Addressing the Challenges of a Warming World

Climate change awareness, education, and research

Alaska is at the melting edge of climate change. During the last four decades, Alaska has heated more than anywhere else in the country. Average annual temperatures have increased 3–5 degrees Fahrenheit. Winter temperatures have soared 7–10 degrees.

Changes are both subtle and severe—environmentally, culturally, and economically. Sea ice is shrinking. Permafrost is melting. Wildfires are intensifying. Entire villages face rapid relocation. Businesses and conservation organizations are forming alliances to encourage innovation and collaboration, but ultimately, it’s our children who will bear the consequences and manage the solutions of a warming world.

The Chugach Children's Forest is actively working to address the challenges of climate change by integrating climate change awareness, education, and research across the entire range of youth programs, community partnerships, and outreach efforts. The goal is to directly engage the general public and make climate change--and its solutions--relevant to their personal lives.

Climate change awareness, education, and research will become cornerstones of all 2010 Chugach Children's Forest programs. Youth expeditions will travel throughout southcentral Alaska--including the Kenai Peninsula, Copper River Delta, and Prince William Sound--to study the imapcts of climate change. Permanent monitoring sites will be established to gauge the effects of climate change over the long term. And climate change education will be brought into classrooms and other learning environments throughout the region.

Stay tuned for details!