In the Northern Hemisphere in 2017 and 2018 brought several destructive hurricanes to the shores of North America, the Caribbean, and throughout the Pacific rim. Such extreme weather events are predicted to get more common and more severe with increasing climate change.
Several participating classes in the ISCFC were or are in the path of these storms and we hope for the best for them, their families and communities.
We would love to hear from students affected directly and indirectly by extreme weather events, and also any students who have been following the news this summer.
What are your thoughts about the connection between climate change and extreme weather events? Has this hurricane season increased your concern about climate change or not? Do you think that US citizens and residents (and others in the region) will take climate change more seriously now?
Extreme Weather >
Extreme Weather in California- Wildfires
Living in California, I was thinking about the upcoming fire season. I was curious how much wildfires contribute to climate change. From an article about wildfire's contributions to climate change on www.3.arb.ca.gov, I found out a lot of interesting facts. Wildfires contribute to higher amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, specifically carbon dioxide. However, it is hard to determine how much more greenhouse gases are in the atmosphere due to wildfires because they are part of the terrestrial carbon cycle. Despite the extreme loss and damage that can come from wildfires, it should not be the goal to eliminate them because they help with maintaining healthy forests, supporting several ecosystem functions, stimulating tree growth, and many others. California's Air Resources Board (CARB) work with other agencies to track greenhouse gas emissions from wildfires and work on developing an ecosystem carbon inventory for natural working lands. Looking over data collected from the inventory, they can see carbon-loss trends over the years, specifically the loss caused by wildfires. CARB has previously focused on limiting fossil fuel emissions but now is more focused on achieving carbon neutrality (balancing all sources of green house gas emissions). Their 'scoping plan' will focus on what forests need to be more healthy and what will promote carbon neutrality. More information about CARB and wildfires contributing to climate change can be found here: https://ww3.arb.ca.gov/cc/inventory/pub … ns_faq.pdf