Arab Times

‘Historic’ markers show climate change impact

Raising awareness

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DURHAM, NH, Oct 21, (AP): New England is awash in historic markers, but a handful of plaques popping up in a New Hampshire town are different.

Rather than commemorat­ing important people or places in history, many of these dinner plate-size signs detail events like rising sea levels and an explosion of ticks that have yet to happen – part of an effort to draw attention to the potential effects of climate change.

The signs are based on possibilit­ies laid out in the scientific research that the towns have used to develop their climate plans and written from the perspectiv­e of someone in the 22nd century looking back.

“The concept is to just really take that informatio­n that is on the websites and package in a way to insert it into the landscape where people will bump into it,” said Northeaste­rn University’s Thomas Starr, who came up with the project known as “Remembranc­e of Climate Futures.” He has placed 11 plaques in Durham, New Hampshire, six in Essex, Massachuse­tts, and is planning to install some in Cambridge, Massachuse­tts, as well.

“There seems to be difficulty in getting people to engage in this issue,” he said. “We do hear about it fairly often. Yet, people don’t think of it in an immediate way.” Scientists have warned that global warming will result in rising seas and more heat waves, droughts, powerful storms, flooding and other problems. Many of the impacts can already be seen: The UN’s World Meteorolog­ical Organizati­on released a report last month that showed that in the last several years warming, sea level rise and carbon pollution have all accelerate­d.

Starr

Despite the dire warnings and growing acceptance that climate change is to blame for the increasing frequency of weather disasters, many Americans still see it as a problem affecting far-away places or a problem that their children or grandchild­ren will have to grapple with.

To counter that apathy, Starr and others have turned to public art to get the message out that climate change is coming to New England communitie­s. The markers imagine events like a boathouse destroyed in a storm surge from a Category 4 hurricane on Sept 24, 2032, or a heat-inspired tick outbreak that forced a park to close on June 8, 2044.

Other markers are more hopeful, imagining commemorat­ing how Durham switched to 100% renewable energy on July 20, 2040, or planted elm trees in May 2026 to reduce the urban heat effect.

“It’s a good thing. At least we can say to our grandtow truck driver from Durham, who was looking at a renewable energy plaque at town hall recently.

Anthony Leiserowit­z, director of the Yale Program On Climate Change Communicat­ion, said the project is just one of several that is using innovative ways to bring the issue to the public.

One in Florida encourages people to place large numbers on their homes to show how many feet melting glacial water must rise before the structures are underwater. Another placed cardboard cutouts of ostriches chatting about climate change in Boston’s subway system.

It is unclear what impact, if any, the signs are having. Durham is home to the University of New Hampshire, and interest in climate change is generally stronger in college towns. Eventually, Starr hopes to bring his project to more conservati­ve communitie­s where skepticism might be higher like towns in the Midwest that experience­d destructiv­e floods this spring.

NEW YORK:

Warnings

Also:

The Weather Channel is moving beyond cold fronts and heat waves to wade into the politics of climate change, with a special planned for early next month that includes interviews with nine presidenti­al candidates on the topic.

The campaign’s most prominent climate change skeptic – President Donald Trump – declined an invitation to participat­e.

The hour-long special, scheduled to debut Nov 7, interviews candidates at various sites chosen to illustrate the impact of climate change. Sen Bernie Sanders, for example, speaks at the site of a devastatin­g California wildfire and Sen Kamala Harris along a flood-prone area of the Mississipp­i River.

The Weather Channel has done specials on the impact of climate change in Alaska and along the Louisiana coast, for example, but this is the first time the network has gotten involved directly in a political campaign.

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