28 August 2015
By MarEx
U.S. President Barack Obama (click here) travels to Alaska on Monday for a three-day visit meant to spotlight warming temperatures, melting glaciers, rising seas and the need to support a strong climate deal during the global climate negotiations in Paris.
Obama will attend the U.S. government hosted GLACIER meeting, and his visit comes at a time when, on both sides of the Bering Strait, summer sea ice has once more dropped to a level that is driving thousands of walruses onto coastal beaches.
Environmental organizations are voicing their concerns.
5,000 Walruses
In Ryrkaypiy in Chukotka, Russia, an estimated 5,000 walruses are hauled out, while across in Alaska, thousands more are hauled out near the village of Point Lay. WWF highlighted the significance of Obama’s visit to the Arctic in a statement, raising concerns about the animals and their environment.
“This past July was the second warmest on record for Alaska,” says Pete Ewins, WWF Arctic Species specialist. “So it’s not surprising that we’re seeing these animals on the beaches quite early. While haul outs can be potentially dangerous to the animals gathered on shore, we’re concerned about what events such as these mean for the health of the entire Arctic marine system.”...
For native peoples, be they indigenous or settlers, the change is alarming and obvious. Their lives have been disrupted and the lower 48 continually ignored their plight.
The people 'of the north' live with the natural world because of it's harsh reality. They become attached to the quiet, the beauty and the variety of wildlife and the ORDER of nature. So, for the Earth to warm the so called civilized world may have as well closed on their mortgage. The life outside is as much part of home as the coziness of life inside a home.
President Obama has a responsibility to apologize to the people of Alaska in neglecting the state and it's important place on Earth. If the USA had listened to it's own people and the pain they carry in their hearts for the destruction of their homeland we would be farther along in avoiding this very dangerous trend of warming Earth. It is as though everyone turned their backs on this beautiful state, but, the thirst for oil was too great and money dominated reality rather than the people and their attachment to the land.
To date, citizens and the EPA has been able to ward off more and more demands for land use that is extremely harmful to Alaska, it's waters and it's fisheries. The least we can do is find hope that President Obama will find a way to resolve an importance to the land and respect for it's people.
The nightmare today is far more than the "North Slope." Allowing offshore drilling has the potential to destroy coastlines including that of Canada and other countries. The Arctic Ocean is far too unpredictable to drill for oil. The nightmare is that the entire habitat of the Walrus and the Polar Bear will be contaminated and destroyed forever. That includes the food chain that begins with underwater creatures.
It is unfortunate the USA has been so irreverent of Alaska, but, to add insult to injury is rather unthinkable.
By MarEx
U.S. President Barack Obama (click here) travels to Alaska on Monday for a three-day visit meant to spotlight warming temperatures, melting glaciers, rising seas and the need to support a strong climate deal during the global climate negotiations in Paris.
Obama will attend the U.S. government hosted GLACIER meeting, and his visit comes at a time when, on both sides of the Bering Strait, summer sea ice has once more dropped to a level that is driving thousands of walruses onto coastal beaches.
Environmental organizations are voicing their concerns.
5,000 Walruses
In Ryrkaypiy in Chukotka, Russia, an estimated 5,000 walruses are hauled out, while across in Alaska, thousands more are hauled out near the village of Point Lay. WWF highlighted the significance of Obama’s visit to the Arctic in a statement, raising concerns about the animals and their environment.
“This past July was the second warmest on record for Alaska,” says Pete Ewins, WWF Arctic Species specialist. “So it’s not surprising that we’re seeing these animals on the beaches quite early. While haul outs can be potentially dangerous to the animals gathered on shore, we’re concerned about what events such as these mean for the health of the entire Arctic marine system.”...
For native peoples, be they indigenous or settlers, the change is alarming and obvious. Their lives have been disrupted and the lower 48 continually ignored their plight.
The people 'of the north' live with the natural world because of it's harsh reality. They become attached to the quiet, the beauty and the variety of wildlife and the ORDER of nature. So, for the Earth to warm the so called civilized world may have as well closed on their mortgage. The life outside is as much part of home as the coziness of life inside a home.
President Obama has a responsibility to apologize to the people of Alaska in neglecting the state and it's important place on Earth. If the USA had listened to it's own people and the pain they carry in their hearts for the destruction of their homeland we would be farther along in avoiding this very dangerous trend of warming Earth. It is as though everyone turned their backs on this beautiful state, but, the thirst for oil was too great and money dominated reality rather than the people and their attachment to the land.
To date, citizens and the EPA has been able to ward off more and more demands for land use that is extremely harmful to Alaska, it's waters and it's fisheries. The least we can do is find hope that President Obama will find a way to resolve an importance to the land and respect for it's people.
The nightmare today is far more than the "North Slope." Allowing offshore drilling has the potential to destroy coastlines including that of Canada and other countries. The Arctic Ocean is far too unpredictable to drill for oil. The nightmare is that the entire habitat of the Walrus and the Polar Bear will be contaminated and destroyed forever. That includes the food chain that begins with underwater creatures.
It is unfortunate the USA has been so irreverent of Alaska, but, to add insult to injury is rather unthinkable.
