EPA Regional Administrator to Host Roundtable Discussion Of Strategies to Reduce the Impacts of Climate Change in the Hudson Valley (NY)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck today lead a discussion at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York about climate change and its impacts in the Hudson Valley. The discussion will center on President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, released on June 25, 2013. It will also focus on strategies already being implemented to mitigate the effects of climate change and new approaches to reduce and better prepare for its impacts.

“2012 was the hottest year on record and there is no doubt that climate change is already here in the Hudson Valley,” said Judith A. Enck, EPA Regional Administrator. “Taking action to cut greenhouse gases and better withstand the impacts of climate change is critical to protecting the environment and people’s health. It’s also essential to our economy, with recovery from severe weather disasters costing billions of dollars each year.”

Climate change impacts range from more frequent and severe storms, floods, heat waves and wildfires to increased risk of asthma attacks and longer allergy seasons. In 2012 alone, the cost of weather disasters exceeded $110 billion in the United States, and climate change will only increase the frequency and intensity of these events.

The President’s Climate Action Plan includes actions to make communities more able to withstand the impacts of climate change and the development of new rules to cut carbon pollution, similar to standards for other toxins like mercury and arsenic. It also contains actions to bolster renewable energy sources that will create good jobs and lower home energy bills. For more details on the plan, visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/share/climate-action-plan.

For more information about what the EPA is doing to address climate change, visit http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/EPAactivities.html.

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Gina McCarthy, the EPA's Chief visits Alaska to highlight the climate action plan and tour Bristol Bay (AK)

What: the u.s. environmental protection agency Administrator Gina McCarthy will travel to Alaska next week to highlight the President's commitment to addressing climate change and its impact on the State. Manager McCarthy intends to visit the Portage glacier near Anchorage to explore the effects of climate change on the region. McCarthy is also planning to visit the Bristol Bay watershed, where he meets with tribes, representatives of the industry, fishermen and other interested parties in the area. McCarthy is also a visit to Fairbanks to discuss ongoing air quality challenges facing the community. More details are being finalized and will be released soon.

MEDIA opportunities (final times tbd): Portage Glacier Tour
When: Monday, August 26
Where: Girdwood, Alaska

Tour Fairbanks
When: Wednesday, August 28
Where: Fairbanks, Alaska

Note: Media interested in attending the event should contact Marianne Holsman at 206 553 1237 holsman.marianne@epa.gov

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Susan Solomon wins international climate award

The fifth BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the climate change category has been awarded to MIT's Susan Solomon for her work on determining how human action alters the composition of the atmosphere and how, in turn, these changes affect Earth's climate. The award citation states that Solomon "has contributed, through her research and leadership, to the safeguarding of our planet."

Solomon's work over 30 years has succeeded in establishing and drawing together links between three key climate change variables: human activity, a profound and comprehensive understanding of the behavior of atmospheric gases, and the alteration of climate patterns globally.

According to the award citation, "her early research, fundamental to the understanding of stratospheric chemistry, led to the strengthening of the Montreal Protocol to curb the use of ozone-destroying substances." In recent years, the citation adds, "her contributions and leadership within the IPCC and other forums is a role model of science for the public good."

In the words of Bjorn Stevens, the BBVA jury chairman: "Her research has really shown how basic science can shape policy decisions and social actions. She is not an activist; she is very much a basic scientist, but she has this knack of picking up topics and developing new understanding which then influences the public debate. Probably there is no other scientist in the field whose results have had such a big impact on one of the key social questions of our time."

Carlos Duarte, the jury secretary and director of the Oceans Institute at the University of Western Australia, added during the announcement event that Solomon "has formulated a general theory of climate system response to perturbations in atmospheric composition."

On receiving news of the award, Solomon, the Ellen Swallow Richards Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate Science, declared herself "thrilled. It is a fantastic award and also a great honor to join these very distinguished past recipients."

