Alarming Arctic Warming Not Likely To Sound Alarm With Federal Policymakers

This week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released a report detailing rising temperatures and increased melting in the Arctic Ocean. Ice older than four years now makes up less than one percent of the Arctic ice pack, according to the 2018 Arctic Report Card.

Sherburne Abbott served as a deputy to President Obama’s science advisor in the Senate-confirmed position of Associate Director of Environment and Energy (head of the division of environment and energy) in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy during President Obama’s first term.

She is currently University Professor and program director for the Environmental, Sustainability and Policy integrated learning major at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School.

Abbott says:

“The most alarming thing about the latest NOAA report on Arctic warming is that, because of politics, it is unlikely to sound the alarm. Future generations, geopolitics, environmental justice for native peoples, species and ecosystems are all at risk in the warming Arctic. And the solutions to reducing the risks are obvious to everyone except the U.S. President and most of his administration.

“Instead of aggressive efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels to protect the planet and people, they are asking the residents and ecosystems of the Arctic to adapt or suffer, while they willfully push for more drilling and more burning.

“This means communities and species will have to move inland (if they can) as the warming endures and ships will sail ice-free waters that are still hazardous.”

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