If Trend Continues,
Kiss Winter Goodbye
Concord Monitor Staff Editorial
August 29, 2010
From just after the Civil War until the end
of World War II, ice-outs in May on Lake Sunapee were a regular occurrence. But
since 1980, there has been just one May ice-out, in 2001. On Lake Winnipesaukee,
the earliest ice-out ever recorded happened this year, on March 24.
The University of New Hampshire's Carsey Institute just released the results of
an attempt to answer two basic questions: Do New Hampshire residents believe the
state's climate is changing and that human activity is a significant cause? And
is the state's climate really warming? The answer to both questions, since we
like New Hampshire the way it is, was disconcerting.
The overwhelming majority of New Hampshire residents polled - 90 percent or
better - believe that the state's climate is warming, and why shouldn't they?
All they have to do is look in the garage at the unused snowshoes and
snowmobiles or buy an air conditioner for the first time to become a believer.
Yet only half of those surveyed for the Carsey report thought human activity was
a major cause of the warming. To us that suggests that, in the face of
overwhelming evidence and agreement by scientists, the effort to maintain the
energy status quo by casting doubt on the human causes of climate change has
been fairly successful.
As for the second question, not only is New Hampshire warming, it's doing so at
a rate faster than the global average. The average annual temperature measured
at First Connecticut Lake in Coos County warmed one-third of a degree Fahrenheit
per decade from 1895 to 1969 and then by 1.06 degrees per decade after that in
the North Country and 0.88 degrees per decade in the south. That means ski
seasons are ending earlier, beech trees are moving north to supplant oaks,
summers are sweltering, precipitation is increasing and sea levels are rising
faster than predicted. Warmer temperatures mean that more water evaporates from
lakes and oceans.
As the folks in Tennessee found recently, and New Hampshire learned during
100-year floods that took place in 2005, 2006 and 2007, the extra precipitation
is not distributed evenly. Floods, droughts and other extreme weather events are
becoming more common.
One year ago, under Gov. John Lynch, the state embarked on an ambitious goal to
do its part to conserve energy, reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and slow
climate change. The plan, which contained 67 recommended actions, also created a
collaborative charged with charting the state's progress.
It will take a few years to know how well the state is doing. Carbon dioxide
emissions, for example, dropped considerably, but that was largely caused by the
recession. Electric utilities generated less power, and motorists used less
gasoline. But a lot of progress has nonetheless been made in a short time,
thanks largely to federal stimulus money and revenue raised by the state's
greenhouse gas initiative. The latter has brought in $24 million so far by
auctioning permits to emit greenhouse gases. The money has been used to fund 500
energy efficiency projects, including subsidies for homeowners who install solar
electric systems and solar hot water heaters. Stimulus funds are behind a $23
million campaign to weatherize the homes of low-income residents. Yet far more
must be done. Last month was the warmest July ever recorded, according to NASA.
The state is starting to get serious about combating climate change. This
summer's heat, not to mention the fires in Russia and floods in Pakistan,
suggest that the battle has only just begun.