EDMONTON—Climate change is an emergency, and more than 11,000 scientists across the globe have sounded the alarm. But wrapped up in the warning is a message of hope, say five of the signatories from Alberta.

An open letter signed by thousands of scientists from around the world and published Tuesday in the journal BioScience clearly demonstrates their near unanimous agreement on the emerging global climate crisis.

The letter, which includes 11,258 signatures from 153 countries — including 409 from Canada, is another example of a growing willingness for scientists to leave their labs and attempt to persuade the public to take seriously what their research is telling them.

“We declare ... clearly and unequivocally that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency,” reads the letter’s opening statement.

On Tuesday, Star Edmonton spoke to five of those scientists based in Alberta to find out why they signed the letter and what they hope it will accomplish.

Mark Poesch, associate professor, Faculty of Agricultural Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Alberta

Kind of like Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax, who speaks for the trees, Mark Poesch’s job is to speak for the fish.

He studies fish populations to understand what causes their decline — be it invasive species or contaminants — and what can be done to stop it.

“Climate change is obviously one of those factors,” he said.

Having worked in the north, which has seen higher temperature increases than other regions, Poesch said the effects of climate change are felt by everyone from Indigenous communities that rely on fish for food, to commercial and recreational anglers operating in the area.

“It’s really become evident that this is a climate crisis, not just a change in temperature.”

However, Poesch knows that most people are tied up with their own lives and don’t get to see the problem as he does. That’s why he decided to sign the letter. He says it’s his obligation to not only tell the public what he’s observing, but to lend his name to efforts to sound the alarm.

“I don’t think it’s meant to be doom and gloom,” he added. “I think it’s meant to provoke action today that will help save tomorrow.”

And that action starts with understanding the problem. Much like a frog sitting in a pot of slow boiling water, he explained, people first need to know what’s happening before it’s too late.

After that, people need to understand their own personal impact on the environment, and take steps to mitigate it.

“Energy efficiency is an easy thing for people to grasp because you’re going to save money by being more efficient,” he said.

“I look at that optimistically, because I think we can make change, and I think we can avert catastrophe through our daily actions, and I think that may have more impact than anything else.”

Axel Moehrenschlager, Director of Conservation and Science, Calgary Zoo Foundation

By adding his name to the list of 11,000 scientists who’ve declared a climate emergency, Axel Moehrenschlager wants the world to understand that the reality of global warming is not just troubling for nature, but for people, too.

“We need to collectively, as a species, do a better job of converting our awareness of that, and turn it into action,” he said. “Both for the needs that we face right now, but also for the needs of the future.”

Through his work, Moehrenschlager deals with many animal species in Western Canada and around the world that are nearing extinction, and tries to promote their recovery. A changing climate, he explained, can expand, shrink or shift both animal habitats and a species’s ability to survive.

He noted that one of the solutions is recognizing how people invest in the world with the economic and ecological decisions they make, and the examples they set for future generations.

“Small kids watch adults make choices every day, in terms of recycling, and in terms of composting, and in terms of just reducing our impacts and how we live,” he said.

Finding a solution also involves dialogue — creating conversations around climate change between different groups that don’t typically talk to each other, including industry, governments and members of the public, including youths.

“People need to speak to sectors of society that are not necessarily their immediate peers, and I think that is when real innovation can happen,” he said.

François-Nicolas Robinne, Postdoctoral fellow, Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Alberta

Studying the risk forest fires pose to water use and security, François-Nicolas Robinne encounters the effects of global warming on a daily basis.

“It’s almost impossible — after nine hours of research everyday to not mention climate change or something that is related to climate change,” he said.

But he sees the warning as more than just an alarm. It’s a catalyst for care and conversation.

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“Talking about climate change makes people realize that caring for nature is really important,” Robinne added. “Maybe scientists are being negative, but it’s based on what we see.”

Research, he explained, shows that changing weather patterns are making places like Alberta more conducive to wildfire, and have extended wildfire season over the decades.

In an effort to recognize and minimize his own carbon footprint on the planet, Robinne said he tries to minimize how much he consumes — something others can practice as well.

“We have a lifestyle, especially in North America, that is very, very wasteful and we consume a whole lot — we buy a whole lot,” he explained. “You just buy less, you have less and then you realize that you actually don’t need that many things.”

While he’s optimistic that more people are becoming aware of climate change and talking about consequences, he also fears that’s only happening because the situation is getting worse. He hopes others will treat climate change with a sense of urgency rather than wait for a disaster to motivate action.

“Part of me wants people to be kind of shocked, but at the same time, I wish we can convey a message of hope,” he said. “We can do it, we have the potential, and we have the science. Maybe what we need now is a willingness to do something, and not wait for something to happen.”

Lisa Stein, Faculty of Science professor, University of Alberta

Since the early ’90s, Lisa Stein has been studying some of the planet’s smallest organisms, like microbes, and how they figure into a changing climate.

Some of those microbes, like the ones that cycle nitrogen in soil, play an important part in emissions that contribute to global warming, she said.

“When those microbes consume fertilizer, they rapidly generate nitrous oxide,” she explained. “Nitrous oxide is one of the big three greenhouse gases.”

As a scientist, Stein said it’s her moral obligation to share her findings with the public. She said she added her name to the letter out of a similar sense of responsibility.

While nitrous oxide only contributes between six to eight per cent of the greenhouse gas effect, Stein noted that those numbers are increasing.

Currently she’s working on developing technology that has bacteria consume methane — another harmful greenhouse gas — and turns it into bioplastic and fuel. It’s one thing that not only scientists, but industries and governments can do to help curb climate change.

“I’m talking about technologies that we can develop, fund, and support that are specifically geared to bring in jobs and products,” Stein explained, noting that technological innovations serve an economic purpose as well as an environmental one.

There are things that can also be done on an individual level, like recognizing that fertilizing lawns and plants contributes to the problem.

“Stop thinking about having that perfect thick, Blue Grass for the two months we have summer here as the goal,” she said. “We are creating an environmental problem for an esthetic notion. Appreciate the natural — appreciate shorter grass.”

Timm Döbert, post-doctoral fellow, Faculty of Science, University of Alberta

For Timm Döbert, the signs of climate change have been apparent for years, what’s lacking is action. He signed the letter to make this call to action more powerful.

“We really need to have a concerted voice as a science community,” he said. “I think it’s going to be more powerful compared to simply sticking to the individual science conducted by individual researchers or small groups.”

Lately, he has been analyzing data on a five-year research program studying ranching practices on the Prairies, and how changing grazing strategies can help trap carbon dioxide contributes to global warming. He said climate change has made drought increasingly common on the Prairies and is affecting the ability of grasslands to help control carbon emissions.

“Instead of being able to sequester more carbon in the soil, and utilizing this vast potential of grassland ecosystems, you’re in fact emitting more carbon because there is no vegetation cover, and vegetation covers is crucial for carbon sequestration through photosynthesis,” he explained.

While presenting those findings to the United Nations at a New York conference in October, Döbert heard a speaker say that the biggest contribution people can make in combating climate change is to stop acting as individuals, and believing that their contributions don’t matter. Rather, people need to climb out of their comfort zones and start working together, he said, and create a movement to spark real change.

“That applies to the general public and scientists who have not really reached out as much as they could have or should have, knowing so much about this topic and the urgency,” he said. “Hopefully, that’s eventually going to drive the political frameworks we need in place to make that drastic change, which is possible.”

With files from The Canadian Press

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