Just In: Climate Change Impacts on the Pacific NW

Friday, August 29 at 7 p.m. at Emmanuel Episcopal Parish Hall in Eastsound

— from Marta C. Branch, San Juan County Dept of Community Development and Planning
Marine Program Coordinator —

Learn how climate change impacts the Pacific Northwest in a presentation by Dr. Philip Mote, Oregon State Climatologist and Atmospheric Scientist and Director at the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute, Oregon State University (OSU), in a presentation at 7 p.m., Friday, August 29, at the Emmanuel Episcopal Parish Hall in Eastsound on Orcas Island.

Dr. Mote will discuss a comprehensive report issued last fall on the risks that climate change poses to the Northwest, released as part of the US National Climate Assessment.

This presentation is the next to last of nine free programs in The Climate Action Imperative: Understanding Impacts & Making Choices, a summer speaker series that featured eight experts on Climate Change—from oceanographers to botanists, biologists to meteorologists and held primarily on San Juan Island. The series provided a current look at climate change and what actions are warranted by individuals as well as by our state and nation. For information about Dr. Mote’s program and the series, call 360-378-2240, ext. 2227 or 360-378-6690, or visit web site at www.nps.gov/sajh

Dr. Mote is a professor in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University; director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute (OCCRI) and director of Oregon Climate Services, the official state climate office for Oregon. He earned a BA in Physics from Harvard University and a PhD in Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Washington. He arrived at OSU to establish OCCRI in 2009.

From 2005 to 2013 Dr. Mote was involved in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. He is a coordinating lead author and advisory council member for the US National Climate Assessment, and has served on numerous author teams for the National Research Council. He is also the co-leader of the Northwest Climate Science Center for the US Department of the Interior and NOAA-funded Climate Impacts Research Consortium for the Northwest.

“This consortium has been working hard to advance the ability of agencies and businesses to envision future climate and to make sound business decisions and resource management decisions based on scientific assessments,” said Dr. Mote.

As with all talks in the series, Dr. Mote’s presentation will be followed by a discussion.

Series co-sponsors are: San Juan Island National Historical Park, Madrona Institute, San Juan Islands Conservation District, The League of Women Voters of the San Juans, San Juan Island Library, San Juan Nature Institute, San Juan County Marine Resources Committee, Northwest Straits Foundation, Stewardship Network of the San Juans, Washington State University Extension Service, San Juan Island Grange #966 and the Agricultural Resources Committee of the San Juan Island, and the Puget Sound Partnership.

Next is the finale event on September 10 at the San Juan Community Theatre in Friday Harbor. A reception co-hosted by the Northwest Straits Foundation and San Juan Marine Resources Committee will be held at 5 p.m. and the program, with keynote speakers Kevin Ranker, Washington State Senator and Stephanie Solien, Vice President, Climate Solutions and Puget Sound Partnership Leadership Council, will begin at 7 p.m. Presentations and a panel discussion will follow. Please see attached announcement for this upcoming event.

If you have questions about this event contact martab@sanjuanco.com or call 370-7592,