Transcript Southwest Climate Council - Western Regional Air Partnership

Southwest Climate Council
Bineshi Albert
Community Development Director
Western Regional Air Partnership
August 25, 2005
Our Work…
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Networking
– Communities
– Scientific and technical resource
people
– Businesses and industry
Model Projects
– Funding
– Resource people
Policy
– Identifying existing policies
– Community support for new
policies
Education
– Climate change
– Benefits of renewable energy
Current work
• Survey
– Rural communities
• Tribes
• Land grants
• Ranching & farming communities
• Analysis
– Climate change impacts to land based
communities
Survey
Preliminary findings
• Nearly 2/3 of 22 tribes
have a renewable
energy system of some
sort
• Applications are for
agricultural use
• Funding and financing
is a challenge
• Interests in utility scale
development to create
jobs in community
Analysis
• Impacts to New Mexico
– Water
– Tourism
• Impacts to land based cultures
– Tribes
– Land grants
– Ranching & farming communities
A World Out of Balance
Climate Change and the Impacts
on Indigenous Communities
Developed by Sammie Ardito & Nikalntha
Smith, Climate Justice Corps Members of
the Indigenous Environmental Network
in collaboration with the Environmental Justice &
Climate Change Initiative (EJCC)
Impacts on
Land-based Communities
Health Effects
• Infectious
diseases
• Asthma and other
respiratory
illnesses
• Heat related
deaths
Extreme Weather
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Severe storms
Floods
Droughts
Heat waves
Hurricanes
Tornadoes
Loss of Livelihood
• Mass migration as
people are no longer
able to live in
traditional territories
• Damage/Loss of
traditional foods
• Loss of access to
sacred sites
Diminishing Natural Resources
• Droughts are causing beetles
to kill trees by sucking the sap
out of them.
• Groundwater and rivers are
drying up due to excessive
droughts.
• The excessive global use of
energy is leading to a rapid
decline in the amount of fossil
fuels available.
Impacts on
Indigenous Communities
• Indigenous Peoples, Pacific Islanders, and
other local land-based communities are
the first to experience the impacts of
climate change.
• Along with the rural and urban poor,
Indigenous Peoples are also the hardest
hit by climate change; yet they contribute
the least to the problem.
Arctic Region
Many Arctic communities
have already had their lands
and natural resources
polluted by oil development.
Now they are also facing
further destruction from the
other end of the oil cyclecarbon emissions.
• Shorter winters disrupt the plants
and animals which Arctic
communities depend on for
sustenance.
• Rising of the water levels due to
the melting of the glaciers have
forced many island and coastal
Arctic communities to abandon
their homes and traditional
territories .
• Warming of the sea water is
causing many sea animals, which
the Native Alaskan people rely on,
to migrate pole ward.
Great Lakes and Eastern
Woodland Regions
Our addiction to fossil fuels,
and the “Western” standard of
living they support, has put us
on a path that could see the
northern migration or dying off
of the plants, trees, fish and
animals. These beings make
the region what it is and the
way of life of the Anishinaabeg
people depend on them.
• A disruption of the growth and
availability of traditional foods such as
wild rice, berries and maple syrup.
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Dramatic fluctuations in water levels
and warmer lake water temperatures
which cause fish kills and increase the
amount of disease spreading insects
such as mosquitoes.
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Early and rapid winter snowmelt that
leads to flooding of rivers and lakes,
causing damage and havoc.
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Loss of wetlands which are the source
of medicines.
Southwest Region
The Navajo (Dine’) and Hopi
peoples have already been
suffering from the desecration
and poisoning of their lands
by fossil fuel mining
corporations. Now they must
also deal with the aftermath of
global warming which
threatens the delicate balance
of survival in an already
harsh and warm climate.
• The limited water resources
are dependent on the little
rain the region gets to
replenish them. Climate
change has caused drought
which leads to the death of
plants and animals.
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Droughts have forced
beetles to suck the tree sap
of medicinal plants and foods
such as the pinion tree,
causing tree and plant death.
Great Plains Region
The Great Plains extends from
Canada to Mexico, and
accounts for a third of total US
land mass. The Plains are
seeing an increase in extreme
weather events such as
blizzards and droughts due to
climate change. This is
effecting the plants and animals
which the Plains Tribes depend
on economically and spiritually.
• Water resources are becoming
scarce and depleted.
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The Dakotas have had six
national disaster declarations
due to drought, blizzards and
flooding in the past ten years.
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Summer heat and severe
weather have caused increased
health risks for children and
elders.
Pacific Coast Region
• The Pacific Coastal and
Intermountain Area is one
of the most diverse
regions on the continent,
and will therefore face a
wide variety of climate
change related problems.
•Warmer, wetter winters
will cause increased
flooding, landslides, and
hydropower
complications.
• Warmer, dryer summers
will lead to increases in
the intensity, and extent
of fires, and also pest
infestation.
For More Information:
Bineshi Albert
Southwest Climate
Council
505.249.8647
[email protected]