A precocious scientist and a vital discovery

Solomon was won over to science at an early age by watching TV nature programs such as The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau. Her passion for atmospheric chemistry was already apparent in high school, where she won a prize with a project measuring the amount of oxygen in gas mixtures.

After earning her PhD from the University of California at Berkeley, with an atmospheric chemistry project alongside future Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen, Solomon started work in the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). It was the early 1980s, and news was coming in of a drastic reduction in the ozone layer over Antarctica. Although the ozone-destroying power of the gases known as CFCs — chlorofluorocarbons, used in refrigeration and aerosols — was already known to science, the hunt was still on to find the causes of the hole opening up in the Antarctic ozone layer.

Why a hole over Antarctica, so far from where CFCs were in regular use? And, why was depletion happening so fast? Susan Solomon solved the mystery by elucidating the chemical reactions that take place on the surface of the ice crystals present in the stratosphere over both poles. But not content with constructing an explanatory model, she was determined to test her theory on the ground. In 1986 and 1987, Solomon led two expeditions during the Antarctic winter — with its permanent nights and temperatures as low as -50 degrees C — to gather data on atmospheric composition at the time and place when the hole was forming. The evidence obtained would vindicate her theory.

Science had already established that a lack of ozone led to an increase in the ultraviolet radiation reaching Earth, but it was Solomon who proved, in later research, that these changes in stratospheric composition also impacted on climate. In particular, the ozone hole has a clear effect on wind and rain patterns in the Southern Hemisphere.

This was the first time a link had been found between the ozone hole and climate. As Solomon explains: "the ozone hole is such an incredible perturbation of the entire atmosphere, it just rocks the planet."

Her research has produced such tangible results as the ban on CFC gases in the Montreal Protocol, signed in 1987. "What's encouraging about the ozone hole is that it shows that people can understand that we can change our global environment in ways that are not safe, but we can also make choices to decide that we don't want to do that," Solomon says. "And is it not amazing that virtually every country in the world has signed the Montreal Protocol?"

Combating climate change

Another of Solomon's findings highlights the slowness with which the atmosphere recovers. Despite this, Solomon insists, "it is important to know that it's not too late to stop turning up the thermostat."

"My discovery really increases the importance of making good choices about how much more carbon dioxide we want to put into the atmosphere, because we need to understand that what we are doing cannot be easily undone," she says.

Solomon has no doubt that innovation is one of the best ways to combat climate change. "There is a tremendous amount of technical work and engineering to find alternative ways to produce energy, or to get the carbon back in the ground," she says. "I am a strong believer in technology, and I see tremendous and encouraging changes happening."

In 2002, she joined the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), where she co-chaired Group One, tasked with writing the watershed climate report published in 2007.

"What is really great about scientists is that you can have 10 scientist in the room and it doesn't matter if their native languages are different," Solomon says. "They look at the data and are able to talk to each other in a very constructive way. That's truly incredible and it's also the reason I love being a scientist."

The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards, spanning eight prize categories, recognize research and creative work of excellence as embedded in theoretical advances, technological developments, or innovative artistic works and styles, as well as fundamental contributions in addressing key challenges of the 21st century. 

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Changing with the climate

Just days after President Obama called for action on climate change in his second inaugural address, members of Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick’s administration joined energy and environment researchers at MIT to discuss strategies for adapting to climate change. The panel discussion on Jan. 23 fostered a continued partnership between MIT and the Commonwealth to advance energy and environment innovation.

“We are so pleased to have the opportunity to utilize one of the Commonwealth’s greatest intellectual resources — MIT — to tackle this global challenge,” said Massachusetts Undersecretary for Energy Barbara Kates-Garnick, the moderator of the panel.

MIT professors Kerry Emanuel and Michael Greenstone kicked off the event with a discussion on the clear realities of climate change.

“When we’re talking about global climate change, no one really cares if the temperature goes up a few degrees. On a day like today it would seem to be a good thing,” said Emanuel, the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Atmospheric Science. “What we really care about … is the side effects of that global warming.”

