Category Archives: Transportation

Charting the Future for the Arctic’s Fragile Environment

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On Wednesday, May 15, diplomats from eight nations – including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry - are meeting in Kiruna, Sweden to discuss the future of the Arctic and sign an agreement on how to respond to and handle oil spills.

The meeting comes at a critical time for the Arctic, which is warming twice as fast as almost any other region on earth. As it warms, melting sea ice will give people more access to use the Arctic Ocean as a shipping route. It could also mean “greater exploitation of natural resources, such as oil and gas, minerals, and fisheries; and increased tourism” – all of which will present significant challenges for a once remote area, according to a report by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).

A warming Arctic will have significant environmental and health consequences for the entire world, including sea level rise, release of stored chemicals and greenhouse gasses into the environment, and impacts on biodiversity…

U.S. Ambassador to Sweden Mark Brzezinski can attest to those changes. He witnessed first-hand the impact that climate change has had on Arctic flora and fauna during a visit to the Abisko Scientific Research Station, located about 90 kilometers (60 miles) northwest of Kiruna.

After meeting with Station Manager Christer Jonasson and visiting scientists, Ambassador Brzezinski shared what he learned in his blog:

Christer [Jonasson] explained that scientists have discovered cases where higher temperatures have created ice caps on top of the snow which is making it harder for reindeer herds to access food. Since some of the members of the indigenous Sami are heavily dependent on reindeer, these kinds of findings are extremely important. Christer and his team are working with the Sami to adapt to the changes induced by climate change.

Another recent phenomenon is that the birch forests around Abisko often experience invasions of caterpillars in the spring as it is no longer cold enough to kill off the eggs of those pests.

Ambassador Brzezinski gets a closer look at instruments that measure changes in the local environment.

The Arctic Council is made up of Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States, as well as six permanent representatives from Arctic indigenous groups, like the Sami Council and the Russian Association of Indigenous People of the North.

There are 14 countries and organizations seeking “observer status” on the Arctic Council, including China, Spain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the U.K. and Poland.

Join the Arctic Council meeting live on Wednesday, May 15, 2013 at http://goo.gl/H70oq.

UPDATE: On Wednesday, May 15, 2013, members of the Arctic Council agreed to grant observer status to China, Japan, South Korea, India, Singapore and Italy. This status allows the countries to sit in on – but not speak at – the council’s main meetings as it determines future policy in the Arctic region. Observer countries are also allowed to participate in working groups held by the Arctic Council.

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For more on Ambassador Brzezinski’s visit to Abisko, check out his blog. You can also watch a video from the Ambassador’s trip to Abisko on the U.S. Embassy Sweden’s YouTube page.

 

Green Cars

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Students work with an actual General Motors production vehicle, adding technologies to reduce emissions and improve fuel economy. (EcoCar)

Students work with an actual General Motors production vehicle, adding technologies to reduce emissions and improve fuel economy. (EcoCar)

In November, the finalists for the 2012 Green Car of the Year award in the United States were announced. The actual winner was revealed a couple of weeks later at the 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show. The finalists included a variety of different styles operating on different clean energies, from the Ford Focus Electric to the diesel-powered Volkswagen TDI to the Honda Civic Natural Gas. The eventual winner? The Honda Civic Natural Gas, “the cleanest-running internal combustion vehicle certified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, with a 48 MPGe highway fuel economy rating.”

There is some contention over the Honda taking home first prize because of serious concerns about the most popular extraction method for natural gas, hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”). The process involves injecting a slurry of water and chemicals into rock to create cracks that will allow the natural gas to flow out; the issues come from the chemical-laden water seeping into water systems and contaminating people’s land and drinking water. There is the other issue of comparing “fuel efficiency” in America versus other places like Europe, where many cars get significantly higher mileage than even the most advanced “green” models in the U.S.

Regardless, taking steps towards making cleaner running vehicles more popular in the U.S. is an exciting and worthy endeavor. As more people request vehicles that do less damage to the environment, car manufacturers are keeping up with demand and creating cars that run better, are more green, while still offering the amenities many people look for in their cars.

For more information on innovations in green cars, check out GreenCar.com.  It has an entire section on green technology and alternative fuels, to help answer any questions you have about the differences between electric, diesel, natural gas, etc.

What type of car and clean energy operating system do you think is the future?