BELLINGHAM — Climate change is happening and will affect more areas of life than just physical science unless people change their habits and practices.
This has been the basic message at discussions at Whatcom Community College and Western Washington University this week as the two schools take part in Focus the Nation, a nationwide initiative to increase discussions about climate change.
During a panel discussion Wednesday at WWU, Rebekah Green, research associate at the Institute for Global and Community Resilience, pointed out that climate change won’t suddenly cause catastrophic events like in a movie. But people will “see an increase in the frequency of daily hazards.”
For example, she said the Northwest likely will see the average temperature rise by 3 degrees, which would result in wetter, cooler winters in Western Washington. More precipitation increases river levels, which then increases the chance for flooding like that seen on the Chehalis River this fall.
But how do you stop something like that, or at least limit the effects? That’s the goal behind Focus the Nation — getting people to brainstorm about personal, local and national solutions to limit climate change and its effects.
“If you look at what you’re doing in your life, you can think about how you can reorder your life in ways that frequently don’t make any meaningful change in the quality of life,” said Bellingham Mayor Dan Pike during a discussion at WCC. “Just think about what you do and how you impact environment.”
Focus the Nation, which culminates today with “teach-ins” nationwide about how climate change relates to different subjects, has been in the works for about a year and a half. The idea came from Lewis and Clark College professor Eban Goodstein and then was picked up by the environmental advocacy group the Green House Network.
More than 1,750 colleges, universities, high schools, religious groups, businesses and clubs have been participating this week.
“This is an incredible opportunity on college and university campuses to create solutions to the challenge of climate change,” said Seth Vidaña, with WWU’s Office of Sustainability. “It’s produced interesting discussions and a lot of people who were motivated before they came to the discussions were very motivated after they left.”
Casey Clark, a student with WWU’s Environmental Center, said the biggest benefit of the discussions has been the networking that goes on among attendees.
“It’s been good to see a different diverse group of people than we see at other environmental events,” he said. “Professors (from different subjects) talk to each other, students link up with each other, and they all realize it’s one big issue.”