Published: February 01, 2008 09:30 am         

Panel explores climate change solutions

NORMAN, Okla. — Global warming is “unequivocal,” but the implications can be mitigated by taking steps to conserve resources and look to alternative energy solutions, a panel of experts and government officials said.

The panel was part of “Focus the Nation,” an effort taking place at universities around the nation Thursday to focus on global warming solutions.

Participating in the panel at the University of Oklahoma were David Karoly, a former OU meteorology faculty member now teaching at the University of Melbourne; Dr. Ken Crawford, director of Oklahoma Climatological Survey; Norman councilmember Rachel Butler, and Miles Tolbert, state secretary of the environment. About 90 people, mostly students, attended.

Karoly gave a presentation about climate change on a global level. He is a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an organization created by the United Nations and the World Meteorological Organization.

The scientists on the IPCC have agreed that global warming is “unequivocal,” Karoly said. He showed how test models have indicated that most of the increase in greenhouse gasses is probably a result of human activity.

“Continuous greenhouse gas emissions at or above current rates would cause further warming and induce many changes in the global climate system during the 21st century that would very likely be larger than those observed during the 20th century,” according to the IPCC.

For the effects of global warming on Oklahoma, Crawford made a presentation. He showed that Oklahoma was in an unusually long wet period in the 1980s and 1990s, but that a period of drought will probably follow. He predicted drought and increased temperatures that may rival those of the 1930s or 1950s.

This will shrink water sources, so Oklahomans must be careful with their water sources, he said. Conservation can only be good, because in the event global warming doesn’t occur to that effect, there will still be a more robust water source, he said.

Butler then brought the talk to the local level. She described what the City of Norman is doing to conserve and plan for the future. The stormwater master plan the city is developing will help better use the city’s water sources to provide more potable water, she said. The wastewater treatment plant is going through upgrades to make pumps and other elements more energy efficient, she said.

The last speaker was Tolbert, and he spoke about Oklahoma’s climate change strategy for the future.

Oklahoma hasn’t done much in the past to find solutions for global warming, he said.

“When the history of the response to climate change is written, Oklahoma will not be in the first chapter,” Tolbert said. “And it probably won’t be in the second chapter. But we have every potential to figure prominently towards the end.”

The two areas in which Oklahoma has the greatest potential for helping with climate change are wind power and cellulosic ethanol.

OG&E already is investing more in wind power to good effect, Tolbert said. In a federal study predicting the wind power production capacity for every state, Oklahoma came out on top, with more potential than any other state by far, he said. Fossil fuels will always be a large part of Oklahoma’s energy sources, but it is hoped that wind power will provide for the state’s future increases in energy needs, Tolbert said.

Cellulosic ethanol is made from switchgrass, which is native to Oklahoma. The Oklahoma Bioenergy Center recently was started to look at how to develop ethanol within the state, Tolbert said.



Julianna Parker writes for The Norman (Okla.) Transcript.