April 16, 2007
Bowling
Green, Ky. - Dr. David Keeling, head of Western Kentucky University’s Department of Geography and Geology, was published in the Chicago Sun-Times on Saturday, April 14, with an op-ed article that addresses the issue of Arctic melting and its policy implications.
“Arctic Meltdown Creates Hot Policy Issues” was also featured in the St. Georges (Utah) Spectrum on April 1 and in the online magazine Circumpolar Musings on April 2.
With so much attention being paid recently to global climate change -- or global warming as it is frequently but erroneously called -- Dr. Keeling argues that the policy implications are being ignored by governments and societies generally. As debate rages backwards and forwards between liberals and conservatives in the U.S. over the causes of global climate change, few commentators are looking beyond the heated “assigning blame” rhetoric to the practical implications of changing climates.
Ongoing changes to regional and global climates are inevitable, so the challenge, according to Dr. Keeling, is to understand their policy implications and to plan for long-term alterations of climate systems. Here at WKU, for example, the Kentucky Mesonet project aims to generate statewide data that can help policymakers, farmers, local officials and communities plan for changes over longer periods of time.
In his most recent op-ed, Dr. Keeling examines climate changes in the Arctic region from a geopolitical perspective, and suggests that shorter shipping routes across the Arctic as a consequence of melting icepacks could create significant conflicts over access to territorial waters and new oil and gas exploration.
In a recent WKYU-FM Mid-Day Edition interview (listen online at http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wkyu/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1063375§ionID=1),
Dr. Keeling argued that conflicts over boundaries and territorial waters continue to pose enormous challenges to the U.S. and countries around the world. Arctic melting provides an excellent example of the conflicts that might arise if countries fail to anticipate the implications of climate change through rational and far-sighted policy measures.
Dr. Keeling is a member of the American Geographical Society’s Writers Circle. The AGS is America’s oldest geographical organization. Its mission is to link business, professional and scholarly worlds in the creation and application of geographical knowledge and techniques to address economic, social and environmental programs. By distributing op-ed essays, Dr. Keeling and the AGS hope to encourage greater public discussion of geographical issues critical to society.
To learn more about geographic education and the issues addressed in these articles, visit the AGS website at www.amergeog.org. Additional geography resources for teachers, students and parents are available at www.kga.org
More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.
For information, contact David Keeling at (270) 745-4555.
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