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Pete Larsen leads The Nature Conservancy's climate change work in Alaska. What's Your Impact?Calculate your carbon footprint with this carbon calculator.
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A long-distance bicycle tour in Montana was a fitting lab for discussions on climate change and energy policies earlier this summer: In addition to speaking with Pete Larsen, who leads the Conservancy's climate change work in Alaska, students sat down with high plains ranchers, a paleontologist at a roadside dinosaur museum, Glacier National Park scientists and an oil refinery engineer, among others.
In their three-week tour, the group encountered a June snowstorm, harrowing 40 mile per hour winds and driving rains. Yet Pete says the dozen riders, enrolled in a course offered by the Missoula, Mont.-based Wild Rockies Field Institute, still mustered the energy to think seriously about important issues like climate change and sustainability. And at the Conservancy’s Pine Butte Guest Ranch, where a sustainability plan is already being implemented, they witnessed alternative energy picking up the load in a real-world test: the ranch’s solar and wind energy kept the lights on even when a summer snowstorm knocked out the region’s electrical grid. An edited version of a conversation with Pete follows.
Q: You joined an inquisitive group of college students on the climate change and energy bicycle tour. What were they thinking about?
A: They were really interested in what we’re seeing in Alaska, where the effects of climate change are evident to so many. They’ve heard about retreating glaciers and thawing permafrost and the disappearing sea ice. They’re concerned about what’s happening in the Arctic, and they were interested in what was happening with policies to address climate change.
Q: Your work on climate change allows you to engage policy makers across Alaska and on Capitol Hill. Discussions on climate change can turn gloomy. Did the roving classroom propose solutions to the climate issue now before us?
A: Young people have an inherent curiosity and I saw this firsthand in my time with the students. They didn’t tend to dwell on the negatives, but seemed most interested in coming up with ideas about how to deal with some of the causes and effects of climate change.
On one rainy layover day in the small town of Choteau, we all crammed into the living room of Eric Bergman, an ecologist at the Conservancy’s Pine Butte Guest Ranch. In that makeshift classroom, we had a three hour discussion on the economics of climate change. From my perspective as an economist, I was intrigued by what I heard. We also talked about the effects of climate change on many species and how this impacts the traditional subsistence practices of Alaska’s Native people. And we thought a lot about viable ways to adapt to a changing climate.
Q: What kind of solutions surfaced in the bicycle tour discussions?
A: One of the great things about that group of students is that they ask very pointed questions about what to do next. It's reassuring to see that they’re not throwing their hands up in the air. When we had a moment to check e-mail in a small town library, they came back to me with what they learned on these brief fact-finding missions on the Web.
Basically, these young people are asking questions on big issues that get to the very heart of how to change the world in a positive way.
Q: This was a three-week tour across Montana. Beyond serious conversation about climate, what else do people do on a bike trip like this?
A: They have a lot of fun together. Students came from all around the United States, and three other countries. Together, they formed a community on wheels. No one was ever negative and the group dynamic was quite special, with everyone respecting one another.
This is a group that ate, slept, studied, rode bikes, and shared stories together 24 hours a day for over three weeks. I had an awesome experience with them. In some ways, I felt like I was stepping into a band that was playing really tight together. I hope we can all bring such optimism as we seek solutions to climate change and energy issues.
Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Nicky Phear/Wild Rockies Field Institute (Montana's Rocky Mountain Front).
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