BYU Researchers’ Fight to Preserve Permafrost and Restore Earth’s Climate
August 31, 2022
Permafrost is the layer of permanently frozen soil, sediment, and rock in many northern and mountainous regions. Permafrost regions contain most of the Earth’s remaining wilderness, and the ecosystem supports more than 1.5 billion people globally. However, permafrost is in trouble. It’s billions of years old—and it’s melting. A team of BYU researchers is raising a voice of warning and working to stop the meltdown.
Human-caused climate change is affecting permafrost regions three times faster than the global average. Even though these ecosystems are half a world away, their meltdown could affect everyone.
Permafrost ecosystems regulate toxic emissions. This means the destruction of such a fragile ecosystem entails unparalleled global warming.
“The permafrost domain regulates the Earth’s energy balance and affects ocean circulation and habitats for people and wildlife worldwide,” says Ben Abbott, a BYU plant and wildlife sciences professor who led the permafrost study in Alaska. “We have pulled the plug on the world’s largest freezer. If we don’t plug it back in soon, things are going to start smelling.”
The melting of permafrost creates a vicious climate change cycle: the world population contributes to global warming, the permafrost stops regulating toxic emissions, and the permafrost’s degradation emits more carbon dioxide. Higher emissions lead to higher temperatures and even more destruction.
“Today the permafrost regions are already releasing nearly the same amount of greenhouse gases as Germany’s annual emissions,” says Jen Strauss, a co-author on the study from the Alfred Wegener Institute.
In addition to accelerating global warming, there are major consequences for local communities. Tens of millions of people living in the far north depend on the water it provides for agriculture and other uses. This suffering is already evident within the surrounding Indigenous communities in the permafrost domain—though these people have contributed little to the pollution themselves.
Raymond Lee, a BYU postdoctoral researcher working with Abbott, recognizes the unique beauty present in permafrost: “It’s like ‘The Land Before Time’ … [permafrost] is the last pristine place on Earth, so you have to be very careful.”
Qiwen Zhang (‘22), a BYU PhD student studying environmental preservation and a co-author on the study, recommends combining both personal and policy changes to reverse climate change. Small changes, like choosing public transportation, consuming less meat, and going digital for school and work add up. “No matter how small the step is, we must take action,” Zhang says.
The study concludes with a call for “climate restoration” through a rapid transition to renewable energy. It’s now a race against the clock to reduce human emissions—or permafrost and the world’s population will face the consequences.
“The energy choices we make over the next decade could open pathways toward recovery,” Abbott says. “Or lock us in a future of loss and degradation.”
https://lifesciences.byu.edu/byu-researchers-fight-to-preserve-permafrost-and-restore-earths-climate
Repeating Famous Hillslope Experiment Provides New Insights
By Ilja van Meerveld 30 January 2020
Mercedes‐Benz 4MATIC Commercial – “From Night to Light” | Mercedes-Benz Canada
From Whitehorse, Yukon to Inuvik, Northwest Territories and beyond, we partnered with notable Canadian photographer Tom Parker to showcase the astounding beauty of the Canadian Arctic, as well as the glorious return of the sun after nearly 30 days of darkness.
Virginia Tech University Club residents forced out to make way for possible building demolition
By Robby Korth robby.korth@roanoke.com (540) 381-1679 Jun 2, 2017
BLACKSBURG — About 10 students were forced to move Thursday from the University Club at Virginia Tech with the 1920s-era campus fixture facing possible demolition early next year.
University Club President Matt Hally said Virginia Tech Vice President for Administration Sherwood Wilson told the University Club’s leadership in the spring they could no longer house residents at the clubhouse as of June 1. That left students unable to renew their leases, Hally said.
School officials said they’d like the building torn down by spring 2018, he said. Tech is working with the club on an “amicable agreement toward purchasing the building,” Hally said.
“There’s no reason we would not want residents,” Hally said.
Wilson declined to comment through Tech spokesman Mark Owczarski.
