The Economic toll of Global Warming in the Adirondacks

From my own selfish viewpoint, the main consequence of global warming its toll on the ski season. Nevertheless, Bill McKibben's article on global warming illustrates how far-reaching the effects of global warming are to all aspects of Adirondack life. Skiing is not just a fun activity to do in the snow, but also makes up a major part of the tourism economy. Skiers come from all over the east to ski at Whiteface and now Gore, along with spending money at hotels and restaurants. However, snowmobiling is also a popular form of recreation, mainly in the southern and central Adirondacks. If one pulls into a gas station in Speculator in the middle of the winter, they are likely to see as many snowmobiles as cars filling up. Global warming will impact maple syrup sales, as well as hurt tourist revenues from the fall foliage season.

It seems most people acknowledge that global warming is a serious issue, yet few are willing to make the sacrifices to diminish its effects. It will take a large scale effort among many different nations if we want to stop this problem. Fossil fuel emissions in China will eventually cause a trickle down effect, eventually hurting the Adirondack economy as described above. It seems there are many problems in the current Adirondacks; global warming could prove to be the worst one, since there is not much that local governments can do about it.

Climate Change and Time

Climate change is a very real problem for our future.  Going off of McKibben's article, projections for the century estimate it being a five to ten degree jump, which he contrasts very neatly to the only one degree jump of the past since the Ice Age.  The problem with this is that nothing is immediate.  Everything with climate change happens over such an extended period of time that the cause and effect relationship of issues isn't as apparent as most.  I view this as the primary problem with actually accomplishing anything concerning climate change. 

Take clear-cutting from the lumber industry.  A plot of land in this situation is in a dichotomy of two states.  It's either cleared or full of trees.  The difference is obvious, jarring, and enough to mobilize any sort of concerned person.  Climate change, on the other hand, is a bit more subtle.  Most of what McKibben mentions is a slow change of tree species over a long period of time.  Of course, products are affected, and this is why I can see a lot of business owners flexing to help protect their interests and subsequently try to help on raising awareness and legislature.  But this happens on a similarly large timeframe.  If we were to suddenly jump to 2100, the ski/winter recreation industry, maple industry, tourism, etc. would be absolutely devastated, but for now the slight temperature creep is not as pressing of an issue, especially when there are still real and immediate problems businesses deal with everyday.  Unfortunately, climate change is not even universally agreed upon yet, and one political party in particular is very inconsistent on its stance towards it.  Because of these complications, climate change is a difficult and pervasive issue.

Another Paradox?

At the end of last class I was surprised to hear that Lake Placid was looking to submit a bid to host another winter Olympics. I assumed that due to the ever increasing number of supporters attending the games many residents of the park would recognize how much of nightmare hosting the event could be. Though I do understand that much of Lake Placid's image, history and identity revolves around winter sport, it still baffles me how much support and optimism is circulating on blogs and other online sources. Many of these opinion pieces were put out by local citizens who see the potential economic benefits and a possible increase in infrastructure and private investment. Due to my bias I thought of the unavoidable environmental impact of the event but I do understand the logic behind their point of view to a certain extend.
I was reminded of this issue/dynamic again while reading Bill McKibben article on climate change. He discusses the impact rising temperatures will have on the image of the Adirondacks as ponds will cease to freeze over and less snow will blanket the mountain sides. As we have discovered over the course of the semester, the Adirondack park means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. But I find it a bit comedic that many people are concerned about the logistics of hosting an Olympic event when the conditions necessary to host it may not exist within the century. It seems as though many people are blinded by the pride and positive image that comes from hosting and overlook how much of an impact (positive and negative) the games have had on Lake Placid and the park. Or they might possibly allow the projected positive impact to justify the negatives. This issue presents another paradox wherein the influx of people and expansion of infrastructure in the park to support those people damages or destroys the beauty and resources that the tourism industry relies on.

Some online articles about the Olympics in Lake Placid: http://www.adirondackalmanack.com/2014/01/moon-boots-miracles-olympics-impact-lake-placid.html

http://www.lakeplacidnews.com/page/content.detail/id/521254/Olympic-return-a-long-shot--but-miracles-do-happen-in-Lake-Placid.html?nav=5002

Goat Meat

Until our wonderful trip to the Adirondacks last weekend, I had never heard of any restaurant or person cooking goat meet in the US. However, the folks at Asgard seemed quite convinced it was an undiscovered delicacy, so I decided to do some research. According to the Washington Post, goat meat makes up 70% of meat eaten globally. When I was living in Eastern Asia, goat was the most common animal to see in communities, but it never occurred to me that goat meat was the purpose (I had assumed it was mostly for the milk). Maybe Americans should jump on the bandwagon, especially since goat meat has two thirds less fat than pork and lamb and a third less calories than beef. As it turns out, goats are also great for farms. Unlike cows and other grazing live stock, goats do not pick and choose what to eat in a field and leave the rest. Instead, goats mow down fields in even sweeps, leaving no weeds or rough patches left for the farmer to remedy. No wonder Asgard farm had so many beautiful fields! So where do we common folk find goat meat? The best bet is apparently Halal markets. Enjoy!

