As Long As the Sox Are OK 3

Study says climate threatens Northeast icons like lobsters and foliage

Imagine the Northeast without lobsters, snow, cranberries, and colorful foliage. Without that, you'd have -- what, white churches and crusty old lumberjacks? But all those natural icons are at risk from climate change, says a report the Union of Concerned Scientists put together with scientists and economists. "The character of this region is at stake," says UCS President Kevin Knobloch. "The emissions choices that we make today will lead to starkly different futures in our lifetime and certainly the lifetime of our children." In an area where average annual temperatures have climbed 1.5 degrees since 1970 -- and winter temps more than 4 degrees -- climate risks are real. Scientists say if temperatures keep rising, droughts could imperil agriculture, while warming ocean waters would prove inhospitable to crustaceans. Hardwood forests could die out, along with the spruce and fir that are key to the region's pulp and paper industry. One New Hampshire ski operator put it simply: "We're the affected."

source: The New York Times, Anthony DePalma, 12 Jul 2007

source: The Boston Globe, Felicia Mello, 12 Jul 2007

source: Concord Monitor, Chelsea Conaboy, 12 Jul 2007

straight to the report: Union of Concerned Scientists, 11 Jul 2007

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  1. anthony11 Posted 4:26 am
    13 Jul 2007

    It's too late, babyHumans have already pretty much wiped out lobsters in the northeast.  Unmolested, they live and grow slowly.  They used to reach 40+ pounds and grow quite large, but idiot human predation has made that a thing of the past -- a 2 pound lobster is now a "big" one.

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  2. stevenearlsalmony Posted 12:17 am
    14 Jul 2007

    It's not too late, AnthonyDespite what my brain tells me and my eyes show me, I believe with every "fiber of my being" that there is no way God intended for a marvelous species, gifted as Homo sapiens is, to inadvertently destroy itself and likely much of the world as we know it......by its own `clay' Hand.

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  3. FuriaFubar Posted 3:06 pm
    14 Jul 2007

    it was the flooding thing that got meWhen I read the report, esp on my home state, it was the projected flooding that got to me.  And my dad is out in Suffolk County Long Island.  The water's high enough already out there.  Flooding brings additional pollution problems with it especially in the industrialized, low-lying northeast.  Northern NJ has a very high water table already.  The next 20 years are going to be messy.  And unlike stevenearlsalmony, I don't think humans are all that special in the great scheme of things.

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