“The Government of Norway is taking a real leadership role in the climate challenge,” said Arizona Senator John McCain, when he met with the Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre at a climate symposium on June 15. The symposium focused on the challenges we face as the polar ice is melting.
8/3/2006 :: “It is happening now, the Arctic ice is melting,” said Mr. Støre.
There is little doubt that the Polar Ice is melting at a much faster pace than before. Whether this is man-made or not, the transatlantic symposium, named “How Changes in the Arctic Climate Are Affecting the Rest of the World,” dealt with some of the immediate consequences that the melting of polar ice will have on us.
“Let’s be clear about it: Climate change is taking place right now on our doorstep. The impacts will be dramatic. Climate change will affect industries, infrastructure, transport and other vital areas of human life,” Støre said.
The symposium, co-sponsored by the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, featured prominent politicians and researchers from all over the world, including Foreign Minister Støre, Senator McCain, and Senator Lugar. It also included Dr. Robert Corell, Senior Policy Fellow with the American meteorological Society; Dr. Lonnie Thompson of Ohio State University and Dr. Judith Curry, Chair School of Earth and Athmospheric Sciences, Georgia Tech., who linked last year’s record number of Hurricanes with global warming and climate change.
Senator McCain went to Svalbard two years ago to see the changes there himself: “What we saw there was startling,” he said. “The melting of ice, extinction of polar species and extreme weather all around the world are some of the consequences of the changes we witnessed.”
“The only thing at stake here is the future of our civilization,” said Dr. Louis Fortier, Canada Research Chair on the response of Arctic Marine Ecosystems to Climate change, Université Laval. “And we might well be beyond the tipping point: The ongoing changes really correspond to the most pessimistic expectations we have.”
The impact of climate changes on our daily lives was one of the important issues discussed. “Changes in climate will bring more draughts, floods and extreme weather events,” said Senator Richard Lugar (R-In). “Pests and disease will spread into new regions of the world threatening public health and economic growth. More conflicts will arise.”
After the conference Støre met with former Vice President Al Gore. His documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” is based on lectures Al Gore has been delivering about environmental crisis for many years. The film shows photographs of changes to glaciers around the world, with snow disappearing from the Alps, Antarctica and the South Pole. Gore, who was invited to Svalbard by the Foreign Minister, will be in Norway this fall to show his film.
Gore said it is time to act on the issue now. “We are facing a planetary emergency,” he said.
Even though Norway is a net exporter of oil, Norway is taking massive, innovative and technologically advanced steps to reduce emissions and make sure that oil exploration does not jeopardize local eco-systems and ocean life in the North Sea. One of the most recent technologies put in use in Norwegian oil fields is the pumping of carbon-dioxide gas back into the sea bed: Carbon Dioxide, or CO2 is a by-product of the refining of oil and is well known as a gas that contributes to global warming. However, instead of releasing the gas into the atmosphere, the CO2 is pumped into the underground void left empty when oil is extracted. This in turn increases the pressure in the large underground reservoirs, so even more oil can be extracted.
“Technology has to play an important role,” said Norwegian foreign minister Gahr Støre.
“Carbon capture and storage is a promising opportunity. Norway has almost ten years’ experience of large-scale carbon dioxide storage from the offshore field Sleipner”
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Download the report from the symposium here.
To download the presentations and speeches, please visit EESI's webpages:
Environmental and Energy Study Institute (download presentations)
Thor Englund / Royal Norwegian Embassy