Missoula takes on climate change one panel at a time - Montana Kaimin

Missoula takes on climate change one panel at a time | News | montanakaimin.com

UM Sustainability Coordinator Eva Rocke pictured after the climate panel on Sept. 19.

Climate week started in Missoula last Tuesday at Goodworks Ventures as four University of Montana professors kicked it off with their efforts to help the community combat this unpredictable time full of fires, floods and freakish weather.

Partnered with UM’s Sustainability Department, Climate Smart Missoula — a non-profit tackling climate emergencies — showcased four professors from different disciplines at UM and their projects about climate change that touched on topics from deforestation of the Amazon in Brazil to psychological conditions that come with combating and coping with climate change.

Katrina Mullan, an economics professor, presented her project on stopping deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest and how these methods can be applied to Montana wildfires and farmers to “help us do something now.” Mullan’s studies focus on people’s responses to environmental change and policy.

Mullan’s international project tackles “opportunities to reduce some of the costs for individuals [in terms of green practices and] Missoula is a forefront in that,” Mullan said.

Mullan’s work helped protect parts of the Amazon from deforestation and burning through monitoring and mitigation. She’s translated that into helping protect lands in Missoula at a higher risk of fires and preparing farmers for adapting to the climate changes financially.

But climate change affects more than environmental and economic situations according to Rachel Williamson, a psychology professor at UM. Helping Missoula combat the current and potential economic status of climate change can bring in tough emotions when assessing the factors brought into the equation according to Williamson.

Climate change can have many mental effects, Williamson explained, especially socially and it’s important to know when it’s time to get help. Society's exposure to climate events and response to climate change all have the potential to cause issues like substance abuse, depression, eco-anxiety, grief and existential concerns for people in the world’s non-permanent climate state she said.

“Climate change is ongoing, it’s global,” Williamson said. “It has this kind of cascade of different types of traumatic stressors.”

Feeling this type of betrayal by a government that had the power to do something back in the 1990s, that did not pass laws to protect the environment when the problem was first presented is something we have to come to terms with, Williamson said, which creates an “uncomfortable shift.”

Things like “engaging in climate-related actions, spending time in nature, exercise, cultural practices, therapy and engaging in the community,” are all encouraged to help ease the worries coupled with fears about climate change, according to Williamson.

Emotions can be unpredictable, especially in an unpredictable climate, but for Kelsey Jencso, state climatologist for Montana, tracking climatic trends helps provide some stability. Jencso works out of the W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation in watershed hydrology — the study of water’s movement, distribution and quality. His current work helps predict future natural disasters before they occur across the Midwest.

“[We could predict] how catastrophic [weather events] may be,” Jensco said. “We could have predicted Yellowstone floods about a day out.”

With federal funding, his research is projected to be the densest collection of climate data in the world to date, according to Jensco.

Using climate predictions, Laurie Yung, a natural resource professor, was able to come out with three different possible issues Montana could face in the future of climate change, including increased temperatures, warmer and wetter times and a feast or famine situation. These futures are expected to slowly be approaching with no exact timeline.

The process of change, however, and the uncertainty and experimenting that come with it, was emphasized throughout the presentation.

“Experimentation allows people to try things,” Yung said. “Experimentation also means some failures will occur in the process of adapting to the new environment.”

Sustainability Director Eva Rocke, 39, coordinated the climate panel. She aided in collecting professors from various disciplines to help create a well-rounded panel where the community can have well-informed conversations about climate change and normalize talking about the topic to prepare for a future that is so uncertain.

“It doesn’t matter your discipline of interest, what you’re studying here, what your research topic is,” Rocke said. “There is an intersection with sustainability and climate change.”