THE UNIVERSITY DARRY KANSAN
THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 2007
NEWS
》 GLOBAL WARMING
5A
Concern for coasts increases Link missing between climate changes, rising sea level
BY BRIAN LEWIS-JONES
Robert Bindschadler says meltwater can create a slippery surface on ice sheets, which can cause sheets to slide into the ocean.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Robert Bindschadler knows there's a problem with last February's intergovernmental panel on climate change report: The inability to predict the rise in sea level from climate change in the next century.
Bindschadler, chief scientist of NASA's Hydrospheric and Biospheric Sciences Laboratory at Goddard Space Flight Center, spoke Wednesday at Spahr Auditorium at the University of Kansas.
At his lecture, titled "Ice Sheets on the Edge: A Golden Age for Glaciology," he said that understanding ice sheets and rising sea level were urgent to plan for the two billion people in the world who live on coasts.
"We've got an issue that all of a sudden is not just esoteric," he said. "It's something that policy makers and the public really want to know something about."
Bindschadler said the problem with the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, released last February, was that scientists haven't found a way to link rising sea levels with climate changes.
There is currently no model for accurately predicting sea level increase from melting ice sheets, Bindschadler said.He said a number of Greenland and Antarctic ice observations "surprised us and caught us off guard."
Ice shelves typically hold land ice in, but Bindschadler said when they disintegrate into the sea, the flow rate of glaciers that feed the shelves increases by more than 500 percent. This has also led scientists to think sea level will be higher.
"The these are features that take tens of thousands of years to form," he said. "The fact that they leave in a few years, that's not something that happens."
The lecture was hosted by the Center for Remote Sensing of lee Sheets, which has its headquarters at the University of Kansas. The center is funded by a $19 million grant from the National Science Foundation and has partnered with NASA since its beginning.
Prasad Gogineni, director of
CReSIS, said it's important to understand how and why ice sheets are changing to help predict the sea level increase.
Gogineni, who worked with Bindschadler at NASA, contacted him to be involved at the center.
"He speaks very passionately about what is happening to the sheets," he said. "Students have the chance to make a very important contribution to climate change."
Bindschadler said making the issue of climate change more familiar to the public was required to understand it.
Even though a sea level change won't affect Kansas, he said disintegrating sea ice, the planet's "air conditioner," will ultimately heat up Earth.
Melting permafrost, which covers 20 percent of the Northern Hemisphere, will release methane and further warm the planet, he said.
"I think the public wants the information," Bindschader said. "Now, the message is finally getting understood, that every individual's actions affect the planet."
Kansan staff writer Brian Lewis-Jones can be contacted at bljones@kansan.com.
-Edited by Lisa Tilson
Jason Boots, Plano, Texas senior and Student Body President, said Ignite used a similar process last year.
Red Corn also said that both the Delta Force and Ignite coalitions used the technique last year to remind students to vote.
Red Corn said.
candidates to remind their friends to vote." Boots said.
"We used something with our
VIOLATIONS (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
Jack Connor, Overland Park junior and Delta Force member, said the coalition didn't break any rules.
Ray Wittlinger, Olathe junior and vice presidential nominee for United Students, said you simply can't send mass e-mails.
The Elections Commission was
unavailable for a response.
Elections continue today online and at polling sites on Wescoe Beach and Mrs. Es. Voting ends at 4 p.m.
Kansan staff writer Ashlee Kieler can be contacted at akieler@kansan.com.
Edited by Mark Vierthaler
DOGS (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
Coffey's labrador-hound mix, Sid. When animal control officers were unable to control the two dogs, they called for police backup.
The report said a 10-year old boy approached the area on his bike, and when the officer felt the boy and himself were being threatened by Dice, he pointed his gun at the dog.
The dog initially retreated, but then again approached the two, and the officer fired one shot. Dice retreated to Coffey's front porch, but Sid charged the officer and was shot twice and killed on the scene.
