22 Jan
2008 - My name is Juerg Meyer, I am 53 years
old and I live in Mittelhäusern, a
small village outside Bern in Switzerland.
Here I enjoy life away from the bustle of
the city with my wife and two children.
I grew up in the north-west
of Switzerland, went to school there and
studied geology at the University of Basel.
The mountains, nature and also sport have
always fascinated me. So in parallel to
my studies I also trained as a mountain
guide.
After that I combined
both passions – geography and the Alps –
in my work. For 13 years I worked both as
a research associate at the University of
Bern and as a mountain guide. At that time
I observed the first climatic changes in
the Alpine region, such as glacial retreat
in the high mountains or the melting of
the permafrost.
Much more ice 35 years
ago
In 1996 I took up a
job as an environmental officer at the Swiss
Alpine Club (SAC). The SAC is the largest
Alpine sports federation in Switzerland
and it aims to promote Alpine sport as an
experience for a broad social group. The
Club campaigns for the sustainable development
and preservation of the mountain landscape.
Global warming – which
has a more pronounced effect in the Alpine
region than the worldwide average – increasingly
affected my everyday work. We were more
and more preoccupied with issues of safety
and risk in Alpine sport as the natural
hazards grew. Where there was still ice
in the mountains 35 years ago, in parts
all we find today are grey screes. Alpine
climbs, such as the north face of the Portalet
or the Bonatti Pillar on the Petit Dru,
are no longer possible because of unstable
mountainsides.
The SAC is now also
subjecting the hiking trails to the Alpine
huts to a risk-screening process. Problems
with the water supply suddenly emerged in
high-altitude huts. Due to the meager snow
and the retreat of the glacial ice, the
natural water reservoirs are no longer receiving
an adequate supply. For the hut owners this
means either building water reservoirs and
tanks or, in extreme cases, flying the water
up with helicopters.
Resistance to the climate
Since autumn 2007 I
have been working as a freelancer. I take
care of about half of the housework and
family duties, so that my wife can dedicate
herself more intensively to her job again.
At the same time I am building up my own
company. I want to continue my commitment
in the areas of environmental and natural
education and the Alps, in addition to collaborating
as a freelancer on environmental projects
in the Alpine region.
One aspect never fails
to astonish me: there is almost no field
of knowledge with such an extensive data
basis as climate research. And there is
almost no issue that is so dismissed, denied
or suppressed by politicians, authorities,
business or society as the climate problem.
Why the stubborn skepticism? Issues like
genetic engineering or nuclear waste disposal
never met with such resistance. The behaviour
of businesses also horrifies me: most of
them are only interested in short-term profits
and hardly show any willingness to focus
on climate-friendly technologies, although
those will certainly yield profits in the
medium term.
Socio-economic impact
At the moment it is
mainly the rich countries in the north that
are profiting from global warming. For example
the warmer climate is enabling them to exploit
a longer crop-growing season or cultivate
new crop varieties. But around the world,
millions of people are the losers: that
is mainly the poor population in the tropics
and subtropics. The shortage of water in
their regions will lead to conflicts and
migration. Where will all of these people
find a new home when they have no basic
resources left in their country of origin?
But I also see positive
aspects to the climate problem: the international
climate debates that have now been started
are stimulating research and development,
creating impulses for greater international
co-operation and acting as a catalyst in
the whole discussion about sustainability
and the consumption of resources.
+ More
WWF calls for moratorium
on oil exploration in the Arctic
22 Jan 2008 - Arctic
marine conditions contribute to an oil spill
“response gap” that effectively limits the
ability to clean up after an oil spill.
A new report commissioned by WWF and released
today concludes that the only way to avoid
the potentially devastating environmental
risks is to ensure that no more of the Arctic
is opened up to oil development until the
response gap is closed.
“The ability to effectively
clean up an arctic marine oil spill is a
critical component of the risk equation,”
said Dr Neil Hamilton, Director of the WWF
International Arctic Programme. “The fact
that a catastrophic spill might exceed the
operating limits of existing oil spill response
technologies is a strong argument for a
moratorium until the response gap is filled.”
According to the report
Oil Spill Response Challenges in Arctic
Waters, arctic conditions can impact on
both the probability that a spill will occur
from oil and gas operations and the consequences
of such a spill. The same conditions that
contribute to oil spill risks (including
lack of natural light, extreme cold, moving
ice floes, high wind and low visibility)
can also make spill response operations
extremely difficult or totally ineffective.
“The Arctic offers the
highest level of ecological sensitivity
and the lowest level of capacity to clean
up after an accident,” said James Leaton,
Senior Policy Adviser, WWF-UK. “This combination
makes it unacceptable to expose the Arctic
to an unfettered scramble for oil.”
The report recognizes
that significant efforts are ongoing to
test and improve spill response technologies
for use in arctic conditions. However, until
such technologies are field-proven and market-ready,
additional prevention and planning measures
are required to eliminate oil spill risks
during times when response operations are
not feasible.
WWF has also called
for an international mandatory instrument
to regulate shipping in the Arctic, as shipping
imposes great risks to the Arctic Environment.
Routing, zero-discharge zones, areas to
be avoided and obligations to keep a certain
amount of “self-help” oil spill response
equipment on board are among the needed
measures.
The full report can be downloaded from www.panda.org/arctic.
Dr Neil T. M. Hamilton, Director, WWF International
Arctic Programme
Rasmus Hansson, CEO, WWF-Norway
James Leaton, Senior Policy Adviser, WWF-UK
