Learn about Climate Change: Seek out Local Observations

 

The question to ask is: What changes are we observing in our community that may be related to climate change?

 

Winter thaw in Elkford. February 4, 2009. Photo credit: Kevin Shepit

Local knowledge is a great way to start the dialogue. Asking people about their observations serves several purposes, including:

  • Encouraging discussion on climate change from people's own reference points.
  • By asking for local observations first, you are putting local people and their knoweldge at the front of your process.
  • Local people in rural communities are on the front lines and often have much to contribute in terms of what they have seen and how they have dealt with events in the past.
  • Local knowledge can identify changes in the environment, as local people are often keen observers of the environment over many years.
  • Given that there are many data gaps in the science, local knowledge is a communities' 'local science.'
  • Partnering local knowledge with scientific knowledge creates a more complete picture of what is happening.
  • Local observations may identify areas that require further investigation and/or they may substantiate scientific claims.
  • Local knoweldge can be from one person but often is part of the collective memory of a community and is shared orally through stories and anecdotes. Hence a gathering is useful because it helps to draw out the stories.

Engaging local people in the climate change discussions, and asking people what they are seeing, is also a first step toward arriving at your community's priorities. This is especially important in Aboriginal communities. The data goes a long way to understanding local impacts and local vulnerabilities. It also leads to what adaptive measures have already been taken, which have worked and which have not been so successful.

 

Local Climate Observations from Elkford

  • Winter is warmer
  • Established snowfall arrival seems delayed
  • Noticed an increased intensity to snowfalls, later in the year
  • More spring precipitation
  • Warmer summers
  • Longer gardening season – can grow vegetation which couldn’t grow before
  • Change in prevailing wind direction
  • More warm autumn days
  • The water level at horse pasture south of town has dramatically decreased in 29 years
  • Pests are more frequent (mountain pine beetle) and survive longer (grasshoppers)
  • Chinook seem to come into the valley (as opposed to over the valley) more often
  • Birds and bugs have changed
  • Clark’s nutcrackers are in larger groups and at different times of year than before
  • Pine Gros Beak and Pine Siskin are more common and at lower elevations
  • Magpies were not in the valley before the last ten years

 

Local Climate Observations from Kimberley

  • More and stronger wind, windstorms
  • Hotter, drier summers
  • The relatively recent advent of electrical storms which have not occurred in this area in the past
  • Warmer winters and shorter “cold snaps”
  • Drier climate overall
  • Increase in pine beetle
  • Shoulder seasons have shifted - colder, later springs and warmer, later falls
  • More intensive/extreme weather events
  • Higher variability in aquifer levels
  • Lower water levels and less water in mountain lakes
  • Increase in cedar (stink) bugs
  • Less snow and long term decrease in snowpack, glaciers
  • Discolouration of larch trees - forests seem less healthy
  • Species moving beyond their normal ranges – birds, noxious and invasive weeds
  • More tourists from Alberta because of adverse changes to their lakes
  • Gardening zone has changed from Z3 to Z4
  • More algae in aquatic systems
  • Huckleberry cycle is off, season seems shorter