Messages left with Lawrence Animal Control were not returned
While many cities — including Kansas City and Lee's Summit, Mo. — are moving toward pit bull bans, Lawrence currently abides by a "dangerous dog" ordinance. The ordinance, which was passed in 2003, can require owners to keep their dogs in muzzles or in cages if the dogs are cited for "dangerous" behavior. None of the three dogs at the scene had been reported as dangerous before the incident.
Midge Grinstead, executive director of the Lawrence Humane Society, said the ordinance had been successful in limiting the number of dog bites in the county since its inception. She said the ordinance was a more well-rounded approach to controlling a city's animals than breed bans, which focus on single breeds of dog.
"The difference is, we're not waiting for someone to take care of it," Grinstead said. "Our job is to protect the public, and we're doing it."
Grinstead said breed bans cast an unfair opinion of certain dogs, most often pit bulls. She said the media played a role in portraying the animals as vicious.
The police report referred to Dice, Sid and Blackjack as pit bulls. Sid was not a pit bull, and Blackjack, the only purebred pit bull, was inside the gate when officers responded.
"They're not any more aggressive than a German shepherd or a rat terrier. We should be tracking the owner," Grinstead said. "If something happens and it's a pit bull, it's getting reported."
Coffey said no police or animal control units had ever been called to her residence, and that her dogs had never been mentioned as "dangerous". She was troubled by the police's response call being treated as a pit bull attack, when neither of the dogs involved was a pure pit bull.
Currently, the Lawrence Humane Society has 31 animals catalogued as "dangerous", though some of them have been removed from the area or have been euthanized for additional violations.
"Pit bulls are a product of their owners," Coffey said. "Give them the time and attention they need, and they know when you care for them or when you don't. Sid was my puppy in a big dog's body. He was my goofy dog."
Coffey and O'Neal said Lawrence's current laws were doing a fine job, and that neither dog had previously been cited for any type of violent behavior. What they wanted to see, they said, were changes in
the way animals were identified and treated.
Kansan staff writer Erick R. Schmidt can be contacted at eschmldte@ kansan.com.
"Aggressive dog calls need to be labeled as such, not pit bull attacks," Coffey said. "I think the LPD are doing what they've been trained to do, which is fine. They just need more training in breeds so they know what they're responding to."
O'Neal said the message he wanted the public to take from the incident was that his dogs were not violent, and not all pit bulls should be grouped by stereotypes. "I've seen pit bulls that were trained to fight, and it makes me sick," O'Neal said. "But anyone who wants to come see my dogs, I say come see them. They don't know you from Tom, Dick or Harry, but they'll come running up to you like they know you."
O'Neal also said he didn't blame the officer who shot his dog. He said he wondered why it took an animal control units an hour to control a dog that he calls calm and loving.
"I'd definitely like to see that animal control could do its job," O'Neal said.
O'Neal said the animal control officer he spoke to told him when they tried to restrain Dice, Sid would move in and vice versa.
"Why is that so hard? It shouldn't be that difficult to understand," O'Neal said. "Hell, my seven-year old son can understand patterns."
Edited by Mark Vierthaler
CROP ART (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
flown over in an airplane.
design. Although it won't be Herd's original design, he said he will put his own spin on the image.
"I grew up on the farm, and the pollinator story was kind of in the back of my mind, but I didn't realize the extent the problem had grown," Herd said.
The image will be located outside Lawrence at Pendleton's Country Market, and will be easily viewed if
Many of the flowers will be provided by Pendleton's, said Karen Pendleton, owner of the farm. Pendleton said she has worked with Herd and Taylor on numerous other projects, so this one will just continue their work together.
Taylor said he hopes to raise all the money and have it completed by June 18, in time for Pollinator Week.
Approximately $25,000 is needed to finish the image, and the money will be raised strictly by donations.
Kansan staff writer Danee DeShazer can be contacted at ddeshzer@kansan.com.
- Edited by Lisa Tilson
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