A May 28, 2024 ARPICO (Society of Italian Researchers in Western Canada) email announced this upcoming June 2024 event,
It is our pleasure to invite you to ARPICO’s next public event, “A Tale of Two Oceans: Climate Change and the Future of the Arctic and Antarctic Marine Ecosystems” by Prof. Philippe Tortell, to be held on Wednesday, June 19th, 2024 at 7:00 PM at the Museum of Vancouver, History Room, 1100 Chestnut Street, Vancouver, BC.
We are honored to welcome Prof. Philippe Tortell, Professor of Oceanography and Head of the Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences at UBC, as our guest speaker. Over the past three decades, Prof. Tortell has conducted oceanographic research expeditions around the world, from the Arctic to the Antarctic, and has collaborated with various organizations across Canada to share his findings with a broad public audience.
In this talk, Prof. Tortell will share innovative methods used by oceanographers to gather data from some of the world’s most remote locations. These data are crucial for characterizing the physical, chemical, and biological properties of polar oceans and for understanding how these regions are likely to respond to current and future climate changes.
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Main Event Details
A Tale of Two Oceans: Climate Change and the Future of the Arctic and Antarctic Marine Ecosystems
The polar waters of the Arctic Ocean are experiencing significant impacts of global climate change, including warming, sea ice loss, and altered circulation patterns and biological productivity. At the other end of Earth, Southern Ocean waters surrounding Antarctica, are responding quite differently to on-going climate change. Understanding the similarities and differences between these two polar regions is critical to better understanding the future trajectory of the world’s oceans, and their role in modulating global climate. This requires innovative ways to collect scientific information in some of the world’s most remote locations, and new partnerships with coastal communities. In this presentation, Philippe Tortell will describe some of the approaches used by oceanographers to characterize the physical, chemical and biological properties of the polar oceans, and discuss why the Arctic and Antarctic regions are likely to experience very different responses to current and future climate shifts.
About Our Speaker
Philippe Tortell is a Professor of Oceanography at UBC, and Head of the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences. Over the past three decades, he has conducted oceanographic research expeditions around the world, from the Arctic to the Antarctic, measuring marine productivity, optical properties and the concentration of dissolved ‘climate-active’ gases, including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. He uses a range of observational tools to characterize the interactions between ocean physics, chemistry and biology, seeking to understand patterns of natural variability in marine ecosystems and their responses to on-going climate change. He has worked with a number of organizations across Canada to help share the results of his work with broad public audiences, and has edited four popular books, including Earth 2020: An Insider’s Guide to a Rapidly Changing Planet, and Heavy Metal: Earth’s Minerals and the Future of Sustainable Societies. Dr. Tortell received his Bachelors degree in Biology at McGill University, and a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University.
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Evening Program
- 6:30 PM – Doors open for registration.
- 7:00 PM – Start of the event with introductions by the President of ARPICO, Valentina Marchetti.
- 7:15 PM – Talk “A Tale of Two Oceans: Climate Change and the Future of the Arctic and Antarctic Marine Ecosystems” by Prof. Philippe Tortell, Professor of Oceanography and Head of the Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences at UBC.
- 8:00 PM – Q & A Period
- 8:15 PM – Refreshments, networking and socializing period.
We look forward to seeing everyone there.
RSVP: Tickets for this event are required, but FREE; all wishing to attend are requested to obtain “free-admission” tickets on EventBrite
Further details are also available at arpico.ca, arpico facebook, and EventBrite.
If participants wish to donate to ARPICO, this can be done within EventBrite or in person at the event; this would be greatly appreciated in order to help us continue our public lecture program and to build upon our scholarship fund.
Oceans and climate: some thoughts about the city of Vancouver
Vancouver’s city council made a rather odd decision recently but before getting to that, here’s a little context.
Vancouver isn’t, strictly speaking, coastal as its Wikipedia entry notes,
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Located on the Burrard Peninsula, Vancouver lies between Burrard Inlet to the north and the Fraser River to the south. The Strait of Georgia, to the west, is shielded from the Pacific Ocean [emphasis mine] by Vancouver Island. The city has an area of 115.18 km2 (44.47 sq mi), including both flat and hilly ground and is in the Pacific Time Zone (UTC−8) and the Pacific Maritime Ecozone.[61]
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Nonetheless, residents are subject to rising sea/ocean levels as noted on the City of Vancouver’s Adapting to sea level rise webpage,
Globally, sea levels are rising because of a combination of melting glaciers and thermal expansion of sea water from warmer temperatures.
In Vancouver, 1 meter of sea level rise would result in 13 square kilometres of land being in the floodplain.
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Expected future changes
The province of BC currently advises cities to plan for:
- Half a metre of sea level rise by 2050
- One meter by 2100
You’d think the city council would be working towards mitigation but no,
[from a June 2, 2024 speech by Vancouver Parks Board chair {and former ABC party member} Brennan Bastyovanszky]The ABC [councillors] at the direction of the Mayor’s office … voted against allowing [the] [P]ark Board to access federal funds to protect our coastline from climate change …
On the face of it, this seems like a suicidal decision. There is a political side to this story, For anyone unfamiliar with the state of municipal politics in Vancouver,
- The ABC political party has a supermajority on the current Vancouver city council and ABC is the party founded by the current mayor.
- There is an ongoing political battle between the Mayor/supermajority (having moved to abolish the Park Board in late 2023) and a majority of the Park Board.
- Three former ABC commissioners now sit as independents along with a sole Green Party commissioner. There are only three remaining ABC commissioners.
While I appreciate that Bastyovanszky has an axe to grind, the city council vote was widely reported (from a May 10, 2024 CTV news online article by Simon Little & Alissa Thibault),
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The document envisioned new facilities including washrooms, concessions and an amphitheatre at Sunset Beach. It also included climate adaptation measures including raising the beach by one metre in anticipation of rising sea levels and adding habitat islands and removing sections of seawall to protect against storm damage. [emphasis mine]
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Apparently the $300 million plan was too expensive. Interestingly, money is not a problem for Vancouver when hosting seven FIFA World Cup matches in 2026. Five matches, as originally announced, were going to cost taxpayers $240 – $260 million much of it paid for by a special tax accommodation tax in place from February 2023 to February 2030 and expected to raise $230 million (source: April 30, 2024 article by Bob Mackin on thebreaker.news).. No one really knows what seven (the latest number) matches will cost as the ABC mayor has refused to release the information (source: March 14, 2024 article by Hana Mae Nassar and Cole Schisler for Vancouver City News).
Given that Vancouverites will be dealing with rising sea levels, it would behoove ABC city councillors and the ABC mayor to address the issues before we drown.
Getting to the point
I don’t often think about the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans (except to worry about ice melt from time to time) but events such as ARPCO’s “A Tale of Two Oceans: Climate Change and the Future of the Arctic and Antarctic Marine Ecosystems” on June 19, 2024 help to remind all of us that changes in what seem to be remote areas of the world are affecting the planet and city council votes can affect more than just the people who live in that city.
You can get your free ticket on EventBrite.