Post by blackcrowheart on Sept 20, 2007 14:12:08 GMT -5
Alaska Natives push Congress on global warming
By ALEX deMARBAN
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: March 19, 2007)
www.adn.com/front/story/8721781p-8623915c.html
Blaming a hotter planet for endangering their lives and culture, more than
125 Alaska Native organizations have signed a resolution urging Congress
to take stronger action to combat global warming.
Several village leaders plan to give the resolution, which ask for a
mandatory cap on greenhouse gas emissions, to members of Congress on
Wednesday.
"We want to make the point that our community needs drastic changes in
order for us to survive far into the future," said Tony Weyiouanna of
Shishmaref, a Northwest Alaska village threatened by coastal erosion.
The resolution, representing the voices of thousands of Natives, is
unprecedented because it includes input from every region of Alaska, said
organizer Anna Davidson, a Yup'ik mother of three.
Supporters include the Alaska Federation of Natives -- a large statewide
group -- as well as tribal governments, village corporations and regional
social-service organizations, she said.
Environmentalists, members of Congress and Mayor Stanley Tocktoo of
Shishmaref will be among the speakers at a rally Tuesday at the U.S.
Capitol aimed at reducing the causes of climate change.
Organizers have said that thousands will attend what they call Climate
Crisis Action Day, which would make it the largest demonstration held in
Washington on the subject of warming global temperatures.
The Arctic is warming faster than other parts of the planet and Alaska
Natives, often outdoors practicing subsistence lifestyles, arguably have
more to lose from global warming than most Americans, Davidson said.
Dramatic environmental changes imperil Natives and the animals they hunt
and fish, the two-page resolution says, and changes are needed quickly.
Warmer air and water have caused diseases in fish, plants and wildlife,
the resolution says. Storm-bred waves are eating the ground beneath
villages -- they’re less protected by shoreline ice -- forcing a handful
of villages to plan for relocation. Thinning ice has made winter travel on
lakes and rivers riskier because snowmachines and people can crash
through.
People in Shishmaref, a village of 581, are afraid walrus will stop
coming, Weyiouanna said.
Walrus hunt from the ice, diving to sea bottoms to feed. If the ice moves
out too far, above sea bottoms the walrus can’t reach, they may not
survive, he said.
The coastal village, built on an island in the Chukchi Sea, is eroding
quickly, he said. The community is looking at new locations. It can
survive another 10 to 15 years before it needs to move, the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers reported last year.
"Considering the amount of erosion we see every summer and fall we don’t
have much time," he said.
Many leading climate scientists have said the average Alaska temperature
has risen 4 degrees in 40 years, and could rise another 5 to 9 degrees in
the next 100 years. Late summer sea ice off the North Slope has shrunk
substantially, leaving open water for longer stretches of the year.
Many scientists blame greenhouse gas emissions that come from the burning
of fossils fuels, such as oil in cars and diesel in power plants.
Alaska Sens. Ted Stevens and Lisa Murkowski, both Republicans, have
sponsored bills to improve fuel-efficiency standards and reduce petroleum
use.
The measures are a good start, but not strong enough, said Deborah
Williams, Alaska Conservation Solutions president. The Anchorage-based
group gave Davidson’s effort money, Williams said.
The senators need to support bills that limit greenhouse gas emissions,
she said.
Murkowski is considering a bill by Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., that would
do that, said spokesman Kevin Sweeney.
The limits are lower than in other bills before Congress, but it’s less
likely to slow the economy, he said.
Murkowski has asked the state university’s Institute of Social and
Economic Research to study the impacts of Bingaman's bill on Alaska's
economy, Sweeney said. If it doesn’t hurt the economy too much, she may
vote for it, he said.
Davidson, originally from Southwest Alaska, now lives in Anchorage. She
began sending draft resolutions to Native organizations last summer after
noticing that berries bloomed and bird eggs hatched earlier every year
near Kwigillingok, a Southwest village she travels to every summer.
She blames warmer temperatures and said earlier hatching times could hurt
chick survival if mothers can't find food, she said.
There will be more changes if Congress doesn’t act soon, she said.
"We know this is happening and it's affecting us and we need our leaders
to do something about it," she said.
Daily News reporter Alex deMarban can be reached at ademarban@adn.com. The
Washington Post contributed to this article.
