By: Rachael Jackson Climate
Oregon State University professor Philip Dr. Mote teaches his students about earth, ocean, and atmospheric sciences, but that isn’t his only credentials. He also serves as director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute, and is the co-leader of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-funded Climate Impacts Research Consortium (CIRC).
Dr. Mote visited campus May 19 to speak about his work with the CIRC on uncovering the mysteries of climate change in the Northwest.
He explained it isn’t something often thought about because the changes in the Northwest aren’t that drastic, but they are still evident when the clues are investigated. He and his team at CIRC have indicated three large impacts of Northwest climate.
“The first thing is, our water system here in the Northwest is heavily dependent on when it falls from the sky, which is in the winter, which leads to snowpack, and then it melts in the summer,” Dr. Mote said.
“We don’t have snowpack like we used to. We don’t understand something like this until 2015 happens and suddenly we are in the middle of a drought,” Dr. Mote said.
Second is coastal erosion. If a major subduction zone earthquake were to happen (which some scientists have predicted could happen within the next 150 years), it could cause a five-foot decrease in the seafloor, meaning the water would rise just as much on the shore.
The last impact is damage to forests from fires and insects. These are the harder ones to gauge, but a recent outbreak of mountain pine beetles as well as large scale forest fires both follow along with the trends of coastal erosion and decrease in water supplies. The beetles devastate other insect and plant life.
Together, these three change habitats by depleting previously abundant sources of water, shelter for animal life, and fuel (gathered from trees).
Dr. Mote recommended that the audience pay attention to the second impact, coastal erosion, as the danger of the earthquake looms over us all in our region.
Western doesn’t have many classes on this topic, something Brandon Pike, senior geography major, noticed.
“It could be good to get this topic into an LACC, teach something that is close to home and meaningful,” Pike said.
One audience member asked what we could do to try and lower our own carbon dioxide emissions, to which Dr. Mote said: drive less. If you can afford it, invest in a hybrid vehicle. If you can’t afford it, jump on public transit if it is available, or carpool to destinations.
Interested in learning about your own carbon footprint? Check out the carbon footprint calculator online at the Environmental Protection Agency’s website www3.epa.gov/carbon-footprint-calculator/.
Contact the author at rjackson13@wou.edu
