Alaska, the state
warming twice as fast as the rest of the nation, is a canary in the coalmine
for climate disruption. Across the state, the effects of climate change are
being experienced – some areas much more poignantly and life altering than
others.
Release of the new Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
and Fourth National Climate
Change reports, place Alaska in the crosshairs of climate change. Both
spell out, in no uncertain terms, that our civilization has little more than a
decade to reign in greenhouse gas emissions or face a series of cascading
ecosystem and economic collapses.
These reports verify
that the unsettling changes we Alaskans are experiencing are part of a global
problem - one that every state and nation must confront with conviction and
vigor.
‘Learned Helplessness’
is defined as: a state in which nothing a person opts to do affects what is
happening. It is the quitting or the give up response that follows the
conviction that whatever a person does doesn’t matter. The term was
initially used to label the failure of certain laboratory animals to escape or
avoid shock, despite giving an opportunity, subsequent to earlier exposure to
unavoidable shock.
To hear many Alaskans,
including people who study the climate system, postulate, one might be led to
think that Alaska is left to eek out a living until the last drop of oil and
puff of gas is gone; we must just hunker down and passively take the brunt of
climate change with little or no hope of being part of the solution. Following this status quo, business-as-usual
model is to admit defeat and allow ‘learned helplessness’ to be our guide.
We wholeheartedly reject
this fate!
Climate change is a
historic opportunity for Alaska to transform, diversify and expand a robustly
more sustainable new energy economy to the farthest corners of the state while
firmly grounding us as a global leader on climate change.
As the recent 7.0
Earthquake demonstrates, Alaskan’s got talent when it comes to dealing with
natural disaster; we are tough and resilient and innovative and that translates
into Big Climate Change solutions, some right in front of our noses.
Alaska has renewable
energy potential other regions of the world only dream about. We have
world-class wind, tidal, hydro, geo-thermal, biomass and even great solar
potential, for much of the year. Alaska has unique geographic and hydrological
features, which allow us to hoard renewable energy in liquid reservoirs during
times of surplus and then release that energy back out in the winter when our
energy demands increase. We have world class expertise in climate science,
rural micro-grids, cold-climate infrastructure design and relocation
engineering, and much, much more.
Our captors - the oil and gas industry, their lobbyists,
and government officials – would like you to believe that our only salvation
will come from more fossil fuel extraction. Even if the threats from climate
change and ocean acidification did not exist, this would not be true. Our
remaining oil is no longer worth enough to save us. It’s time to break free from our
collective Stockholm Syndrome, address the very real threats of climate change
and embolden the industries of the future.
Bjorn
Olson & Ceal Smith
Printed on 12.16.18, Alaska Daily News
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| Kodiak Island, AK 100% renewable energy microgrid |
Bjorn Olson is an award winning film-maker, author, Native Alaskan living in Homer, and founder of Alaskan’s Know Climate Change.
Ceal Smith, is a Conservation Biologist and consultant living in Eagle River, and founder of the Alaska Climate Action Network.
