Newsbriefs

2/26/2008

Poncic Finale?
After months of mulling over some very tricky legal language and hearing several opinions from lawyers, judges and residents, the Zoning Board of Appeals reached a verdict this month on whether water harvesting is an activity covered in the town’s zoning code.
In short, according to a majority of the board, the answer is no.
On Wednesday, February 18, zoners voted 3-2 that water harvesting is not a similar use to water bottling.
While the interpretation was not related to any one particular project, the one most affected by the decision is that of Andrew Poncic.
Poncic, a Woodland Valley resident, has tried unsuccessfully for almost a decade to get permission to develop a water harvesting system in Phoenicia.
In October, 2006 the town’s planning board gave Poncic a permit to draw two truckloads of water a day from a spring at the head of the dead end Woodland Valley Road in Phoenicia. Neighborhood opponents of the project then sued planners in the belief that the board exceeded their authority when the permit was granted. In July, 2007 State Supreme Court Justice John C. Egan Jr. determined that the board was on solid ground.
“The court finds that the collection and hauling of non-potable water falls within the category of permitted uses under “water bottling and related uses” and it was within the planning board’s jurisdiction to grant Good Water a special permit,” Egan wrote in his 16-page decision.
That decision was appealed, and last June the Appellate Division of the State of New York Supreme Court decided that the Town of Shandaken Planning Board overstepped their jurisdiction by attempting to interpret zoning law, something that only the Zoning Board of Appeals is authorized to do. Without a ruling from the zoning board, it was found, the planning board had no authority to grant Poncic’s Good Water Corporation a special use permit.
The permit was voided and the case sent back to the Planning Board. The Planning Board then referred the matter to the Zoning Board for consideration on whether harvesting water for entirely non-potable uses is sufficiently similar to water bottling and related uses.
Ultimately zoning board members Thomas Hickey, Joe Michaels and Board Chair Rolf Reiss voted that it is not similar. Board members Keith Johnson and Gary Guglielmetti disagreed.
On Tuesday, Planning Board Chair Beth Waterman said that, at this point, the planning board would do nothing as a result of the zoning board’s decision except to wait and see what Poncic does. Waterman believes he has the option of submitting a new application to the Planning Board, but that application would have to be for the harvesting of potable water, which would ultimately be bottled.
Poncic could not be reached for comment.

DEP Mum...
There is no word yet from the New York City Department of Environmental Protection about the latest plan for a Phoenicia sewer system. Last month DEP was given an amended proposal to a plan that they had rejected earlier this winter.
Phoenicians packed Shandaken Town Hall on Saturday, January 31st to hear more about the alternative sewer for the hamlet. While some remain cautious about building any system at all, many at the two and half hour session showed support for the latest version of a project that uses artificial wetlands and reed beds instead of the conventional concrete facility that a little more than half of Phoenicia voters voted down two years ago.
Town Supervisor Peter DiSclafani said this week that he would contact DEP and report on the matter at the next Town Board meeting, scheduled for Monday, March 2.

Shoddy Shale?
DEC Region 3 Director William Janeway told officials in Sullivan County recently that prospecting activity for natural gas, all the rage a few months ago, seems to be dimming. He noted that one of the companies originally interested in possibly signing wells in the region now is not sure the Marcellus Shale reserves under an area stretching from Pennsylvania north into the Delaware County area, Sullivan County, and possibly under the Catskills, are sufficient to make it worthwhile. Most of the viable reserves may lie to the west, in central New York and neighboring Pennsylvania.
“The department, looking at it statewide, does recognize the potential if we can safely and responsibly tape into that natural gas, but we fundamentally are committed to our responsibility of safeguarding the environment and clean water,” he said. “So, we have essentially called a ‘time-out’ on any of the deep hydrofracking of the Marcellus Shale, and started a process of updating the environmental impact review, which leads to the guidelines that would apply to any permanent activity.”
Meanwhile, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) recently uncovered the fact that the DEC has not yet conducted a single test to determine if the new gas drilling technique is a threat to New York City's drinking water even though a 2004 report by the U.S. EPA identified diesel fuel as a common fracturing fluid and concluded that 30 percent of four toxic components of diesel fuel --benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene -- remained underground after injection and were "likely to be transported by groundwater supplies."
New York's Department of Environmental Conservation has since announced it is conducting a formal environmental review of "horizontal drilling and high volume hydraulic fracturing" that companies are expected to use for natural gas extraction in shale formations such as those near New York City's drinking water supply.
EWG recommends that New York state authorities decline all applications for hydrofracing permits until natural gas companies have publicly disclosed the chemicals they plan to use and until the state has conducted tests on whether past instances of hydraulic fracturing have contaminated New York water supplies.

