Teachers, scientists, longtime climate change communicators and others gathered Saturday at West Virginia University’s College of Law to talk about one of the greatest threats facing the world: climate change.
The theme of the 7th National Energy Conference centered on climate change communication. Speakers and attendees acknowledged that invoking the topic can be especially challenging in West Virginia because of the state’s history with coal.
Tom Rodd, board member of the nonprofit conservation group Friends of Blackwater and one the organizers of the WVU conference, said it’s important to recogize that West Virginia’s coal helped power the country for decades, but it has also played a large role in producing carbon pollution.
He said that’s why climate change dialogue is even more essential here.
“Our future is not going to be with those kind of energy solutions,” Rodd said. “We need technological fixes so we can create energy without greenhouse gas emissions, and so it’s very important for West Virginia to be a leader.”
The conference’s keynote speaker was Emily Calandrelli, producer and host of FOX’s Xploration Outer Space. The Morgantown native said she relies on empathy when talking about climate change and tries to meet people where they are.
“Understanding the problems and the struggles of people of West Virginia have helped me frame the concept of climate change and how we fight we fight climate change in a different way,” she said.
Dylan Selterman, a lecturer with the University of Maryland’s psychology department, shared some insights from his field that may move the needle on communicating climate change, especially to those who may express doubts.
He said framing the conversation to tap into someone’s value system can close the gap. So, while presenting facts and graphs may not change minds, framing the impacts of climate change to line up with values held by conservatives such as “loyalty, purity or patriotism” could help.
“There are different pathways that can be used to get to the same conclusions,” Selterman said.
Speakers also talked about barriers that exist to boosting solar power across the state and the role the natural gas industry plays in producing methane, the potent greenhouse gas.
A team of researchers at West Virginia University is creating a unique portrait of the Mountain State. The Historic Timbers Project is unveiling West Virginia’s human and environmental history one dusty old barn at a time.
On a cold November day, Kristen de Graauw and Shawn Cockrell are climbing around an old barn near Hillsboro in Pocahontas County. Kristen is a Ph.D. candidate in Geography at WVU and the project manager for the Historic Timbers Project. Shawn is the lab manager for the Montane Forest Dynamics Laboratory at WVU and the lead technician for the project.
The project has two, interrelated goals: to figure out what the pre-settlement forests of West Virginia were like and to date historic structures.
Since there aren’t many old trees left, the only way to figure out what the forests of West Virginia used to be like is to take core samples from old logs that settlers used to build barns, cabins, and houses.
Today, Kristen and Shawn are exploring a barn owned by the McNeel Family to determine if it’s a candidate for tree-ring dating. The barn is the size of a large two-story house and made of big faded brown logs.
They are searching the structure for tree bark so they can determine if there are enough logs to take samples from to accurately date the structure. A log is a good candidate sampling if it still has bark on it because that means they know the outermost layer of the log is intact.
Which is important because they use dendrochronology, or tree-ring dating, to determine the age of the structures. Kristen explains how it they use tree rings to date structures.
“If we having a living tree that’s a really old, maybe it’s a three hundred years old tree, but it’s living,” she said. “If we take a sample out of that, we know that the outer date on our sample is the year that we’re currently in. Then we are able to count back through time and figure out what the inner most date is on that tree is. We can then compare our log structure data we have with those tree rings and find the overlap between that living tree and that log structure were the patterns lock in.”
Credit Andrew Carroll / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Kristen and Shawn speak with Bill McNeel from the Pocahontas County Historical Society outside of a barn build by his ancestors.
Shawn adds that the process is exciting for the researchers and the building owners.
“We meet people just as enthusiastic as we are, but coming from a different angle,” he said. “We’re enthusiastic because we’re gaining access to this great storage of ecological data and the people who own these structures get us to come in and take the sample and tell them an inferred construction date. Everyone is just as excited as the next person.”
After their initial survey, the researchers will return in the summer and use drills to take core samples from the logs. From these samples, they can gather not only an inferred building date of the structure, but also a lot of data about the environment that the tree grew it.
