Taylor Wilmot ES Profile

Courtney Blinkhorn 13′ helps out at an ALLARM Workshop over the summer

Courtney Blinkhorn Student Profile Podcast

It’s that time again… time for an international climate change conference. This year marks the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP) and the event is being held in Cancun, Mexico. Last year, as many of you may recall, a group of Dickinson students attended COP 15 in Copenhagen, Denmark as part of the course, “Kyoto to Copenhagen: Negotiating the Future of the Planet.” The students performed research on the idea of “common but differentiated” responsibility, attending COP meeting and interviewing scientists, delegates and activists from around the world. These students kept a wonderful blog that outlines their entire semester: reflections from initial classes at Dickinson,  research papers on specific international issues, country profiles and of course, the action in Copenhagen. They’ve also put together a database of interviews.

The reactions to results of COP 15, namely the Copenhagen Accord are varied. Some said it was a failure, others claimed it was an important step in the right direction.  But that’s all in the past now. What will happen at COP16? Will an emissions reduction protocol be agreed on?

Three of the K2C students are at COP 16 right now and they’ve promised to keep Dickinson posted. Check out their blog and follow them on twitter!

Moutain Top Removal Site, surprisingly clear image.

Last night, 5 fellow LUCE semester students and I gave a presentation on mountain top removal in West Virginia. We shared our experiences of coal country and relayed the information that we learned first hand from WV residents and activists like Judy Bonds, Larry Gibson and Vernon Haltom. We represented 3 different years of the program, stretching from 2005, to 2007 and ending with 2009. Each of us experienced something different when we visited that landscape as it changed dramatically between us. What we took away is that mountain top removal is crazy, unsafe, destroys people’s lives, breaks laws, is unhealthy to people and the planet yet is still allowed to happen.

Me at Kayford Mt. in West Virginia

How much are we willing to give up for coal under mountains? 300 ft. of vertical mountain rise? pristine forests, diverse ecosystems, crystal waters? Human health, human livelihood, basic human safety? Children’s educations, children’s chance to be born healthy? The state of WV? TN? KY? The Appalachian Mountains? Not to mention everything below & downstream of them…

I certainly hope not. In the news today I read that the East Kentucky Power Cooperative, in the heart of KY coal country, has decided to forgo two new power plants. Instead they plan to focus on energy conservation, efficiency and renewable wind power options, an alternative that will create jobs,  save money and is a heck of a lot less destructive. When talking about coal extraction, a subject that seems hopeless, that’s darn good news.

Now it seems that the International Energy Agency, which has traditionally been pretty bullish on oil supplies, has admitted that world oil production peaked in 2006.  Of course, many experts have previously estimated that oil peaked around 2005/2006.  It’s a little more surprising to hear it from the IEA.

What’s really interesting about this graph is that is appears to be drawn from the demand point of view.  Clearly, global demand is increasing, so the top line should go up; if conventional oil has peaked, that means that the “currently producing” line must go down.  In between is a big gap, which the IEA fills with a couple of increasingly important oil sources: “fields yet to be developed” and “fields yet to be found”.  Those may be convenient fillers, but are a tad on the optimistic side.  After all, crude discoveries have been falling since the 1960s.

I don’t want to sound too pessimistic, but I fear it could be a bumpy ride.

What I found most interesting in this article, is the bit about invasive  species like Phragmites australis. The article discusses the pros and cons of invasive species.

“Certain invasive species may degrade the marshland in terms of habitat, but their accelerated growth may help offset the effect of rising sea levels. If we better understand that trade-off we can decide whether to allow the plant to invade.”

I have always been fascinated with this discussion and debate around invasive species. For a while, I thought they were terrible, but when I actually began to think about, I realized the “system,” (Earth) is just doing what it need to survive.  Who are we to try to keep a living, growing, finely tuned network of systems from changing? Are we anti invasive for own benefit or for the Earth? Honey bees were invasive way back when, and now they are as American as Apple pie right? But then again, what do I know!?

Let me know if you want to have a longer discussion. For the time being check out this book Timothy Lee Scott just wrote Invasive Plant Medicine: The Ecological Benefits and Healing Abilities of Invasives.