Owczarski said the land where the clubhouse is located has been part of Tech’s plan for a Creativity and Innovation District since it was announced in September. That plan included a living-learning community related to creativity and innovation in shared learning spaces.
Under the draft plan, the district would feature dorms, labs and arts studios that could become a hub for artistic innovation, as laid out in Tech’s “dreams” for the area, he said.
A line in the 1920s-era incorporation agreement between Tech and the club says the university has the right to vet any renters on the club’s property.
Owczarski said the students’ leases are likely “all part of the conversations we’re having” in negotiations for the future of the property.
Graduate student Raymond Lee, who lived at the club, said about 25 people — mainly international students from places like South Sudan, Colombia, Germany, Turkey and other countries — lived at the club previously but had been trickling out over the course of the spring semester.
A smattering of people could be seen hauling out heavy furniture and other items Thursday morning.
Lee said he was told in the spring by University Club staff he would have to leave the premises by Thursday. He said he was told that Tech officials want to build something new as part of the Creativity and Innovation District in the club’s current location. He was among those forced to move out Thursday.
Residents renting rooms have been part of the club since its inception. The club dates to 1925 and has occupied its clubhouse on Otey Street since 1929.
Its constitution says “the purpose of the organization shall be to provide and maintain a suitable club house and home for its members and to promote social intercourse and friendship among them.”
According to its articles of incorporation, the club owns and can operate its building on campus, however it is limited in what it can do with the building.
The clubhouse’s future is unclear. The most recent draft of Tech’s master plan shows three buildings labeled “housing” on the land where the University Club is located. The clubhouse is not part of that plan, which shows that the Squires Student Center would be demolished.
Owczarski said it’s premature to say the club will be displaced, though he acknowledged the ongoing negotiations between Tech and the club.
Ultimately Tech “can’t decide the future of a building we do not own,” he said.
It is Hally’s goal to keep the group together moving forward no matter where they meet.
“The club is not the clubhouse,” Hally said. “It’s the membership.”
Hally offered no specifics about the club’s future if the building is torn down.
It was unclear Thursday how many members the club has. Numerous members use the club and its parking lot as a gathering place and tailgate area for Tech football games.
Lee said he’s lived in the building for the past two-and-a-half years, since he’s been a graduate student studying forestry at Tech. During that time, he said, he’s built strong relationships with many involved with the club.
“It’s been a home for me,” Lee said. “And it’s because the students who live here are great and the people that run the club are very gracious.”
He said the students will likely still gather as a group after they’ve all scattered across Blacksburg. Many have found apartments around town, though Lee said it’s difficult to beat the rental price of the University Club, $325 a month.
“Once you’re in the club, you’re always in the club,” Lee said.
Lee researched the history of the club in his spare time, pulling information from the Virginia Tech Libraries’ Special Collections Archive.
“I wanted to document what we were losing,” Lee said.
He learned former Tech President Julian Burruss, the namesake for Tech’s Burruss Hall, performed the groundbreaking for the building. The building was designed by C. H. Cowgill, the namesake for the College of Architecture and Urban Studies main building, Cowgill Hall.
Through the years members have held soirees but also battled difficulties, falling on hard times during the Great Depression, World War II and the 1970s because of sagging membership and poor finances.
But the club has bounced back, serving as a social gathering place for people associated with the university and a home for many students and faculty over the years.
“The more I learned about the founding and the history, the more I grew to love [the University Club],” Lee said.
Residents forced out of University Club while Tech considers options
Matt Jones, editor in chief Jun 2, 2017
The University Club, a historic landmark on campus, will no longer rent out apartments. Instead, the building, located across the street from Vawter Hall, could be torn down in the near future to make way for new construction.
According to the Roanoke Times, about 10 of the last students living in the building were required to move out June 1, when their leases ended. University officials had told the club’s leadership in the spring that students would not be able to renew leases.
“There’s no reason we would not want residents,” said University Club President Matt Hally in an interview with the Roanoke Times.
