Land preservation can help effort against global warming

Several hundred people see presentation of Al Gore’s hour-long slide show, "An Inconvenient Truth," by Jonathan Dorn, editor-in-chief of Backpacker Magazine

By John Tredrea
   The problem of global warming is huge.
   "It’s the defining issue of our time," declared Jim Waltman, executive director of the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association.
   None of the hundreds people in the room disagreed with Mr. Waltman. But attached to the consensus that the threat posed by global warming is terribly daunting was agreement that much can be done to stave off catastrophe later in this century and in the next century.
   At the local level, helping preserve land in its natural state can be key. Due to the process of photosynthesis plants use to feed themselves, more vegetation means less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The rapidly increased amount of carbon dioxide in the air since the advent of the Industrial Revolution is the cause of global warming, scientists say.
   Mr. Waltman was a member of a panel of officials and environmentalists who spoke at a meeting of the Hopewell Valley Community Forum Tuesday night, held in the auditorium of Hopewell Valley Central High School. Several hundred people attended to see a presentation of Al Gore’s hour-long slide show, "An Inconvenient Truth," by Jonathan Dorn, editor-in-chief of Backpacker Magazine.
   Also on the panel were Linda Mead, executive director of the D&R Greenway Land Trust, and Pat Sziber, a longtime member of Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space and of Hopewell Township’s Environmental Commission. In the Hopewell Valley area during the past two decades, the Greenway and Friends have preserved thousands of acres in their natural state. Ms. Mead and Ms. Sziber called for increased support of those efforts.
   "The choices we make are significant," Ms. Mead said. "Saving local land from development is part of the solution to global warming." She said the Greenway "is close" to raising its part of the $11 million needed to preserve the 330-plus acre St. Michael’s tract near Hopewell Borough and asked for continued public support for that effort.
   She said hundreds of houses, each generating an average of 10 car trips per day, could be built on this land if it is developed. Automotive emissions are a cause of global warming, scientists say. Ms. Sziber said the Friends are continuing their efforts to develop a linked series of open space tracts that would enable every Valley resident to drive a maximum of five minutes to reach a preserved tract on which he or she could walk.
   "It is clear we humans are altering the climate," said panelist Michael Aucott while introducing Mr. Dorn. Dr. Aucott, a chemist with the state Department of Environmental Protection, is former chairman of the Hopewell Township Planning Board and now is a member of the Environmental Commission.
   "I’m not a scientist," Mr. Dorn said. "My degree is in American history. But I am passionate about this issue." One of 300 people selected from 5,000 applicants to present, for no pay, "An Inconvenient Truth" to audiences around the country, Mr. Dorn said: "Our industry, transportation and technology have begun to alter the atmosphere." The most crucial change is the increased level of carbon dioxide — from 280 parts per million in 1958 to 381 parts per million in 2005. "Six hundred parts per million in 50 years has been predicted if we continue at our current rate of energy consumption," Mr. Dorn said.
   Increased levels of carbon dioxide mean that heat from the sun that otherwise would be reflected from the earth back to outer space is trapped in the earth’s atmosphere — this is the so-called "greenhouse effect," or global warming.
   "This science has never seriously been challenged," Mr. Dorn said. He noted that the Antarctic Ice Cap, which is up to 2 miles thick, already has begun to melt. To give an idea of what this could mean, he said that if the ice cap in just Greenland melted entirely, the sea level worldwide would rise 20 feet. "No one predicts this will happen this century," he said. "But a much lower rise than 20 feet would have a major effect on hundreds of millions of people living in low-lying areas around the world."
   He also noted that 52 cubic miles of ice "melted in Greenland last year and did not come back" and that scientists have said "997 of the world’s largest 1,000 glaciers are in retreat."
   Other changes already in evidence due to global warming are: stronger hurricanes, due in large part to higher surface water temperatures on the oceans; a rapid increase in the number of species extinctions; and greater frequency of torrential rainfalls. One location in India actually received several feet of rain within 24 hours a few years ago, Mr. Dorn said. He noted that the United States is, per capita, the greatest worldwide contributor by far to global warming, accounting for 30 percent of it.
   What else can one do beyond helping preserve land in its natural state? Plenty, Mr. Dorn and the panelists said. These tactics not only reduce global warming. They save you money. Estimated figures are below:
   — Replace three frequently used light bulbs at home with compact fluorescent bulbs. Annual savings: 300 pounds of carbon dioxide and $60 in energy bills.
   — Keep your tires properly inflated. Annual savings: 250 pounds of carbon dioxide and $840 in gas.
   — Replace your car’s air filter regularly. Annual savings: 800 pounds of carbon dioxide and $130 in gas.
   — Use 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper. Annual savings: 5 pounds of carbon dioxide per ream of paper.
   —Adjust your thermostat down two degrees in winter and up two degrees in summer. Annual savings: 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide and $100.
   — Clean or replace dirty air conditioning filters. Annual savings: 350 pounds of carbon dioxide and $100.
   — Unplug cellphone, iPod and other chargers when not in use. Turn off TV, DVD player, stereo and computer when not in use. Annual savings: 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide.
   — Take shorter showers and install a low-flow showerhead. Annual savings: 700 pounds of carbon dioxide and $250.
   — Plant a tree (get 10 free trees when you join the National Arbor Day Foundation). Savings: 20,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per tree over its lifetime.