"Junk" Forests

I was researching the effects of clear cutting on the Adirondack Park and I came across an interesting article describing the erosion of modern forests due to improper logging techniques and hunting in the past. According to Brian Mann in his article, A Million Acres of ADK Timberland Becoming "Junk"?, aggressive harvesting of certain trees as well as the removal of key species from the park has stripped forests of their diversity and lowered the overall quality of Adirondack land. Mann speaks specifically about the demand for Maple timber and the removal of the Wolf from the Adirondack Park as the catalyst behind forest degradation.

When logging was at its peak in the Adirondacks in the late 1800's/early 1900's, loose regulations and high demand led to the rapid removal of Maple trees in the Adirondacks. Loggers would take the Maple timber and leave behind other trees that were less valuable for industry. The demand for certain trees, like the Maple, was so high that logging companies would remove them before new trees could grow to replace them. The modern result, according to Mann and other Adirondack enthusiasts is that forests are now suffering from a lack of diversity, upsetting the fragile ecosystems that exist within them. What we often see in the Adirondacks today are patches of forest without essential trees like the maple and significantly reduced populations of animal and plant species because of it; Mann cites former APA chairman Ross Whaley who laments the effects of old logging practices, "All you have to do is look at the stands throughout the park and you find that poor genetic stock was left... So if you look at that history, it looks to me like we've been practicing bad forest management here." 

Another key issue in Adirondack forests is the removal of predators like the wolf because it has led to a boom in animals who feed on the seedlings of these dwindling tree species. Before their removal, wolves were essential in the Adirondacks for hunting deer and managing their population growth. Their absence has resulted in an explosion in the deer population who are an inhibiting factor to the growth of maple seedlings. Without their main predator, the deer population has shot upward while their food sources have declined sharply.

While Mann discusses these two factors as main contributors to diminishing tree diversity in the Adirondacks, he also emphasizes the effects of acid rain, invasive species and climate change. While there are many catalysts behind forest degradation, most share the unfortunate theme that they are the product of human actions. Hopefully, given our history of improper logging and forest mistreatment, we can learn from our mistakes and strive for a more sustainable future in the Adirondacks.

Mann article: http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/21445/20130214/a-million-acres-of-adk-timberland-becoming-junk

Are we thinking too small?

As far as climate change goes, “a rise of 10 degrees in temperature would put the six-million-acre state park…in the same climate zone as the mountains of North Carolina and Georgia.” (NYT). Quoting Jerry Jenkins, an ecologist at the wildlife conservation society, “Nothing we see here is found at temperatures 10 degrees warmer, and very little makes it to five degrees warmer”. Just to put these arbitrary numbers into perspective. Essentially the Adirondacks as we know them will no longer exist on the course we are traveling. So what is the best course of action? I did a lot of research about this since I will be presenting on climate change and a lot of the articles I read were about relatively small scale ideas. Great ideas, but nonetheless, too small. What I am particularly interested in is higher level political action. It seems so funny that there are not higher regulations on carbon emissions. I believe there should be considerations of a carbon cap as well as a tax on carbon emissions. These additional funds should be used to begin an investment in clean energy resources. I think this is more on par with the scale of action needed.

Profits vs. Profits

The problem of absentee decision making has surfaced again in the readings for this week. Generally, the entities that are releasing most of the unwelcome sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, among other gases, into the air are centralized outside of the Adirondack Park. The effects of their emissions can be very widespread, however. The government systems that are making final decisions about emission caps and pollution allowances are also, of course, located outside of the Park, and can be influenced greatly by the economic and political power that many of these large, emission-heavy companies hold. These companies whose emissions reach the ADKs tend to want to fight emissions caps, as they often must result in a decrease in production and, therefore, profits. What they are not thinking about during these decision making processes, unfortunately, is how their actions are affecting the climate and environment of the Park as well as, by extension, the economy.

After a number of not-so-successful industries, tourism and recreation have found a home in the ADKs. Although McKibben mentions a number of business owners who aren't worried at all about the effect climate change will have on their industry, I think certain changes caused by climate change will correlate with a decrease in specific aspects of ADK tourism (also suggested by McKibben.) Shorter winters with less snowfall will result in less skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, and snowmobiling. The lack of beautiful fall foliage and the change in forest compositions could discourage some hikers. Finally, the acidity and lack of plant ecosystems in certain ponds and lake caused by acid rain could discourage swimming and boating. If this decrease in tourism happens on a large enough scale, it could drastically affect the economy of certain parts of the Adirondack Park. Unfortunately, it can be hard to compete with bigger businesses' need for profits, and the lowering of emission caps is almost always a slower process than we'd like it to be.