Low Salt
Highway Superintendent Eric Hofmeister said this week that there is still enough sand and salt in storage to make it through until spring. He added that more has been used than anticipated, though, and he’s heard talk that other towns in the county have found themselves short. As for impact the extra snow has had on the highway budget, Hofmeister said it is too soon to tell. He will review the books in the next couple of weeks to get a full assessment, he said, adding that people must remember that the town’s winter budget doesn’t end in April.
“We have November and December of this year to deal with,” he said.

Inn Repairs…
At its regular monthly meeting earlier this month, the Catskill Watershed Corporation Board approved a low-interest loan to Brian Battista and Sara Loughlin, owners of the Phoenicia Motor Village, to acquire an adjoining property, the former Woodland Valley Inn. The couple plans to renovate the building to provide additional lodging quarters. They will also improve the landscaping to create a unified outdoor seating area for the two properties.
Battista and Loughlin acquired the six-unit Phoenicia Motor Village in 2005 with assistance from the CWC and Ulster Savings Bank
The CWC Board also okayed funding to the Town of Walton for three stormwater improvement projects for a total of $290,742 from the CWC’s Stormwater Retrofit Program, designed to assist the Town in stabilizing roadbanks and ditches, installing culverts, and improving drainage infrastructure. The town will contribute more than $51,000 in in-kind labor and materials towards the projects, which will be designed by C&S Engineers of Syracuse. The improvements will reduce erosion and sediment transport to the tributaries of the West Branch of the Delaware River which feeds the Cannonsville Reservoir.
The next meeting of the CWC Board of Directors will be held Tuesday, March 3 at 1 p.m. The public is invited.
For more information on CWC’s environmental protection, economic development and education programs, visit www.cwconline.org, or call 845-586-1400.

Lost Hikers?
The Shandaken Police report an incident involving six lost hikers. Sam Carpenter of State College, PA reported his six friends missing from a hiking party to Slide Mountain. The six missing hikers were known to be on the top of Slide Mountain at 3PM on Feb. 21. At 9PM they were reported missing. At 10:15 PM the six hikers exited the woods of their own power, all in good health. The Shandaken Police Department was assisted at the scene by the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office, the New York State Police, the New York State Police Air Unit, the Shandaken Ambulance Paramedics, and the New York State Forest Rangers.

Unemployed?
It’s hard enough to lose a job. But for a growing proportion of U.S. workers, the troubles really set in when they apply for unemployment benefits. More than a quarter of people applying for such claims have their rights to the benefit challenged as employers increasingly act to block payouts to former workers. The proportion of claims disputed by former employers and state agencies has reached record levels in recent years, according to the Labor Department and Urban Institute.
Under state and federal laws, employees who are fired for misbehavior or quit voluntarily are ineligible for unemployment compensation. When jobless claims are blocked, employers save money because their unemployment insurance rates are based on the amount of the benefits their workers collect.
Unemployment compensation programs are administered by the states and funded by payroll taxes that employers pay. In 2007, employers put up about $31.5 billion in such taxes, and those taxes typically rise during and after recessions, as states seek to replenish the funds. With each successful claim raising a company’s costs, many firms resist letting employees collect the benefit if they consider it undeserved… or can get away with countering it.
“In some of these cases, employers feel like there’s some matter of principle involved,” said Coleman Walsh, chief administrative law judge in Virginia, who has handled many such disputes. But, he said, “nowadays it appears their motivation has more to do with the impact on their unemployment insurance tax rate. Employers by and large are more aware of unemployment as a cost of business.”
The cost of unemployment insurance has created an industry of “third-party agents” - companies that specialize in helping employers deal with the unemployment insurance administration. These firms represent employers in disputes with former employees over jobless benefits.
Many in the industry have speculated that deregulating changes in labo rlaw have made it easier for employers to block unemployment claims.
Rick McHugh, a staff attorney for the National Employment Law Project who began handling such cases in the 1970s, said court rulings have slowly enlarged the definition of employee misconduct, making it easier for employers to say they rightfully fired a worker.
“The courts are just not showing as much sympathy for employees who get fired,” he said. “There’s a higher standard of behavior that is expected of employees.”
“It’s almost like a daily soap opera - but it’s real life,” veteran unemployment hearing examiner Scott Karp said. “In this economic climate, the threshold for what employers consider minimum acceptable behavior has changed. They decide they’re not going to put up with it anymore, so they start documenting the employee’s behavior and often enough, the issue winds up here.”

