News stories tagged with "climate-change"

(04/30/12) On Friday, North Country Public Radio reported that some small land conservation deals are still moving forward in the Adirondack Park, despite the state's cash crunch. Groups outside the blue line are also working to protect key parcels of open space.

This spring, the Indian River Lakes Conservancy in the St. Lawrence Valley bought another parcel of wetlands and shorelines around Grass Lake, using a major grand from the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The group now owns more than 1500 acres.

As Brian Mann reports, the land could serve as part of a key wildlife corridor between the Adirondacks in New York and Algonquin Park in Canada.

(03/27/12) NCPR's Natural Selections team, Paul Smith's College naturalist Dr. Curt Stager and news director Martha Foley, talks with callers about the unusual weather this spring, what they have observed, and what it might mean for wildlife, crops, gardens and forests for the rest of the year.

(03/27/12) While some North Country apple growers are worried sick about the weather - others say it's too soon to be concerned. After a week of temperatures in the 80s, apple trees started to bud. Julie Grant spoke yesterday with Patricia Sheehan, co-owner of Rulfs Orchard in Peru. Forecasters were predicting lows of around 15 degrees.

The forecast calls for better apple weather later this week, with highs near 50, and lows in the lower 30s.

(03/20/12) Physics professor Aileen O'Donoghue's visit to NCPR studios this morning was a two-fer. O'Donoghue teaches astronomy and climate at St. Lawrence University. So this morning, before talking about where the planets are in the night sky, and how the lovely new moon will rise this week, she explained how the scant snow this winter is contributing to the current hot spell.
She talked with Martha Foley.

(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.