Side effects include increases in sea levels of as much as three feet by the end of the century, increased incidence of heat waves and drought, and more intense rain and snow storms and hurricanes.

When asked by MIT Energy Initiative Director Ernest Moniz how long we have to prepare, Emanuel said the time scale is negative. But he pointed out that part of the problem is policies that encourage people to live and build in risky places. “People are moving into hurricane-prone regions, including right here in Massachusetts,” Emanuel said. “For these people, this is bad news.”

Emanuel's colleague, Greenstone, then laid out some of the ways to confront the challenges of climate change.

Mitigation — i.e., reducing greenhouse gas emissions to reduce the severity of climate change effects — is one course of action. But, Greenstone noted, a comprehensive mitigation strategy hasn’t generated much enthusiasm around the world. “I say that as someone who listened to the president’s inaugural and thought, ‘This is fantastic. The president is making a big effort on this,’” said Greenstone, the 3M Professor of Environmental Economics. “Unfortunately, I’m not sure everyone in the country agrees with the president, and the politics have proven to be a little harrowing.”

Like President Obama, Greenstone believes the United States should be a leader, encouraging other countries to also confront climate change. Acting through adaptation measures can complement both mitigation initiatives and funding of basic research and development for low-carbon energy sources in the United States and abroad.

Greenstone said that in addition to contributing to the science of climate change, researchers can partner with policymakers and planners to try to find successful adaptation strategies. This collaboration is important because “the playbook of successful adaptation strategies I think is rather small,” Greenstone said.

Fortunately, Massachusetts is playing a key role in developing that playbook. Two years ago, the Commonwealth released the Massachusetts Climate Change Adaptation Report, which lays out strategies to help prepare for and respond to the impacts of climate change. Stephen Estes-Smargiassi, director of planning for the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA), and the Department of Agricultural Resources Commissioner Gregory Watson spoke about some of their efforts.

Estes-Smargiassi used the Deer Island treatment plant as one example of their work to make adaptation part of their long-term strategy.

When the department began designing the plant in the 1990s, its engineers realized that if sea level rose, the plant's capacity would be compromised. To ensure they would have the capacity needed for the future, the MWRA decided to raise the design of the plant almost two feet. Estes-Smargiassi called this move the first significant and concrete effort at climate adaptation nationwide.

“When we’re making a renovation, we’re going to make sure climate change is a part of it. It’s built into our thinking,” Estes-Smargiassi said.

The department is also taking steps to be more efficient. Just this week, the MWRA was nationally recognized by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy and the Alliance for Water Efficiency for its exceptional efforts to save both energy and water. The MWRA’s work contributes to the Commonwealth’s overall effort to reduce emissions by 25 percent by 2020 and by at least 80 percent by 2050 below statewide 1990 emissions. Mandated by the Massachusetts Global Warming Solutions Act of 2008, these emission reduction targets are the most ambitious in the nation.

With a third of global greenhouse gas emissions coming from the food system, Watson spoke on his department’s work. Calling large commodity-based agriculture “a thing of the past,” Watson said his department is turning to new, more sustainable techniques: composting, enriching soils with nutrients, increasing fertility with biochar (charcoal substitute made from organic material) and encouraging "grow local" campaigns.

“We’re creating a sustainable agricultural economy in Massachusetts,” Watson said. And that’s “the direction agriculture in this country is headed.”

While there are substantial efforts underway in Massachusetts, Kates-Garnick concluded the discussion by highlighting the need for continued work.

“We have a piecemeal approach. One administration leaves, another comes in. And while we may all be committed … what we really have to do now is put in place long-term consistent solutions ... I think we’re really focused on doing this in our administration,” Kates-Garnick said.

MIT researchers and Massachusetts officials will come together again on Jan. 29 to learn about cutting-edge strategies students are developing.

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