Asserting Native Resilience: Pacific Rim Indigenous Nations Face the Climate Change

IMPACTS OF GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE

PAGE 97 II. EFFECTS OF THE CLIMATE CRISIS IMPACTS OF GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE Bradford Burnham Master in Public Administration, ἀ e Evergreen State College (Olympia, Washington) It is now undeniable that climate change is occurring around the world. Scientists have discovered that the average surface air temperature has risen to its warmest level in 650,000 years. The rise in temperature has already affected environments around the world and, since the temperature is predicted to continue to rise, the effects will become more widespread and intense during this century. Undoubtedly, it will soon become apparent that “combating climate change is the greatest challenge of human history” (Johansen 2003). Earth’s average surface air temperature has risen and fallen over the last 800,000 years. However, the climate change observed by scientists over the past fifty years is most likely due to human activity. We release gases into the air as we grow crops, burn wood and coal, and drive our vehicles. These gases change the way that the air around us holds heat from the sun and the ground. Some of these gases are good at trapping sunlight as it enters our atmosphere, and others are good at trapping heat that rises from the earth. These gases are called “greenhouse gases” because they act like a greenhouse and trap heat. Our activities have raised the amount or concentration of some of these gases by as much as 30 percent above the highest level for the last 800,000 years (Karl et al. 2009). It is natural for some of the gases in the air to trap heat. This ability of the air, or atmosphere, allows us to have a livable air temperature at the surface. A balance exists between how much heat the air holds and how much it releases. However, if the balance is changed and too much of the gases that hold heat are added, the average surface temperature will rise. The Changing Atmosphere Our activities are changing the amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. As more greenhouse gases become more abundant, more of the sun’s heat will be trapped in the atmosphere, raising the average temperature . The greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (CO2 ), methane (CH4 ), nitrous oxide (N2 O), and some halocarbons (CFC13 , CF2 C12 ) have all increased in concentration in the atmosphere since 1750. Carbon dioxide (CO2 ), the most abundant of these gases, has increased 31 percent since 1750. This is the Sources Adams, J. 2005. Tracking a Homecoming: The Migration of Titi from California. Titi Times (Department of Zoology, University of Otago), Kia Mau Te Titi Mo Ake Tonu Atu research project 15:6–7. Bosselmann, K., J. Fuller, and J. Salinger. 2002. Climate change in New Zealand: Scientific and Legal Assessments. New Zealand Centre for Environmental Law, Monograph Series vol. 2. Auckland: University of Auckland. Griffiths, G., et al. 2003. The Climate of the Bay of Plenty: Past and Future? NIWA Client Report AKL 2003-044, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, Auckland. Hayward, B. W., H. R. Grenfell, R. Carter, and J. J. Hayward. 2004. Benthic Foraminiferal Evidence for the Neogene Palaeoceanographic History of the Southwest Pacific East of New Zealand. Marine Geology 205:147–184. King, D. N. T., A. Skipper, H. Ngamane, and B. W. Tawhai. 2005. Understanding Local Weather and Climate with Maori Environmental Knowledge. National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), Auckland. Mead, H. M. 2003. Tikanga Maori: Living by Maori Values. Wellington: Huia Publishers. New Zealand Geographic Board. 1990. He Korero Purakau Mo Nga Taunahanahatanga A Nga Tupuna [Place Names of the Ancestors: A Maori Oral History Atlas]. Wellington: Government Printing Office. Power, S., ed. 1999. Inter-decadal Modulation of the Impact of ENSO on Australia. Climate Dynamics 15(5):319–324. * Purakau like the one told here are commonplace stories of explanation that come from a deeper body of knowledge held by tohunga, fire markers of the series of undersea active volcanoes at the western edge of the subduction zone, also known as cones and “black smokers.” PAGE 98 ASSERTING NATIVE RESILIENCE: PACIFIC RIM INDIGENOUS NATIONS FACE THE CLIMATE CRISIS peratures have increased 0.1°C per decade (Houghton et al. 2001). In addition, winter has been affected more than summer in many regions. The nighttime lows are less cold, so there are fewer below-freezing nights. This translates into a shorter winter. In the northern hemisphere , many lakes and streams freeze about a week later in early winter and thaw about ten days earlier...