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Talk of the Nation: Researchers Observe Climate Change, First-Hand
http://www.npr.org/2012/06/25/155717377/researchers-offer-first-hand-views-on-climate-change[font face=Serif][font size=5]Researchers Observe Climate Change, First-Hand[/font]
June 25, 2012
[font size=3]As the climate changes, scientists are documenting measurable shifts in the natural world — from a tremendous loss in Arctic sea ice and an increase in extreme weather like drought, floods and heatwaves, to the migration of plants and animals to new latitudes.
…
CONAN: Biologist George Divoky and research ecologist Craig Allen are here with us at the Aspen Environment Forum, and NPR science correspondent Richard Harris joins us from our usual home in Studio 3A in Washington, D.C., and welcome to you all.
George Divoky began studying sea birds on an island in Arctic Alaska more than three decades ago. He's gone back every summer since to follow the black guillemot. He's director and founder of Friends of Cooper Island. And I wanted to ask you. What's the most surprising change you've seen up there on Cooper Island over the past 35 years?
GEORGE DIVOKY: That's a very hard question, and it's a real pleasure to be here, and I thank both NPR and the Aspen Environment Forum. The biggest change, the most surprising change was the polar bears showing up on an island where, for 28 years, I lived and never saw a polar bear. And that was a real sign that the ice retreat was more than just the physical retreat of ice; that's always reported on, that habitat was being lost and, as a result, something that was tied to the pack ice had to now seek out land.
…[/font][/font]
(Audio and transcript available at the link.)June 25, 2012
[font size=3]As the climate changes, scientists are documenting measurable shifts in the natural world — from a tremendous loss in Arctic sea ice and an increase in extreme weather like drought, floods and heatwaves, to the migration of plants and animals to new latitudes.
…
CONAN: Biologist George Divoky and research ecologist Craig Allen are here with us at the Aspen Environment Forum, and NPR science correspondent Richard Harris joins us from our usual home in Studio 3A in Washington, D.C., and welcome to you all.
George Divoky began studying sea birds on an island in Arctic Alaska more than three decades ago. He's gone back every summer since to follow the black guillemot. He's director and founder of Friends of Cooper Island. And I wanted to ask you. What's the most surprising change you've seen up there on Cooper Island over the past 35 years?
GEORGE DIVOKY: That's a very hard question, and it's a real pleasure to be here, and I thank both NPR and the Aspen Environment Forum. The biggest change, the most surprising change was the polar bears showing up on an island where, for 28 years, I lived and never saw a polar bear. And that was a real sign that the ice retreat was more than just the physical retreat of ice; that's always reported on, that habitat was being lost and, as a result, something that was tied to the pack ice had to now seek out land.
…[/font][/font]