My recent return from Alaska left me with a wealth of new experiences and new friends. It remains a truly wondrous and wild place that everyone should visit. However, as I mentioned during the trip, the impact of climate change is obvious and alarming. Just comparing my kayaking pictures from three years ago, the glaciers have receded a great deal and most have lost any snow cover. If you doubt that climate change is real, go to Alaska and speak to the fishermen and guides. It also has apparently taken a devastating toll on salmon. When I was flying to Alaska, I was speaking to some avid fishermen in the airport who said that they have been going to Alaska for a couple decades and have never seen so few salmon. It turns out that they were right. Scientists have reported that salmon are experiencing a massive die off due to the higher temperatures. Other remote areas a reporting unheard of temperatures and melting. Greenland alone has lost 12.6 billion tons of ice IN ONE DAY — in a record meltdown.
Scientists have recorded widespread losses of sockeye, chum and pink salmon with high numbers of unspawned dead salmon. The fish showed no lesions, infections or other causes of death. It was all heat.
Take the Cook Inlet near Anchorage. The highest temperature ever recorded at the inlet as 76 degrees Fahrenheit. This year is was 81.7 degrees. Scientists report that the temperature was worse than their worst-case scenario . . . for 2069.
It is no secret how I feel about the climate change or President Trump’s short-sighted emphasis on fossil fuels. However, this crisis is accelerating to an alarming rate. You can see it and feel it in places like Alaska.