Coast to Coast Seminar Series: "Contaminants, climate and the Arctic Ocean: What can we do in this sea of change?" Live from University of Victoria

Abstract

During the past three decades the Arctic has been undergoing unprecedented change due to global warming. In addition to stress brought on by warming, the inhabitants of the Arctic are exposed to industrial and agricultural contaminants that have arrived there via air and water. I will examine some of the interactions between climate change/variability and contaminants mainly with the view of showing the need for understanding linkages between system components before proposing action. Interactions make it exceptionally difficult to isolate the consequences of these two sorts of stresses. Finally, I will look at the processes by which issue-oriented science gets funded and some of the problems we face as a society in using the resultant science to prioritize action through policy.