News stories tagged with "climate-change"

(02/02/12) St. Lawrence County legislators are scheduled to take another look at a Climate Action Plan next week. When legislators asked the County Planning Department to write the plan last March, they wanted ways to save money by being more energy efficient.

The climate plan was tabled last summer, when students and professors at the four universities in Canton and Potsdam started a cost-benefit analysis of some ideas in the plan. more

(01/31/12) The future of a plan to reduce St. Lawrence County's greenhouse gas emissions is still up in the air. County legislators voted this month to keep the Climate Action Plan on the table. Trevor Alford reports that legislators didn't agree on what to do with a cost-benefit analysis by local university students.
(CLARIFICATION: the Climate Action Plan contains no mandates for the county or its employees.) more

(12/09/11) Delegates from nearly 200 countries have been meeting over the past two weeks in South Africa for the United Nations Convention on climate change. St. Lawrence University professor Jon Rosales just returned from Durban. He's been advocating on behalf of villages on the Bering Strait, on the west coast of Alaska, which are the focus of his research. Julie Grant has more. more

(12/08/11) One of the lead investigators of the recent report on climate change in New York says the heavy storms this spring and summer, and the mild temperatures this fall will not necessarily be the "new normal" for the north country and Adirondacks. But Cornell University climate researcher Arthur DeGaetano says the heavy rainfall and warm weather could be a glimpse into the future.

The report, released late last month by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, is based on the work of more than 50 scientists. It paints a harsh picture of extreme climate events - predicting that upstate New York will have heavier, and more frequent downpours, like those we've seen this year.

The report says the temperature in New York has already warmed 2.4 degrees in the past forty years. It projects a further rise of as much as three degrees by the 2020s, with the temperature steadily warming as much as nine degrees by the 2080s.

DeGaetano says that means northern New York would have a climate more like North Carolina or Georgia. He says the report isn't meant to scare people. It's meant to help them transition along with the climate. DeGaetano says agriculture will be one of the industries most affected. He spoke with Julie Grant.

(11/28/11) A new report finds that New York may suffer disproportionate effects of climate change in the coming decades, when compared with other regions. The report was co-authored by scientists from Cornell, Columbia University, and Hunter College. It finds that because New York is a northern state, it has already warmed more than twice the global average--2.4 degrees Fahrenheit in the last forty years.

The report paints a harsh picture, including possible extreme temperatures in the coming decades, along with sea-level rises, downpours, droughts, and floods. The changes are projected to affect nearly every region and every facet of New York's economy, including upstate ski resorts and dairy farms.

The report finds that the changing weather patterns will also affect public health. Co-author Patrick Kinney is director of Columbia University's Climate and Health Program. He spoke with Julie Grant about the diseases and other problems that could be in the north country's future.

(09/27/11) This summer, the St. Lawrence County legislature considered a measure to create a climate action plan. The plan would find ways to save money while reducing the county government's carbon footprint. That could include anything from energy audits in county buildings to anti-idling policies in county parking lots. The legislature tabled the matter because it wanted a better cost-benefit analysis of the plan.

Clarkson University professor Stephen Bird hopes to provide that analysis. Bird studies energy and environmental policy. He's working with faculty and students at all four universities in Canton and Potsdam. Bird told David Sommerstein that climate change models project significant changes for the North Country in the future.

(09/02/11) It's shocking to compare the devastation Tropical Storm Irene brought to the eastern side of the Adrondacks with the mildness of the storm's impact on the western slope. What was a pretty rainy, windy day in Paul Smiths or St. Regis falls was disaster in Keene and Upper Jay.

Martha Foley talked with Paul Smith's professor Dr. Curt Stager about the science side of the storm and its local impact.

(06/07/11) Our guest is Dr. Curt Stager of the Paul Smith's College faculty, co-host of NCPR's Natural Selections, and author of Deep Future: The Next 100,000 Years of Life on Earth. Drawing upon the latest works of a handful of climate visionaries, the book explores the possibilities for next hundred millennia of life on Earth. Ellen Rocco and Chris Robinson host.

(03/28/11) A skeptical public greeted wind power representatives Saturday in St. Lawrence County. Iberdrola Renewables says it's in "the earliest stages" of developing an industrial wind farm in the towns of Parishville and neighboring Hopkinton. As David Sommerstein reports, this weekend's open house puts the communities on a familiar - and contentious - path. more

(03/25/11) The owner of the Northeast's largest wind farm - on the Tug Hill Plateau - is looking into a new project in St. Lawrence County. Iberdrola Renewables is holding an informational meeting tomorrow in Parishville. David Sommerstein reports. more