Posts Tagged ‘climate change’

AWSMP Staff Featured on New Podcast

Posted on: November 19th, 2021 by Tim Koch

AWSMP staffers Tim Koch and Aaron Bennett are featured in the recently released “Views From the Watershed” podcast. The podcast is a self-guided audio tour of the New York City West-of-Hudson Water Supply Watershed, and features many other notable Catskills names.

Tim is in Episode #11 titled “Un-Muddying the Waters.” Recorded at the Main Street bridge in Phoenicia, Tim discusses how a project designed to improve sediment transport was used to reduce flooding on Main Street in a flood prone village built on an alluvial fan. Other topics include turbidity, the importance of riparian buffers, and climate change.

Looking upstream at the rock vane installed on the Stony Clove Creek from the Main Street bridge in Phoenicia.

Aaron is featured in Episode 12, “Tough Choices.” From a vacant lot in Boiceville, Aaron discusses the hard decisions faced by flood prone communities in the Catskills, and all over the country. He explains why building flood walls and dredging streams are no longer practical, affordable, or sustainable solutions.

Extensive flooding in Boiceville following Tropical Storm Irene, August 2011.

The Views from the Watershed tour is where ever you get your podcasts, or from walkingthewatershed.com

AnchorFM: https://anchor.fm/viewsfromthewatershed
Apple Music: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/views-from-the-watershed/id1592851348
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4k44bT6rPdqgrNSneGI8bi
Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/views-from-the-watershed

Climate Scientist James Hansen speaking locally next month

Posted on: January 9th, 2020 by Leslie_Zucker

Dr. James Hansen, Columbia University Climatologist will be speaking locally on February 6, 2020.

Dr. James Hansen, Columbia University Climatologist will be speaking locally on February 6, 2020.

 

Dr. James Hansen, Columbia University Climatologist and former Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, will be giving a talk about climate change with a focus on the Catskill Region next month. “Catskill Conversation  with James Hansen” will discuss the current climate emergency and be the inaugural event of the Youth Empowerment and Sustainability Summit (YESS) that will take place at the Ashokan Center. The talk will be given on Thursday, February 6 from 7:00pm – 9:30pm at Kingston High School located at 403 Broadway in Kingston, NY. Suggested donation is $10 for adults and $5 for children and students. The talk will be followed by a question and answer session.

Dr. Hansen was trained in physics and astronomy at the University of Iowa. His early research on the clouds of Venus helped identify their composition as sulfuric acid. Since the late 1970s, he has focused his research on the Earth’s climate, especially that of anthropogenic climate change. Dr. Hansen’s testimony before congressional committees in the 1980s helped raise awareness about climate change. Dr. Hansen was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1995 and was designated by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people on Earth in 2006. He has received numerous awards including the Carl-Gustaf Rossby and Roger Revelle Research Medals, the Sophie Prize and the Blue Planet Prize.

Climate change is affecting precipitation levels in the Catskills that in turn impact our streams. Climate change has been creating conditions that favor extreme weather events such as floods and prolonged droughts. All of which have a significant impacts on stream and riparian ecosystems.

Registration for the program can be accessed by clicking this link.

Dr. James Hansen testifying before Congress about Climate Change in 1988.

Dr. James Hansen testifying before Congress on the topic of Climate Change in 1988.

Public Comment Period Open for New Flood Risk Documents

Posted on: June 29th, 2018 by Leslie_Zucker

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is now accepting public comment on two flood-risk management documents. The “State Flood Risk Management Guidance” document and the “Guidance for Smart Growth Public Infrastructure Assessment” document can be downloaded and reviewed by visiting the NYSDEC webpage dedicated to the Community Risk and Resiliency Act (CRRA). The deadline for public comments is August 20. Comments should be submitted by email to climatechange@dec.ny.gov and include “CRRA Comments” in the subject line or by mailing written comments to DEC, Office of Climate Change, 625 Broadway, Albany, NY 12233-1030.

The guidance documents describe how sea-level rise and riverine flooding projections adopted by NYSDEC in 2017 should be incorporated into project design in specified facility-siting, permitting, and funding programs. The CRRA Act seeks to address issues related to climate change in New York State by adopting official sea-level rise projections; consider sea-level rise, storm surge and flooding for applicants of certain programs; implement smart growth public infrastructure policy; provide guidance on natural resiliency measures; and develop model local laws concerning climate risk.