Free Screenings
Free breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screenings are now available to area residents who are either uninsured, or whose insurance may not fully cover their costs. Under a state-funded program run by the American Cancer Society, free Mammograms are available to women 40 and older or to those at risk, Pap Tests are available for women 18 and older, and Colorectal Cancer tests are available to men and women 50 and up, or with increased risk factors.
"They'll do it for you for nothing," says Dr. Brian Callahan of Maverick West Health Center in Phoenicia. "These are tests that can keep you from dying. It's relatively easy to fix these things if you catch them early. If you wait until you have symptoms, they're more serious and harder to treat."
For full information, contact the program's Outreach Coordinator Bonnie Benjamin at 339-7896, ext.20.

Sex Offender…
Acting on the recommendation of the county attorney, Ulster County Legislature Chairman David Donaldson recently pulled the plug on an effort to restrict where in the county registered sex offenders may live. He did so by ruling out of order a resolution to schedule a public hearing on a proposed local law to prohibit registered sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school, church or day-care center. He said a ruling in Rockland County that an almost identical law there is unconstitutional calls into question the legitimacy of Ulster’s proposed law.
Donaldson added that county law-enforcement and mental health officials have said such a law would be impossible to enforce and could be counterproductive because it could force sex offenders to choose not to register, making it impossible to monitor their movements.
Legislature Minority Leader Glenn Noonan, who for the past several years has been pushing for such residency rules, blasted the Democrat’s decision, saying it was done to avoid voting against a measure that probably would have great community support. He likened the majority party’s attititude to what he called a “‘hug-a-thug’ theory of the state Assembly.”
In a court decision dated Jan. 22, state Supreme Court Justice William Kelly struck down a similar Rockland County law, saying it “impermissibly conflicts with the state enactments.” The lawsuit was brought by a sex offender who is an orthodox Jew and said he must live within walking distance of a synagogue.
Similar laws have been adopted elsewhere in the state, but many of those — including laws in Albany, Washington and Rensselaer counties — now are facing court challenges.
Currently, New York state law prohibits Level 3 (high-risk) sex offenders and offenders whose victims were under 18 and who are on parole or probation from living or going near “any school grounds … or any other facility or institution primarily used for the care or treatment of persons under the age of 18 while one or more … are present.”

Play Ball!
Kevin Wortman of Onteora Babe Ruth is reminding everyone that baseball season’s getting ready to start with a series of special pre-season clinics. Things kick off on Saturday, February 28 with a 9 to 11 AM clinic at the Onteora Middle school gym that’s free for all current Onteora Babe Ruth players. On March 7 there will be a 2 to 4 PM clinic at the MAC/Parisi training area in Kingston at a cost of $10/player. On March 14, at a time as yet to be determined, a third clinic will take place at the Onteora Middle school gym that is mandated for all new players to Onteora Babe Ruth this season, for skills evaluation. Finally, On March 21. there will be a second clinic at the MAC/Parisi training area from 5 to 7 PM, again with a cost of $10/player for the clinic.
Registration is on-going for Onteora Babe Ruth through March 28th. Find details and regular updates at www.eteamz.com/onteorababeruth.

Central Planning
The Village of Margaretville and the Catskill Watershed Corporation will be hosting the next meeting of the Central Catskills Collaborative this Thursday, February 26, when the Collaborative will welcome Margaret Bryant, Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture at SUNY School of Environmental Science and Forestry, to give an overview of this semester’s Regional Planning and Design Studio titled, Envisioning the Future Landscape of the Central Catskills Region: A Case Study of the Route 28 Corridor. The project has been designed to assist corridor communities in their collective effort to provide better access to waterways and public lands and to pursue a scenic byway nomination for Route 28.
The public is invited to attend the meeting, which will be held at the Catskill Watershed Corporation offices in Margaretville on Thursday, February 26 at 6PM. Refreshments will be provided.
For more information, please contact Peter Manning, Catskill Center Regional Planner, at (845) 586-2611 or visit the CCC webpage at www.margaretville.org/ccc.

