Don't Tell These Ranchers Climate Change Isn't Real

Mac Blades (middle) fellow ranchers Frances Gardner and Gordon Cartwright recently won a long battle to have their drought-resistant heritage rangelands protected from coal bed methane and other energy developments. Photo by Ed Struzik.

Don't Tell These Ranchers Climate Change Isn't Real

The push to make Alberta's cattle ranges drought resistant.

By Ed Struzik, TheTyee.ca, November 17, 2015

Among the many pictures on the walls of the Rocking P ranch house is one of owner Mac Blades with singer Ian Tyson and other local ranchers riding their horses across a snowy hillside in the Livingstone Mountain range of southwestern Alberta. The photo made the front pages of both national newspapers in the fall of 2002, when Tyson, Blades and the Pekisko group of ranchers went public with their call for a moratorium on oil and gas development in the region.

Their call came on the heels of the worst prairie drought in more than 70 years.

Read more here: http://thetyee.ca/…/20…/11/17/Alberta-Cattle-Ranges-Drought/

Signs of drought appear to be in Western Canada for the long term

Signs of drought appear to be in Western Canada for the long term

Mark Hume, Globe and Mail, June 14, 2015

"High in the Rocky Mountains along the British Columbia-Alberta divide, John Pomeroy is seeing signs of the changing climate that has brought a crippling drought to the U.S. West...."

"....This year, the Rocky Mountain snowpacks, which usually melt slowly, releasing water well into the summer, have had “a dramatic decline.” This past winter, those snowpacks were as low as 25 per cent of normal measurements, and they vanished quickly in the spring.

“All our stations are free of snow now, which is the earliest we’ve seen it,” Dr. Pomeroy said. “Not only was the maximum of snow water available quite low, but the snow melted much earlier – about a month to a month and a half earlier than what we would expect....”

Read more here: http://bit.ly/1FlvlxS

H/T to Kevin Van Tigham

Co2ld Waters: An Angler’s Look at Climate Change

COLD WATERS from Conservation Hawks on Vimeo.

Co2ld Waters: An Angler’s Look at Climate Change

by Tim Romano, Field & Stream, April 29, 2015

Back in November of 2014 Kirk eluded to a little film that I was involved in that included some major heavy weights from the outdoor and fishing industry called Co2ld Waters. Why I was included on this list I’ll never quite understand. Putting a semi-balding, half-ass fly caster in a film that was in the fly fishing film tour was confounding to me, but I went along with it because of the folks I was lucky enough to rub shoulders with and share a day fishing in an amazing place.

That, and the fact that the film is wrapped around the theme of fishing and what climate change is going to mean for the sport that we all love. That is something near and dear to my heart and something I can get behind. Especially now that I have a little one. I worry more about what we’re leaving her than what it’s going to mean for me. While not one for self promotion, as that’s not what this film is about, I did feel the need to share it here. It’s not really offering a solution, but that wasn’t the point. Deep down I know that we as individuals can have very little impact on this issue, but as a whole, if we speak up as sportsmen we can move the needle with government and people that matter. That will most likely be the only way forward. Why this whole issue is so contentious is beyond me, but I’m gonna hang it out there and post here. Watch the film, feel free to share your thoughts and pass it along if you also feel strongly about the issue.

Chasing Ice - Monday April 22, 2013

 

Click on poster for larger image

Chasing Ice - Monday April 22, 2013 at University of Calgary 6:30 pm

Celebrate Earth Day! Join us for a free screening of the award winning documentary, Chasing Ice, followed by an expert panel discussion hosted by the University of Calgary Downtown Campus.

More info here: http://bit.ly/13opiIu

Review on Rotten Tomatoes (95%): http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chasing_ice_2012/

Dear Winter...

Dear Winter.... from protect our winters on Vimeo.

MEC (Mountain Equipment Coop) has partnered with Protect Our Winters to fight climate change and its effects on the winter sports community. They are matching member donations.  

Protect Our Winters.org