{"id":2071,"date":"2019-07-04T08:53:10","date_gmt":"2019-07-04T07:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.creamontblanc.org?p=2071"},"modified":"2022-12-23T16:54:56","modified_gmt":"2022-12-23T15:54:56","slug":"facing-the-future-hope-panic-and-action-in-a-warming-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.creamontblanc.org?p=2161","title":{"rendered":"\u201cFacing the Future: Hope, Panic, and Action in a Warming World\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There is a knowledge and a weight that comes with studying climate change, and I think that a lot of us are asking \u201cHow do we have hope? What can I do in the face of this?\u201d\u00a0And a lot of this book is about finding faith in our ability to deal with climate change.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In last week\u2019s Science Sandwich, conservation scientist, professor and author Lauren E. Oakes spoke about her new book, In Search of the Canary Tree<\/em> and one of unexpected outcomes of her six-year study of the yellow-cedar in Alaska: an exploration of the emotions surrounding climate change and a search for a source of hope.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Forest dieback in the Alexander Archipelago \u00a9 Lauren E. Oakes <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When planning for her field study of the dieback of Alaska\u2019s yellow-cedar, Lauren E Oakes planned for nearly everything: designing the study, reading about the topic, planning safety measures for an expedition. But what she didn\u2019t plan for was the knot of emotion that she would feel upon seeing giant swaths of dead forest for the first time or the challenge of reacting to an ongoing tragedy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Search of the Canary Tree: The Story of a Scientist, a Cypress and a Changing World<\/em>, explores Oakes‘<\/strong> evolution from an ecologist to social scientist to writer and reporter and tries to answer the question: How do you live with what you know and how do you have hope for the future?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Setting the scene <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Oakes describes the\nNorth as a place where climate change is accelerated compared to the rest of\nthe world.  As a place where the consequences are no longer hypothetical\nbut rather, a lived experience, she sees the adaptation and coping methods of\nthe people in Alaska as a sort of \u201clooking glass\u201d into what other places will\nexperience in the years ahead.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Alexander\nArchipelago\u2019s unique coastal temperate rainforest, the majestic Callitropsis\nnootkatensis<\/em> is dying off in waves as a consequence of climate\nchange.  A lack of snow, which normally serves as an\ninsulator for the roots of the tree, is leaving saplings vulnerable\nto freezing.  While it may seem counterintuitive that the trees are dying\nfrom freezing in a warming world, this paradox helps underline the difficulties\nof communicating the complexity of climate change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to chronicling the changes in the natural environment as an ecologist, Oakes found herself also trying to understand the impact of the forest die off on the people who had relationships with the trees.  She also decided to explore whether or not the concept of \u201cKAB\u201d (Knowledge, Attitude and Behavior) in behavioral change research applied within the community: does having knowledge of the issue affect people’s attitudes and inspire problem-solving behavior?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Lauren E. Oakes new book, In Search of the Canary Tree: The Story of a Scientist, a Cypress and a Changing World<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Why the \u00ab\u00a0Canary Tree?\u00a0\u00bb<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Many of us are\nfamiliar with the concept of the canary in the coal mine\u2014the idea of putting a\nsensitive species, like a canary, into a mine shaft with humans to test for\ndangerous carbon monoxide levels–<\/strong> the idea being that the bird\nwould serve as an indicator or advanced warning of danger and allow people to\nget out of the mine in time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Alexander\nArchipelago, the yellow-cedar seems to serve as the canary and its die-off an\nindicator of what is to come climate with climate change\u2026 and an\nincentive to action and adaptation.  As the community gained\nknowledge and understanding of how climate change was affecting their trees,\ntheir attitudes and their behavior also evolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the problems of climate change, Oakes explained, is that we often think of it as a global problem, but that in order for action to happen, we need our own canary.  Individual and collective action is born not simply of knowing that climate change is happening, but of understanding, witnessing or feeling connected to a local impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in Chamonix ?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

At CREA Mont-Blanc,\nwe see a lot of links between what is going on in the Mont-Blanc massif and\nLauren\u2019s work.  Like in Alaska, the temperature in the Alps is rising much\nmore quickly than in the rest of the Northern Hemisphere: climate change is no\nlonger theoretical, but a reality.  Our work is helping to\nidentify our local canaries by documenting how climate change is impacting the\nlocal environment and anticipating how our landscape will change in years to\ncome.  We believe that the Mont-Blanc massif can also serve as a sort of\nlooking glass for the future. The changes we see here, as well as the way our\nterritory chooses to respond and adapt (with resignation and sadness, or with\nhope and ingenuity), can be instructive for other communities preparing for a\nwarming world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lauren graciously accepted that we record her and share her talk. Please listen and share! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/soundcloud.com\/user-972544209\/science-sandwich-lauren-oakes\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To Learn\nmore about Lauren E. Oakes\u2019 work, check out her website<\/a>, or read her latest\nwriting in Scientific\nAmerican.<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To get your\nown copy of In\nSearch of the Canary Tree: The Story of a Scientist, a Cypress and a Changing\nWorld<\/a><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Written by\nHillary Gerardi <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is a knowledge and a weight that comes with studying climate change, and I think that a lot of us are asking \u201cHow do we have hope? What can I do in the face of this?\u201d\u00a0And a lot of … Lire la suite\u00ad\u00ad<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2114,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vie-association"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.creamontblanc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.creamontblanc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.creamontblanc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.creamontblanc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.creamontblanc.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2071"}],"version-history":[{"count":39,"href":"https:\/\/blog.creamontblanc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2199,"href":"https:\/\/blog.creamontblanc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2071\/revisions\/2199"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.creamontblanc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.creamontblanc.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.creamontblanc.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.creamontblanc.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}