Restore?
The Sharp Committee is pleased to announce the 2009 RESTORE award for the towns of Shandaken, Woodstock and Olive. Named for the acronym for Residential Emergency Services To Offer Repairs to the Elderly, this program will offer services to income eligible homeowners aged 60 years and older for emergency repairs needed for issues such as, but not limited to: heating, electrical and water system failures, roofing repairs, and other situations that require immediate attention. Assistance of up to $5,000 per home will be available beginning in March of 2009.
The program is expected to run for one year. For income requirements and other program information, please contact Buffy Kibe at 845-688-5777 or e-mail SHARP at: sharpcommittee@hvc.rr.com

Protected…
Sheriff Paul J. VanBlarcum of the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office has announced an ongoing investigation being conducted by detectives. Recently, several persons including an Ulster County elected official had received an e-mail for “working at home” by a company giving the name of Miller Creativity Shop. When a name, address and telephone number are provided in response to this type of inquiry, a Counterfeit check in the name Santa Barbara Bank and Trust was mailed to the person. Then a person will telephone the individual telling them to deposit the check into their checking account. Detectives warn residents not to cash these checks as these checks are counterfeit. The person then receives a phone advising where to send an amount of the deposited check. By the time the checks clears your bank you have already be scammed for amounts up to 75% of the checks value. Also the scammer will ask you to confirm your check via the internet. When you go to the site provided by the scammer you will be asked to confirm your name and bank account number and location. From this information an illegal wire transfer from your account can occur.
If you do receive any questionable checks, you should contact your banking institution to verify if a check is counterfeit. Notify the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office, the New York State Police or your local police department in the event you feel you have been the victim of an internet scam. Sheriff VanBlarcum states that there are several internet scams in addition to the “work at home” scam including sweepstakes winnings and items offered for sale through Craig’s list.
For more information regarding these scams or any other scams you check log on to the Federal Trade Commission Website at www.FTC.gov or www.SNOPES.com.

Cheap Laptops
The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) organization is planning to sell the devices via online store Amazon’s European outlets from 17 November. The machines will be sold under the Give One, Get One scheme that OLPC has already run in the US. Under that scheme, buyers get one machine for themselves and the other is donated to a school child in a developing nation.
When it goes on sale the XO laptop is expected to cost about $400 and should be available in 27 EU nations as well as Switzerland, Russia and Turkey. The Give One, Get One program was first run in the US in November and December 2007. The OLPC organization claims it sold almost 190,000 machines via the scheme.
Despite the success of the scheme, though, it drew criticism because the OLPC group had trouble delivering machines to those who had ordered one. In a bid to resolve these issues, it signed up with Amazon in September 2008.
The original idea for the OLPC was to create a small, powerful laptop for school children that would sell in the millions yet cost less than $100. The final version of the machine ended up costing about $188 and the OLPC group has only sold about 600,000 of the machines.
Many nations have expressed an interest in using the XO but few have signed up to buy them in the numbers expected by the OLPC organization. Most recently the Caldas region of Colombia signed up to buy 65,000 XO machines.

Preventative
Two local initiatives are continuing to raise awareness and work towards prevention of teen problems related to alcohol and drugs.
Armed with federal funds through a Drug-Free Communities grant, the Prevention Connections effort is continuing its fight to keep young people away from drugs and alcohol. The organization’s new chairwoman, Ulster County Legislator Susan Zimet, has launched a “Pennies for Prevention” campaign using “Penny the Pig” to collect money to enhance youth activities conducted around the county by providing incentives like activity curriculums, art supplies, localized youth based media, t-shirts, stickers, snacks and anything else to enhance and celebrate prevention and education efforts of local youth, said Prevention Connections’ Associate Director Heather Ohlson.
Meanwhile, our own paper’s Marie Shultis has continued organizing the Onteora-based (but not officially affiliated) Awareness Mentoring and Awareness Alcohol programs, run mostly through teen participants. The program’s student leaders were honored last year with a Congressional Award from Congressman Maurice Hinchey and NYS Assemblyman Kevin Cahill for outstanding community service for their part in creating the programs.
Program participants have been meeting with local government, court and law enforcement officials to educate them about means of working towards preventative means of keeping teens away from drugs and drinks instead of simply punishing them. The three-year old mentoring program seeks to utilize older students to mentor younger teens as near peers. The idea is to eventually utilize sentencing to aid in prevention.