*
The material in this post is distributed without
profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in receiving the included information for research
and educational purposes.For more information go to:
www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html
oregon.uoregon.edu/~csundt/documents.htm
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this
email for purposes that go beyond 'fair use', you
must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
By ALEX deMARBAN
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: March 19, 2007)
www.adn.com/front/story/8721781p-8623915c.html
Blaming a hotter planet for endangering their lives and culture, more than
125 Alaska Native organizations have signed a resolution urging Congress
to take stronger action to combat global warming.
Several village leaders plan to give the resolution, which ask for a
mandatory cap on greenhouse gas emissions, to members of Congress on
Wednesday.
"We want to make the point that our community needs drastic changes in
order for us to survive far into the future," said Tony Weyiouanna of
Shishmaref, a Northwest Alaska village threatened by coastal erosion.
The resolution, representing the voices of thousands of Natives, is
unprecedented because it includes input from every region of Alaska, said
organizer Anna Davidson, a Yup'ik mother of three.
Supporters include the Alaska Federation of Natives -- a large statewide
group -- as well as tribal governments, village corporations and regional
social-service organizations, she said.
Environmentalists, members of Congress and Mayor Stanley Tocktoo of
Shishmaref will be among the speakers at a rally Tuesday at the U.S.
Capitol aimed at reducing the causes of climate change.
Organizers have said that thousands will attend what they call Climate
Crisis Action Day, which would make it the largest demonstration held in
Washington on the subject of warming global temperatures.
The Arctic is warming faster than other parts of the planet and Alaska
Natives, often outdoors practicing subsistence lifestyles, arguably have
more to lose from global warming than most Americans, Davidson said.
Dramatic environmental changes imperil Natives and the animals they hunt
and fish, the two-page resolution says, and changes are needed quickly.
Warmer air and water have caused diseases in fish, plants and wildlife,
the resolution says. Storm-bred waves are eating the ground beneath
villages -- they’re less protected by shoreline ice -- forcing a handful
of villages to plan for relocation. Thinning ice has made winter travel on
lakes and rivers riskier because snowmachines and people can crash
through.
People in Shishmaref, a village of 581, are afraid walrus will stop
coming, Weyiouanna said.
Walrus hunt from the ice, diving to sea bottoms to feed. If the ice moves
out too far, above sea bottoms the walrus can’t reach, they may not
survive, he said.
The coastal village, built on an island in the Chukchi Sea, is eroding
quickly, he said. The community is looking at new locations. It can
survive another 10 to 15 years before it needs to move, the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers reported last year.
"Considering the amount of erosion we see every summer and fall we don’t
have much time," he said.
Many leading climate scientists have said the average Alaska temperature
has risen 4 degrees in 40 years, and could rise another 5 to 9 degrees in
the next 100 years. Late summer sea ice off the North Slope has shrunk
substantially, leaving open water for longer stretches of the year.
Many scientists blame greenhouse gas emissions that come from the burning
of fossils fuels, such as oil in cars and diesel in power plants.
Alaska Sens. Ted Stevens and Lisa Murkowski, both Republicans, have
sponsored bills to improve fuel-efficiency standards and reduce petroleum
use.
The measures are a good start, but not strong enough, said Deborah
Williams, Alaska Conservation Solutions president. The Anchorage-based
group gave Davidson’s effort money, Williams said.
The senators need to support bills that limit greenhouse gas emissions,
she said.
Murkowski is considering a bill by Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., that would
do that, said spokesman Kevin Sweeney.
The limits are lower than in other bills before Congress, but it’s less
likely to slow the economy, he said.
Murkowski has asked the state university’s Institute of Social and
Economic Research to study the impacts of Bingaman's bill on Alaska's
economy, Sweeney said. If it doesn’t hurt the economy too much, she may
vote for it, he said.
Davidson, originally from Southwest Alaska, now lives in Anchorage. She
began sending draft resolutions to Native organizations last summer after
noticing that berries bloomed and bird eggs hatched earlier every year
near Kwigillingok, a Southwest village she travels to every summer.
She blames warmer temperatures and said earlier hatching times could hurt
chick survival if mothers can't find food, she said.
There will be more changes if Congress doesn’t act soon, she said.
"We know this is happening and it's affecting us and we need our leaders
to do something about it," she said.
Daily News reporter Alex deMarban can be reached at ademarban@adn.com. The
Washington Post contributed to this article.
*
The material in this post is distributed without
profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in receiving the included information for research
and educational purposes.For more information go to:
www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html
oregon.uoregon.edu/~csundt/documents.htm
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this
email for purposes that go beyond 'fair use', you
must obtain permission from the copyright owner.