http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=819966&TextPage=2
Pollution outruns Adirondacks Forest proves no match for all the greenhouse gas emissions in park By *BRIAN NEARING* < http://www.timesunion.com/TUNews/author/AuthorPage.aspx?AuthorNum=163>, Staff writer First published in print: Wednesday, July 15, 2009 TUPPER LAKE -- Every day, Adirondack forests soak up and store about 1,600 tons of carbon to help slow global warming. But even tens of millions of trees can't keep up with greenhouse gas emissions from a much smaller number of cars, homes and businesses. That was the finding of a first-ever energy and greenhouse gas audit for the park, which at 6 million acres is the largest intact forest in the northeast. As trees grow, they absorb carbon dioxide, a known greenhouse gas released by the burning of fossil fuels that an international scientific consensus blames for global warming. The Adirondacks, however, can't handle the CO2 emissions from the region's relatively paltry 130,000 full-time residents, along with businesses and cars driven by visitors. Each year, the forests absorb about 600,000 tons of carbon, which is less than a third of what's emitted by human activity in the Adirondack Park, according to the audit. While 600,000 tons may sound like a lot, keep in mind that New York state emits more than 200 million tons of CO2. The report shows that steps must be taken to reduce fossil fuel use by Adirondack residents and visitors, said Kate Fish, project director of ADKCAP, a consortium of government, academic, civic and not-for-profit groups that formed after the conference to create the report. Increasingly, environmentalists are turning to the concept of "ecosystem services," which depicts green spaces as more than simply scenic lanscapes; they are also natural mechanisms -- leafy factories -- for the processing of CO2. The audit, which grew out of a November climate change conference at The Wild Center in Tupper Lake, was done by the Lancaster, Erie County-based environmental consulting firm of Ecology and Environment, with guidance from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. "We wanted to know where were the biggest emissions that the park was responsible for," she said. Given the severity of Adirondack winters, it's not surprising that home heating was a major source of energy consumption, particularly given that many homes are older and tend to be energy-inefficient. "We need to figure out ways to financially support people to do this work," Fish said. "There is also a need for trained energy auditors to examine homes, and for contractors trained in energy efficiency." The report also found that the park's large size requires many residents to drive long distances, which boosts gasoline use. All that adds up to an annual energy bill for the region of about $1.5 billion, which includes all gasoline purchases. Despite these factors, the average Adirondacker emits about 16 tons of CO2 annually -- much less than the U.S. average of almost 25 tons, but more than the German average of 12 tons or the English average of 11 tons. One reason that Adirondack emissions are so low is something that local government leaders often lament: a lack of major industries. We're interested in getting our hands on these numbers because we want to see how we could use the projected major changes in national and state energy policies to help build our regional economy," said Ross Whaley, an ADKCAP member and former president of the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. "One quickly realizes that we need to find an approach to keep some of those energy dollars here," said Brian Towers, of the Adirondack Association of Towns and Villages. "Community leaders from around the region need to investigate every avenue from small hydropower, Any way that we can cut public energy costs have a correlating effect on property taxes." Fish said Lake Placid cut back the village's electrical consumption by more than 10 percent, simply by funding programs for 20,000 energy-efficient light bulbs sold as benefit by local Boy Scouts and refrigerator replacement. "We want to be able to bring the region's net CO2 emissions to zero," she said. "And we want to do it in a way where we are not bringing in so much fuel from outside the country, but in a way that localizes our economy, so that homeowners can use high-efficiency wood furnaces and buy their wood pellets fro a local producer, for example." Brian Nearing can be reached at 454-5094 or by email at [email protected]. A copy of the Adirondack energy and greenhouse gas audit is available online at http://blog.timesunion.com/green -- ---------------------------------------------------- Gay Nicholson, Ph.D. President Sustainable Tompkins www.sustainabletompkins.org 607-533-7312 (home office) 607-220-8991 (cell) 1 Maple Avenue Lansing, NY 14882 [email protected] _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins Questions about the list? ask [email protected] free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
