Podcast: Climate Change and Global Security

Friday, June 25 5:34 pm

Neil Morisetti, Anthony Broccoli, Dennis McGinn, and Andrew Nagorski at the American Museum of Natural History. © R. Mickens/AMNH

This Tuesday, June 22, several hundred people gathered at the American Museum of Natural History for a fresh examination of climate change. A group of academic and military experts explained why any discussion about global warming should include a broader look at the implications for long-term global security.

“What often does not come across in the discussions of climate change…is that the militaries of the U.S., the U.K., and other countries have for a long time operated on the assumption that climate change is something that you have to deal with,” began moderator Andrew Nagorski of the EastWest Institute. “Whatever the causes, the consequences [of climate change], you have to factor it into your planning.”

Panelist Vice Admiral (Retired) Dennis V. McGinn could not agree more. As a member of the Center for Naval Analyses Military Advisory Board, he participated in writing National Security and the Threat of Climate Change (2007) and Powering America’s Defense: Energy and the Risks to National Security (2008). To McGinn, the conversation about climate change before the two reports were issued had been a deadlocked back-and-forth between environmentalists and business interests. But “the effects of climate change will act as a threat multiplier in the most volatile parts of the world, [and]…a recipe for more military action,” said McGinn. “Our posture is a serious threat to our national security militarily, diplomatically, and economically, and that vulnerability can be used by those who wish to do us harm.”

Listen to the Podcast: Download | RSS | iTunes (1 hr 25 mins, 98.4 MB)

Another military voice on the panel was that of Rear Admiral Neil Morisetti, climate and energy security envoy of the U.K. Ministry of Defense and Foreign Commonwealth Office. Morisetti pointed out that the U.K. military has a carbon budget and that adapting to the changing world quickly is critical. “Our responsibility is to look after national security of our citizens today and in the future,” he said. “We need to adapt our capability to deal with the changes that will come with climate change.”

Atmospheric scientist Anthony J. Broccoli, a professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Rutgers University, rounded out the panel. The symposium was sponsored by the British Consulate-General New York to raise awareness of the current environmental challenges facing the polar regions and the globe.

Endangered Species Specimens Arrive at Museum from National Parks

9:55 am

Collections Manager Julie Feinstein demonstrates frozen tissue storage at the American Museum of Natural History’s Monell Cryo lab. © AMNH/R. Mickens

Over 200 vials of blood samples of endangered foxes (Urocyon littoralis) that inhabit Channel Islands National Park arrived this week at the American Museum of Natural History—the first fulfillment of an historic accord between the Museum and the National Parks Service (NPS) to work together to preserve the DNA, or genetic coding, of endangered and threatened species.

Drawn by park researchers from tagged foxes of various ages and shipped in a Museum-supplied super-cooled container that looks like an oversized thermos, the blood samples include 192 from Santa Rosa Island and 113 from San Miguel Island. The samples will be housed in the frozen tissue lab of the Ambrose Monell Collection for Molecular and Microbial Research, in liquid nitrogen-cooled vats at temperatures below -160° Celsius (-256° Fahrenheit) where they are accessible upon request to research scientists both within the Museum and from around the globe.

The housecat-sized Channel Islands foxes have been under intense study since drastic populations drops were noticed in the late 1990s.  By 1998, the San Miguel fox population had fallen from an estimated 400 to a few dozen, and similar declines were occurring in the fox populations on neighboring islands of Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz. Captive breeding and the relocation of a recently arrived predator have since brought them back from the edge of extinction.

The Museum’s state-of-the-art storage facility, which began operations in 2001, currently holds about 70,000 specimens of everything from common beetles to Cambodian bats. The fox-blood vials are the first samples provided under the renewable, five-year agreement signed with NPS last July, which focuses on collecting samples from endangered and threatened species only. Under the same agreement, the Museum fielded a request in early May from Everglades National Park in Florida for collection kits for possible Gulf of Mexico oil-spill-related fatalities of such endangered species as the American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus), the West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus), anda variety of turtles.

To see how specimens are stored in the Monell Cryo Collection, check out the video below, which was recorded the day the agreement was signed last year and includes remarks by George Amato, director of the Museum’s Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics.

Behind the Scenes at the Museum

Wednesday, June 23 11:36 am

Denton Ebel. © Jonathan Snyder/Wired.com

Here’s your chance to catch a glimpse of the Museum’s out-of-public-view fifth floor — and more!

A few weeks ago, a reporter and a photographer from Wired.com came to the American Museumof Natural History for a whirlwind tour. But this was not your typical visit to check out the blue whale, Great Canoe, and T. rex. Instead, it was a rare peek behind the scenes, at the scientific offices and other facilities that visitors don’t typically see. Highlights included stops at paleontologist Neil Landman’s office and at the Museum’s imaging facility, where Landman’s assistant zoomed in on the surface of an ammonite to check fossil preservation; a visit to the fossil prep lab, where preparators painstakingly scrape each fossil from rock; a chat with meteoriticist Denton Ebel; and a look at the bank of computers that power the Museum’s Space Shows and the Digital Universe Atlas.

