Enjoy July but keep climate change in mind.

• Author: Cutler, Debbie
• Position: From the Editor

It's hard to remember, while basking in July sun, the past winter across the U.S. where ice and snow storms ruled, and freezing temperatures and floods and other natural disasters were as common as rain in Southeast Alaska. As we enjoy our finest season, perhaps one warmer than usual, we forget our own winter was mild compared to the good ol' years when Anchorage saw weeks of below zero temperatures, even weeks of below 20 degrees Fahrenheit.

I've been here long enough to know Alaska winters are cold; and I've been here long enough to know this one was a nice exception.

So how do I feel about climate change? Notice, I don't say global warming, but climate change, which Webster's New World College Dictionary (Fourth Edition) does not define, and dictionary. com describes as "any long-term significant change in the weather patterns of an area."

That means some areas get warmer, some get colder, some get wetter, some drier. Some get more snow, some less. There's more tornadoes and fewer tornadoes, and on and on. Some say it's because of man, some say it's due to natural rhythms of the environment.

I'm not going to debate. I'm just going to admit, it is happening.

SO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO ALASKA?

If you don't visit the University of Alaska Anchorage's Institute of Social and Economic Research website (www.iser.uaa.alaska.edu/), you should. There are always new studies, research and data relevant to Alaska industry and other topics. It's got a plethora of information, which is based on fact, based on an incredible amount of research, and based on the efforts of people like Peter Larsen and Scott Goldsmith, who together wrote a report titled "How Much Might Climate Change Add to Future Costs of Public Infrastructure?"

Mind you, this report is three years old, but right on target. Three years ago, when climate change was a darkening shadow on the hearts and minds of worldwide leaders, these Alaskans reported a warmer Alaska that would result in a 10 percent to 20 percent increase in costs to maintain and build public infrastructure in Alaska...