Bush Redux
Just four days before he left office, President Bush instructed former White House aide Karl Rove to refuse to cooperate with future congressional inquiries into alleged misconduct during his administration.
On Jan. 16, 2009, then White House Counsel Fred Fieldingsent a letter to Rove’s lawyer, Robert Luskin. The message: should his client receive any future subpoenas, Rove “should not appear before Congress” or turn over any documents relating to his time in the White House. The letter told Rove that President Bush was continuing to assert executive privilege over any testimony by Rove - even after he leaves office.
A nearly identical letter was also sent by Fielding the day before to a lawyer for former White House counsel Harriet Miers, instructing her not to appear for a scheduled deposition with the House Judiciary Committee. That letter reasserted the White House position that Miers has “absolute immunity” from testifying before Congress about anything she did while she worked at the White House - a far-reaching claim that is being vigorously disputed by lawyers for the House of Representatives in court.
The letters set the stage for what is likely to be a highly contentious legal and political battle over an unresolved issue: whether a former president can assert “executive privilege” - and therefore prevent his aides from testifying before Congress - even after his term has expired.
“To my knowledge, these [letters] are unprecedented,” said Peter Shane, an Ohio State University law professor who specializes in executive-privilege issues. “I’m aware of no sitting president that has tried to give an insurance policy to a former employee in regard to post-administration testimony.”
Shane likened the letter to Rove as an attempt to give his former aide a ‘get-out-of-contempt-free card’.”
The ex-President himself has been making jokes, lately, about being unemployed and looking for work.

Socks Gone
Socks, the highly photogenic White House cat during the Clinton Administration, has died. He was around 18 and had lived with President Clinton’s former secretary Betty Curry since 2001. A statement released Feb. 20 by the Clinton Foundation indicated he had brought much happiness to Chelsea and the family over the years, and enjoyment to kids and cat lovers everywhere.

Deep Roots…
Congressman Maurice Hinchey will be holding a forum on Iraq, the economic crisis and public education on the SUNY New Paltz campus to discuss the underlying causes of the drastic budget cuts to both K-12 schools and institutions of higher education at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 27, in Lecture Center 100. Hinchey will focus on the economic crisis, including U.S. foreign policy, as well as the bailout/recovery packages and the relationship of both to this challenge to education. In addition to addressing what has led into this situation, Hinchey will discuss what needs to be done to get us out.
The event is sponsored by The Progressive Academic Network, the Student Association, the Departments of Educational Studies, English, Political Science and International Relations, Sociology, the Women’s Studies Program, Ulster County Young Democrats and Synthesis.
For more information contact Nancy Schniedewind (845) 257-2827.

Rotary Scholars
The Phoenicia Rotary is willing to sponsor two students entering 11th grade in September 2009 with full scholarships for the Rotary Youth Leadership Award conference. Qualified candidates are those high school students finishing their sophomore year who demonstrate the potential to benefit from a program designed to nurture and instill confidence in their leadership skills and abilities. The conference dates are Sunday June 28th - Thursday July 2nd, 2009 at the Mount St. Mary’s College in Newburgh.
The conference is designed to introduce participants to thoughts and ideas which, if utilized, will strengthen and develop their leadership skills. To qualify for this scholarship, you must complete an application with requested attachments, and complete an interview with the Rotary RYLA Selection Committee. Applications are available at the Onteora High Guidance Office, the Ulster Savings Bank on Main St. Phoenicia, and from Mark Wilsey at 688-2183.
To learn more, please visit www.rotary.org and click on the Students & Youth tab for RYLA information and application downloads. Completed applications should be submitted by March 27th.

Summer Camps?
Local camps are sending out materials and lining up info sessions trying to get your kids in their line-ups for the coming summer.
Frost Valley YMCA in Claryville, NY has two more Summer Camp Open House days for new camper parents and their children interested in learning about the camp firsthand on Sundays, March 29 and April 19 that will include a guided tour, presentation and lunch with the camp directors and staff. To RSVP, please call 845 985-2291, ext. 301 or e-mail: jdaly@frostvalley.org.
At the core of Frost Valley’s year-round program offerings is a Resident Summer Camp for children ages 7-15 and an Adventure Camp for ages 11-17.
Frost Valley traces its roots to 1901, when it was established one of the nation’s first summer camps for children.
Meanwhile, Cara Cruickshank’s been busy setting schedules and taking applications for the second year of Camp Woodland’s revival in and around Phoenicia, as well as an upcoming theatrical experience for 10 to 18 year olds redoing sketches from Monty Pythoin. Camp runs from mid-July through August in six one week installations at the Parish Hall on Main Street. For further information visit www.catskillwoodlandcamp.com, which goes up in soon, call 688-2068, or e-mail storydanz@yahoo.com.

