Warm winter shows time for climate action is long overdue

Once is a fluke. Twice is a coincidence. Three times is a trend — in this case, a disturbing trend. I’m talking about our winter weather, or more like the lack of it for the third year in a row. The unseasonable warm temperatures, the lack of snowfall, and the wild wind and rain events across the state are repeat performances of the last two winter seasons. The reason is simple and plain: Climate change.

It is undeniable now. We are living in the proof of it all. What does it all mean for us up here? Well, for one thing our snow-related sports are going to have change or adapt, maybe go away all together (I hope not!). That could wreak havoc on the Iron Dog and Iditarod races, which are Alaska icons and very dependent on snow. Alarmist? No, realist. Our earth is changing and we must change with it — or else.

Just think of the damage being done to those in the snow removal business this year and the two previous years. How many are hurting to the point of failure? And if this trend continues, as I believe it will, questions will arise as to what we should do about it. I realize it is hard to picture a warm Alaska in winter. I struggle with the notion myself not wanting to believe what is happening to my beloved home of 11 years.

And yet I see and feel it as I step out the door to a yard of green and brown, dry and frozen at the same time. The snow has all melted away in the last couple days due to warm wind and rain. The snow that did fall a few days ago was pitiful and was barely qualified to call itself snow. The last big snowfall was in November. I have to think hard as to when was the last time I wore all my snow gear. It was two months ago exactly.

This has been bugging me for some time now. Especially when I step out in clothing more appropriate for breakup during what should be the deepest cold of the winter. Am I the only one noticing this? Good lord, I hope not.

Of course we know where it is going. Down south into the Lower 48. The last two years the east coast was buried under thick layers of snow. This year it is the west coast drowning in floods along with the south getting nailed with wild weather from tornados to blizzards. The cause of it all is a series of large storms pushed up from the Pacific to slam into Alaska. These huge storm systems can stretch all the way down to the west coast. The Arctic air mass is pushed away as warm Pacific air takes over here. That Arctic air slides down along a warped jet stream through Canada and into the continental states. This has been the general pattern for the last two winters past and this one present.

The west coast reels as storm after storm brings high winds and heavy rains that cause floods, landslides and fallen trees by the dozens. The Arctic air mixes with warm Gulf of Mexico air around the middle of the country, sparking even more wild weather that included the rare winter tornados that tore up towns in Texas. Then to add insult to injury Texas endured flooding from massive rainfall, a small earthquake and to top it all off a blizzard.

2015 was the warmest year on record globally. The earth is going through some changes, and mankind isn’t helping matters by any stretch of the imagination. The amount of pollutants being pumped out into the air, land and sea is staggering. For every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. It is plain that the planet is reacting from all the crap we have dumped on her. Her ocean temperatures are rising. Her air is filling up with CO2 at alarming rates. Her forests are being logged out — these are the lungs of the world. Forest scrub out CO-2 and replace it with oxygen. Her lands are being filled with toxins from industrial operations to mining, toxins that seep into the water tables to poison animals and humans alike.

But we can do much to help instead of hurt. We can take measures to curb air pollution in our factories and our cars along with other forms of transport with filters, cleaner burning fuels and alternate energy like solar, wind, tidal and even bio-generated fuels. We also need tougher laws that have teeth to go after polluters.

We need to mine responsibly and should take a serious look at taking mining off the planet to the Moon and asteroids. Don’t laugh, it’s not science fiction. The earth has a finite level of mining resources, which we are consuming at staggering rates. Out there in space those same resources rival earth’s tenfold. We can learn to mine them, refine them and bring them back to earth. We can also learn to harness the power of the sun for energy generation for here and up there.

We need to clean up our oceans and shorelines of the plastic and other junk floating in them and washing up on our the shores. It is killing the sea life in record numbers. We need to protect fragile coral reefs from human caused damage. We need to fish with responsibility to keep that resource flowing and alive. We need to curb over fishing and prosecute those that commit it.

Recycling must become more than just bottles, cans and cardboard. There is so much that can be done in recycling, which is a subject for another article. Most of all we must learn to adapt to what is happening around us now and into the future. From rising sea levels to weather gone wild, we can survive.

Early man survived and thrived in the ice age. Can modern man do the same? The answer is yes, but it will take a truly international effort to really make this work. The time to start is past due but it’s not too late if we start now. So what are we waiting for?

Daniel D. Grota is a retired U.S. Army veteran with over 21 years in service. He is also a Tuesday morning co-host on KVRF 89.5 FM, Radio Free Palmer. Write to him at news@frontiersman.com.