The club and the university are negotiating a possible sale of the clubhouse to the university, according to Hally. He says that school officials had previously said they would like to see it torn down by spring 2018.
However, with negotiations still up in the air, the future of the club is not immediately clear.
A draft of the 2017 campus master plan presented March 14 does not include the University Club in its plans for campus. The master plan, which is being developed in conjunction with the planning and design firm Sasaki Associates, envisions a direction for the university’s growth.
In the place of the University Club, three connected buildings described as residential facilities are instead placed on maps included in the draft plan. The plan also suggests replacing Squires Student Center and expanding the campus westward. However, the plan is still under development, and the website for the university’s Facilities Department says it will not enter its final stages until November after further public comment.
The draft plan identifies the University Club site as part of the Creativity and Innovation District, a long-term plan to revamp the eastern edge of campus. The district will include new and remodeled academic buildings, common spaces for students and residential environments.
The University Club was originally organized as a social club by faculty members in 1925. According to the club’s website, its members have included Nobel prize winners and past university presidents. It continues to hold events and is a popular spot for tailgating by members during the football season.
The 8,763-square-foot clubhouse was completed in 1930 and has rented rooms and event space since then. Graduate student Raymond Lee, who moved out of the building June 1, told the Roanoke Times that the $325 a month rent for a furnished apartment was hard to beat.
But, Hally told the Roanoke Times that the club would continue on, no matter what the future of their building.
“The club is not the clubhouse,” Hally said. “It’s the membership.”
No Agenda Episode 922 – “Gut Punch”
by Adam Curry
Last Modified 04/20/2017 13:20:36
Executive Producers: Sir Ononymous from Dogpatch, Adam Bull, Rob – The Knight of the Desert Sprawl, Sir Baz, Baron of Svalbard
Associate Executive Producers: Ewan Robertson, Sir Roll_SK, Anonymous CPA, Robert Dolland, Dennis Cruise, Raymond Lee
http://adam.curry.com/html/NoAgendaEpisode922Gu-1492718217.html
The History of San Francisco Boy Scout Troop 12
Mar 9, 2016
Founded in 1915, San Francisco Boy Scout Troop 12 is one of the oldest in the country. During its more than 100 years of existence it has shaped the lives of thousands of young people by developing character and leadership skills. Learn about the fascinating history of Troop 12.
Campo Steam Update
By HeritageRail News April 4, 2015 Features
OUR SELF-WRITTEN OBITUARIES – RAYMOND LEE, BLACKSBURG, USA
February 23, 2015 · by The Delhi Walla · in Farewell Notice
The Delhi Walla begins a new series. Our Obituaries invites Delhiites across the world to write their obituary in 200 words. The idea is to share with the world how you will like to be remembered after you are gone. (May you live a long life, of course!)
“All of his (The Delhi Walla’s) work together may add up to one of the most eccentric and encyclopedic ground-level portraits of a megacity in the Internet age.”
–The New Yorker
https://www.thedelhiwalla.com/2015/02/23/our-self-written-obituaries-raymond-lee-blacksburg-usa/
Pacific Southwest Railway Museum
Hot Scoop (May-June 2014) [pdf]
The Pacific Southwest Railway Museum Association is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of railroads as they existed in the Pacific Southwest. With over 120 pieces of equipment and artifacts on display between our two facilities in Campo, CA and La Mesa, CA, the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum Association provides a unique learning experience for all ages. At our Campo facility, we offer vintage train rides with locomotives and cars from the early 20th century operated by our all-volunteer train crews and support staff. For a full listing of the train rides, please visit our Master Train Rides Calendar and purchase your tickets today!
Hemingway & Gellhorn (2012)
A drama centered on the romance between Ernest Hemingway and World War II correspondent Martha Gellhorn, Hemingway’s inspiration for For Whom the Bell Tolls, and the only woman who ever asked for a divorce from the writer.
Director:
Writers:
Stars:
Nicole Kidman, Clive Owen, David Strathairn |
Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 7 wins & 44 nominations.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0423455/