Our Wrestlers!
Area teams claimed a dozen individual champions recently at the Section 9, Division 2 wrestling tournament in Boiceville. Host Onteora had four champions who clinched berths in last weekend’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships at the Times Union Center in Albany. Red Hook and Highland each had three titlists, while Ellenville came away with two.
Onteora’s champs were Chet Cochrane (125), CJ Goldizen (130), Donny Van Buren (145) and Dean Hottum (152). The Indians were anticipating a fifth victor, but George Loizou lost 4-3 in overtime of the 285-pound final to Ellenville’s Frank Casamento.
Van Buren defeated top-seeded Justin Smith of Eldred 5-1 for the 145 crown, while Cochrane downed Fallsburg’s Nick McLean 9-1 at 125 and Goldizen handled Red Hook’s Richard Treu 13-2 in the 130 final.

Think On This
As technology has played a bigger role in our lives, our skills in critical thinking and analysis have declined, while our visual skills have improved, according to research by Patricia Greenfield, UCLA distinguished professor of psychology and director of the Children’s Digital Media Center, Los Angeles. Learners have changed as a result of their exposure to technology, says Greenfield, who analyzed more than 50 studies on learning and technology, including research on multi-tasking and the use of computers, the Internet and video games. Her research was published this month in the journal Science.
Reading for pleasure, which has declined among young people in recent decades, enhances thinking and engages the imagination in a way that visual media such as video games and television do not, Greenfield said.
Among the studies Greenfield analyzed was a classroom study showing that students who were given access to the Internet during class and were encouraged to use it during lectures did not process what the speaker said as well as students who did not have Internet access. When students were tested after class lectures, those who did not have Internet access performed better than those who did.
“Wiring classrooms for Internet access does not enhance learning,” Greenfield said.
Another study Greenfield analyzed found that college students who watched “CNN Headline News” with just the news anchor on screen and without the “news crawl” across the bottom of the screen remembered significantly more facts from the televised broadcast than those who watched it with the distraction of the crawling text and with additional stock market and weather information on the screen.
These and other studies show that multi-tasking “prevents people from getting a deeper understanding of information,” Greenfield said.

Women’s Network
The Shandaken Women’s Network will host a special dinner program for women entitled “Creating Well-Being Through Laughter” with “Ganga” Jodi Peister, M.D. a.k.a. Dr. Wellbeing www.drwellbeing.com on Tuesday March 10th from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Skytop Steakhouse in Kingston. The meeting is open to women of all ages and starts with a business networking social hour from 6 to 7 p.m. followed by dinner, dessert and the special laughter program. ‘Ganga’ Jodi Peister - Dr. Wellbeing will lead a Laughter Yoga session which will be a unique combination of laughter, simple movement, and play followed by a discussion on how to bring more laughter into our lives. Please wear comfortable clothes to move around in, bring your business cards for networking.
For more information and to register please call Shandaken Women’s Network President Melody Newcombe at 845-688-5472 or email melodyn@ulster.net.

Accelerated
Dire warnings about the rate of global warming released by the United Nations in 2007 were, it turns out, far too optimistic. “We are basically looking now at a future climate that’s beyond anything we’ve considered seriously in climate change simulations,” said Christopher Field, Director of the Carnegie Institutions’s Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University.
Field, who helped assemble that data, told a recent gathering of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science that two factors, an unanticipated rise in greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of coal, and a resulting melting of the arctic permafrost are both causing the release of previously unanticipated levels of greenhouse gases. The permafrost which holds about a trillion tons of carbon, contains both carbon dioxide and methane, which is 25 times more potent as a greenhouse gas.
Fields described the relation between rising global temperatures and melting permafrost as “a vicious cycle of feedback.”
Other factors according to Fields, are also better understood today. Increased wildfires exacerbated by higher global temperatures are now releasing about 1/3 the carbon into the atmosphere that fossil fuels do.
And both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems aren’t able to absorb as much carbon as we expected just a few ago, for a variety of reasons all negatively impacted by rising global temperatures.