Experts Encourage Mitigation, Adaptation to Climate Change

Experts Encourage Mitigation, Adaptation to Climate Change

At the Burton K. Wheeler Conference, "Climate Change in Montana: Impacts and Opportunities for Agriculture and Energy," regional leaders share ideas on greenhouse gas reduction, carbon sequestration, resource development and local action plans for mitigating the effects of climate change.

By Susan Duncan, 5-17-08

Mitigate. Adapt. Use Wind Power as an Engine for Economic Development. Promote Local Action Plans.

Panels of experts shared diverse perspectives this week on the future of Montana as affected by climate change at the Burton K. Wheeler Center Conference on “Climate Change in Montana: Impacts and Opportunities for Agriculture and Energy,” at Montana State University.

The conference format accepted global warming as a given and moved forward with suggestions for dealing with a warming world.

Keynote speaker and Minister of Environment for the Province of Alberta, Rob Renner, who said Alberta and Montana have a lot in common, put it this way: “We have a strong Western spirit of pioneering and entrepreneurship. We are people who believe ‘We can do it’ so ‘Let’s get it done.’”

S. David Freeman, former head of the Tennessee Valley Authority, said climate change is an issue for everyone, because what anyone does, affects everyone else – worldwide. He compared the adjustments we will make to climate change as a Second Industrial Revolution. The United States must lead. The future of civilization rests on commitment to increased use of renewable energy.

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