 percent other industrial
sources, 16 percent residential, 11 percent commercial and 10 percent
other sources, according to the New York State Energy Research and
Development Authority.

New York's vehicle emissions standards follow California's major
regulatory efforts. Tougher than federal standards, they require
automakers to cut fleet averages starting with the 2009 model year.
Automakers are fighting the state rules in a federal trial in Vermont.

New York is also reviewing public comments on proposed rules to cap power
plant emissions of carbon dioxide with an open auction of pollution
allowances. Judith Enck, chief environmental adviser to Gov. Eliot
Spitzer, said the final rule will probably be issued next year, part of
the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative with several Northeastern states.

Among 1,358 protests or events nationally, a dozen were planned in the
Adirondacks, including at Paul Smith's College, which said this week it
arranged to buy wind power credits for all its 3,625 megawatt hours of
electricity use annually. College spokesman Ken Aaron said the college
will pay a premium of 4.5 to 5 percent above its normal rate.

 

From Albany, N.Y.: Timesunion.com -

A regional rally for a global problem        

Step It Up 2007 events draw attention to changes brought by warmer climate

By BRIAN NEARING and RICK CLEMENSON, Staff writers

WILMINGTON -- A mix of snow and fog at the foot of the Whiteface
Mountain toll road made it a white-on-white world Saturday as 15
people -- and two dogs -- started the 2,500-foot ascent to the top.
The group was skiing up the state's fifth-highest peak -- which was
wrapped in early spring snow -- to call attention to the damage that
global warming could bring to the Adirondacks.


Sponsored by the Adirondack Mountain Club and Adirondack Explorer, a
monthly magazine covering recreation in the mountains, the climb was
among more than 1,300 events held nationwide to mark Step It Up
2007, a global warming awareness day that was the brainchild of
naturalist and author Bill McKibben of Vermont.


McKibben spent the day at a Manhattan rally.


Among the skiers was Pete Fish, whose 71st birthday was Saturday.
The retired state forest ranger spent 23 years in the Adirondacks,
and he says he has seen winter's retreat. He recalled hiking to
Mount Marcy, the state's tallest peak, on the July 4, 1959.


"There was still unmelted snow in a glacially carved 'bowl' near the
summit, which was a normal occurrence," Fish said. "But by the
1970s, such snow was a memory. Now, you might not even see snow in
that bowl in May," he said after the three-hour climb to the top.

His observation is confirmed by October's Northeast Climate Impacts
Assessment, a study by the Union of Concerned Scientists and an
independent team of experts.


That study found that winter temperatures have risen about 4 since
the 1970s, with a corresponding decline of about three weeks of snow
cover.


Closer to home, Capital Region residents were out in force to mark
the day with some 30 local events.


It's time for public officials to acknowledge global warming, and
Americans need to do their part to help the planet, was the rallying
cry of environmental activists and citizens locally and across the
country.


Demonstrators want Congress to pass laws that would lead to reducing
carbon emissions in the United States by 80 percent by 2050.
"We have to take action now," said Karissa Centanni of Troy, an
education coordinator with Honest Weight Food Co-op of Albany who
organized Step It Up, Capital. The event drew about 800 for a picnic
in Washington Park.


Participants, including a group of bundled-up Siena College students
who marched roughly five miles from the Loudonville campus to the
park, were fed organic foods from Honest Weight to stress the
importance of eating locally grown food.


Afterward, the crowd walked to the Capitol with signs proclaiming
"Give Peas a Chance" and "Lettuce Have A Future."
The rally culminated with Edward Bennett, a retired state Department
of Environmental Conservation employee, singing "America the
Beautiful" on the Capitol steps. Bennett attended the 1970 Earth Day
in Albany, and says he believes concerns about global warming will
unite the country.


"The Chinas and Indias need to come along with us on this, but the
world needs American leadership," he said.
Asked whether the outpouring of concern is a knee-jerk reaction to
reports about the effects of global warming, Bennett said, "This
problem isn't going away."


In Schenectady, members of the Schenectady Coalition Against Global
Warming, along with Mayor Brian U. Stratton and state Assemblyman
Paul Tonko, walked up State Street from Liberty Park to City Hall
where they were joined by Union College students who displayed a
quilt banner made from pieces donated by various schools.


The day gave Kate Hull of Schenectady a chance to rekindle her
activist side. Hull, 65, marched in civil rights protests in

Cambridge, Mass., in the late 1960s.


"I think this is part of being a good citizen," Hull said.
Her friend and neighbor, Mary Werner, felt compelled to rally even
though her son works for Daimler Chrysler in the Washington, D.C.,
area. Mother and son often debate the environmental impact of car
emissions, she said.


Nearly 3,000 people attended the Saratoga Environmental Expo, held
in conjunction with Step It Up events in that city.


Actors Daryl Hannah and Ed Begley Jr. spoke at the expo, which
included displays of organic and green building products and
discussions on biodiesel options, renewable energy for homeowners
and the importance of composting.


Christine Bellino, an expo organizer, said the festival will be held
again next April.


In Troy, students marched from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
campus to the Uncle Sam statue in the heart of the city, picked up
trash, planted trees and enjoyed live entertainment.


Meanwhile, in the mountains, having snow on Whiteface in mid-April
is not unusual. And its choice as a symbol of climate change might
be telling. By the end of this century, unless emissions of carbon
dioxide are reduced, the report found, northern regions of the state
could have half as many days of snow cover as they do now.
Other statistics add to the picture. Lake Champlain has failed to
ice over only about 31 times since records were first kept, in 1816.
About half those have happened since the 1980s.


And a map included in the report predicts a not-so-chilling future.
By 2100, the only parts of the state that would have at least 30
days of snow cover in winter would be the Adirondacks.


"A lot of our readers enjoy winter activities in the park, and that
would be at risk if temperatures continue to rise," said Phil Brown,
editor of Adirondack Explorer magazine. Brown helped organize the
11-mile outing, which took about five hours to complete over packed
powder on the summit road.


Places like Whiteface would be the last redoubt of a vanishing
winter, so high-altitude trips like Saturday's could become a
necessity for those who wanted to see snow.


Nola Royce, 61, has climbed the Adirondacks' 46 highest peaks in the
winter, earning her the title of "winter 46er." She's climbed
mountains in the Canadian Rockies, the Alps and South America. In
the mid-1980s, during a trip to the Athabasca Glacier in British
Columbia, she says she first noticed that winter seemed to be losing
its grip.


"There were markers for where the glacier used to be, and the
markers hadn't changed much over the years, but suddenly they began
moving further and further back," she said. "I'll continue to be
able to play with winter activities, but there is going to come a
time, in a generation of two, where that is not going to be
available. That really worries me."


If CO2 emissions are reduced, the effects already built into the
atmosphere could raise winter temperatures by 5 by midcentury. The
increase could be as much as 7 if emissions continue unchecked.
Royce's fellow "winter 46er," Mary Lou Recor, said warming
temperatures at her home in Colchester, Vt., in addition to making
winters less severe, have also brought an influx of unwelcome
visitors -- ticks. The parasites are not being killed as often by
winter's freeze, so they're surviving to afflict gardeners and
hikers in the spring.


"People are having problems with this, finding them on their dogs,"
Rector said. "(A) friend's dog ended up with Lyme disease."
Brian Nearing can be reached at 454-5094 or by e-mail at
bnearing@timesunion.com.