After a visit to Curator Mark Norell’s office (where he described how to make sushi in the Gobi) and the Exhibition Department’s studio (where artists were putting the finishing touches on penguin models that are now part of the Museum’s Race to the End of the Earth exhibition), the Wired team also explored the basement. Just past the carpentry shop, they toured the Ambrose Monell Cryo Collection, a world-class facility for storing frozen tissue specimens, with Collections Manager Julie Feinstein. And next door to the blue whale—but out of public view—they discovered the Big Bone room, which houses all of the fossils that are, well, big.

For more, check out the full gallery, “Not For Public Display: Backstage at the American Museum of Natural History,” on Wired.com.

Neil Morisetti Discusses Climate Change and National Security

Monday, June 21 1:59 pm

UK Climate and Energy Security Envoy Rear Admiral Neil Morisetti will be a featured speaker at the panelClimate Change: the Threat and Opportunity for Global Securityat the Museum on June 22.  He recently answered some questions about the connection between climate change and national security.

Why is the Ministry of Defence concerned about climate change?

The objectives of the UK Ministry of Defence are to achieve success in military tasks at home and abroad, be ready to respond to tasks that might arise, and, to build for the future. To be able to achieve this it is necessary to fully understand the threats and challenges that we are likely to face. In the case of climate change it is unlikely that it will be the direct cause of conflict. Rather it will act as a ‘threat multiplier’ in the regions that are already experiencing multiple stresses. Conflict in many of these regions has the potential to impact UK’s interests and security. Therefore we need to better understand how people will react to the second and third order consequences of climate change, including the loss of land and livelihood.

At the same time it is important to ensure that we have the appropriate capabilities to undertake missions in the future world, whether it is humanitarian assistance in response to extreme weather events, conflict prevention, or conflict resolution. In all cases we must also make sure that delivery of that capability is sustainable and does not substantially contribute to the causes of climate change: key to this is reducing our dependency on fossil fuels.

Can you explain what the bipartisan climate bill is? What effect has it had in the UK?

The Climate Change Act 2008 arose out of significant cross-party agreement in the UK on the importance of action to tackle climate change. As well as improving carbon management domestically, the Act aims to provide strong leadership internationally which is essential as we work towards a post-2012 global agreement . The Act established ambitious, legally binding targets to reduce emissions, including a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, against a 1990 baseline, of at least 80% by 2050. Perhaps the most important consequence of this legislation so far has been the Low Carbon Transition Plan, which provides a long-term road map for delivering cuts in emissions. It includes plans to get more of our power from renewable sources, make our homes greener, cut emissions from transport and farming and even make government greener.

How do the UK and US currently cooperate on climate change, and what are the areas in which our approaches differ?

The US and UK understand that climate change does not recognize boundaries. One area that the US and UK work closely together on is technology development.  The UK is currently a world leader in offshore wind technology and we are sharing our expertise with US counterparts.  Another technology we work closely on is carbon capture and storage (CCS).  The UK and US are both developing CCS demonstration plants, in order to test the new technology.

One area of difference is that in the UK, we have a comprehensive and legally binding climate change bill that mandates significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.  In the US, the House of Representatives passed a similar bill last June, but the Senate has not yet approved their version.

In Preparation for 10th Birthday, Rose Center Gets a Shine

Friday, June 18 12:31 pm

The Museum has launched a cleaning of the Rose Center for Earth and Space’s glass curtain wall, one of the largest in the country, in preparation for its 10th birthday. © AMNH/D. Finnin

The American Museum of Natural History is undertaking a scrub of epic proportions as a team of dusters and window washers completes a thorough cleaning of the Hayden Planetarium Sphere and the monumental glass curtain walls of the Frederick Phineas and Sandra Priest Rose Center for Earth and Space.  Cleaning the panels of a 95-foot-high glass cube is a major task that involves squeegee action on almost an acre of glass (36,000 square feet), or 736 individual panes.  A large crane lift will take care of the exterior cleaning of the suspended glass curtain wall—one of the largest in the country.

Crews have also recently completed the cleaning of the Hayden Sphere, the cube’s centerpiece, which required workers to rappel down the sphere’s curved surface like mountain climbers.

The Rose Center for Earth and Space will be brought to sparkling-clean condition in preparation for its 10th anniversary celebration on October 10, 2010. In this year of commemorative events, the Rose Center will also offer special Space Show screenings, lectures by scientists from the Museum’s Division of Physical Sciences and elsewhere, programs in cooperation with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and a star-themed sleepover.

The opening of the $210 million Rose Center in 2000 was one of the most important projects in the history of the Museum and a major milestone in the advancement of science education. The stunning structure, with an 87-foot-diameter sphere that appears to float inside a glass cube, is now a highly recognizable and much-beloved New York City icon. It also serves as a beacon of astrophysical research and education, expanding and enhancing our understanding of profound astronomical concepts such as the origin of the universe and the evolution of galaxies, stars, and planets. For the last decade, the Rose Center has succeeded in bringing the secrets of the universe down to Earth, in large part through the creation of four thrilling Space Shows that use the most sophisticated technologies and feature award-winning narrators Tom Hanks, Robert Redford, Harrison Ford, and Whoopi Goldberg to bring the latest space science to life for a general audience.

An exciting schedule of space-related public programs is planned for the rest of the year. Check back on amnh.org for more announcements about upcoming Rose Center events in the coming months. Read more »