Norway's ambassador to the United States brought U.S. and Norwegian scientists and a conservative economist to Grand Forks on Wednesday to press for action to deal with global warming and its implications for the Arctic region.
The implications are environmental, biological, military and economic, Ambassador Wegger Strømmen told about 60 area scientists, engineers, educators and business leaders associated with the energy industry.
Norway's keen interest is "because we live the closest to the part of the planet that changes the most" if predictions concerning the loss of Arctic sea ice prove accurate, Strømmen said.
"The Arctic is part of our environment," he said. "The ice is going away."
The briefing was organized by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Washington, D.C., and Clean Air Cool Planet, a nonpartisan, science-based nonprofit dedicated to addressing climate change. It was hosted by UND's Nordic Initiative and Center for Innovation.
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Strømmen said the melting of Arctic sea ice and rising sea levels will affect weather, shipping lanes, search and rescue operations and military considerations as well as fishing, mineral development and preservation of the polar bear and other species.
Geir Wing Gabrielsen, of the Norwegian Polar Institute in Tromso, Norway, and a 30-year veteran of scientific work in the Arctic, said the most dramatic effect of global warming has been the reduction of summer ice in the Arctic.
That has implications for precipitation and other weather patterns throughout the United States, said Walt Meier, a research scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado in Boulder.
"The Arctic is not Las Vegas," Meier said. "What happens in the Arctic does not stay in the Arctic."
Douglas Holtz-Eakin, an economist and former top adviser to both Presidents Bush and 2008 presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said the United States needs to address the climate change question as a matter of national security.
"To do nothing would leave in place significant threats to U.S. security," he said, including a continued reliance on foreign oil, which means "arming our enemies," providing targets for terrorists and dragging the economy.
His challenge, he said, is to persuade Republicans that global warming poses such real threats, but solutions can be found in the marketplace -- through incentives that encourage moves away from carbon, not "a plethora of heavy-handed government regulations."
Declining ice
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Strømmen's visit this week was the second time in eight months that a leading Norwegian official has come to Grand Forks to urge Americans to join in efforts to preserve the Arctic.
Last September, Odd Einar Dørum, a former Norwegian justice minister, told a UND audience that the Arctic ice is melting "faster than anyone expected" and warned that would have a significant impact on everything from commercial shipping lanes to global security.
"I recognize that the United States has its hands full" with two wars, an economic crisis and other issues, Dørum said. "But we have to deal with this (situation) at the top of the world."
The Canadian Press reported Wednesday that Arctic sea ice is on track to set a record low by the end of the summer and is declining faster this year than in 2007, the lowest year on record.
Scientists say that's likely to continue because there's less of the thick, multi-year ice than there was three years ago, and they say an Arctic devoid of summertime ice is now probably inevitable -- and sooner than anyone predicted.
While at UND, Strømmen also visited the air traffic control training program at the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences, which has arrangements with Avinor, the Norwegian Air Transport Ministry. Strømmen's nephew is a student in the program.
Today, the ambassador plans to meet with area agricultural leaders and visit a Grand Forks-area farm. Friday, he will participate with members of North Dakota's congressional delegation in the UAS summit in the Alerus Center.
Reach Haga at (701) 780-1102; (800) 477-6572, ext. 102; or send e-mail to chaga@gfherald.com .
