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SU Earth Sciences Professor Says Despite Progress, UN Climate Change Conference Falls Short Of Meeting "Urgency Of The Moment"

Flooding strikes the City of Oneida several years ago. Events like this could be more common as a warming atmosphere retains, then drops more moisture.
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WAER News
Flooding strikes the City of Oneida several years ago. Events like this could be more common as a warming atmosphere retains, then drops more moisture.

A Syracuse University Earth and Environmental Sciences Professor worries the actions taken and agreements made at the UN climate change conference come too late to avoid major consequences in the earth’s systems. Assistant Professor Sam Tuttle is a hydro-climatologist, meaning he studies water, how it moves around the world, and how it interacts with the climate system. Like many scientists, he was closely watching the framework to track progress toward promised carbon reduction goals. Tuttle says the warming atmosphere holds more water, and leads to more intense rainfall events.

"We're kind of the college student who's waited an hour before the exam to start studying. This type of agreement would have been most appropriate for the 1990s or early 2000s, but it really doesn't meet the urgency of the moment in terms of what we really need to get done in a very short time frame before we start to see some big changes."

Tuttle says those changes will be seen globally, including here in the eastern US. He says aside from more rain and possible flooding, our snowfall could also be affected.

"We'll be having our snowpack starting to accumulate later because the climate will be warmer, and it will disappear sooner. Our winters will be less dominated by those cold, snowy periods, and more dominated by late falls and early springs."

He says that has significant implications for areas that depend on winter snows for water resources into the summer, such as the western US. While he and others feel many agreements didn’t go far enough, Tuttle says everything we do to limit carbon emissions will have a positive impact. He notes there was broad agreement for the first time ever to decrease the use of coal to make electricity, and to reduce fossil fuel subsidies.

Scott Willis covers politics, local government, transportation, and arts and culture for WAER. He came to Syracuse from Detroit in 2001, where he began his career in radio as an intern and freelance reporter. Scott is honored and privileged to bring the day’s news and in-depth feature reporting to WAER’s dedicated and generous listeners. You can find him on twitter @swillisWAER and email him at srwillis@syr.edu.