Kristen says she can determine a lot from looking at tree rings.
“I can look at a tree ring and see the growing season and dormant season of that tree. So it’s not just annual data that we’re look at. We’re looking at seasonal differences,” she said.
Which is really important because there aren’t many other ways to gather this kind of data in West Virginia due to heavy logging during the turn of the 20th century.
Kristen is working on this project as part of her dissertation. However, she didn’t start with the idea of working with historic structures in West Virginia. Her initial research sent her to Mongolia to investigate ancient forests, but that wasn’t for her.
“It was great but my heart wasn’t in it,” she said. “But what I do know is that I like West Virginia. I like historic structures and I like the idea of knowing what our forests used to look like.”
And she couldn’t be happier with her decision to work in West Virginia.
“It was kind of amazing. Now I’m doing what I want to do. I’m enjoying it. I’m motivated. I’m excited.”
Credit Andrew Carroll / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Shawn and Kristen walk around the Kee Cabin on the grounds of the Pocahontas County Historical Society Museum in Marlinton later that afternoon as they work to determine if the property can be tree-ring dated.
They have already worked on dating five structures in Greenbrier, Pendleton, Pocahontas and Preston counties with more buildings set to be dated this summer. The inferred building data of the structure is then used by individuals and groups working to list the structures on the National Register of Historic Places or apply for grants to aid in preservation.
Kristen says this provides researchers with often-overlooked environmental data held in the logs.
“The people who go in and date historic structures, I don’t think that they’re even thinking about it. Not only can we date this barn, but this whole barn was a forest and it’s just sitting there. It’s archeology now.”
Historic Timbers Project will continue its work this summer with support of the West Virginia Humanities Council and the Montane Forest Dynamic Lab at WVU.
Researchers at West Virginia University are looking for clues about West Virginia’s climate history — by combing through old journals of naturalists who spent time in the state’s forests and hills.
Lori Petrauski is a WVU grad student from Minnesota who is starting this phenology project for West Virginians.
“I became interested in how to connect citizens and just normal people to nature,” Petrauski said.
Phenology, she says, is one easy way to do that.
Phenology: the study of cyclic and seasonal natural phenomena, especially in relation to climate and plant & animal life (e.g., noticing when the first migrating songbirds arrive in springtime)
Climate Clues
Today Petrauski is pouring through old journals of West Virginians as she compiles a baseline database of historical phenology in the state. It’s the start of a ten-year effort to create a resource for students and citizens. The goal is ultimately to allow West Virginians to better know the rhythms of the “wild and wonderful” part of West Virginia.
In cooperation with WVU’s Natural History Museum, the university’s Wildlife and Fisheries Department is putting out calls to citizens with any kind of historical records of timings of biological events.
“Especially helpful are journals from nature-minded citizens,” Petrauski said. “So people who would be out in the woods a lot and write down what they saw.”
George Breiding
Credit courtesy of Mike Breiding
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George Breiding later in life, always with binoculars, pencil, and paper at the ready. His daily notes about the world around him have become a source of data for climate researchers at West Virginia University.
One such journaler who has provided a plethora of data for Lori and her team is George Breiding, of Wheeling. Born in 1917, Mr. Breiding was an avid birder and for years was the Director of Nature Education and the staff naturalist at Oglebay Park. He passed away several years ago but during his adult life he made lists of the birds he saw every day of his life right up until the day he died.
“It was like breathing to him. He never went out of the house without a notebook and pencil. And he rarely went out of the house without binoculars,” said Mr. Breiding’s son, Mike. “I’m sure he would have felt naked without them.”
“Prolific birders like that were really helpful for us because we could see the first day that he saw this bird must have been the first day that it migrated up to Oglebay Park because we know that he was out every day looking for birds,” Lori explained.
Data is gathered from:
Journals
Naturalist groups’ records (e.g., The Brooks Bird Club)
Herbariums (i.e., collections of pressed plants)
Historical Climate Network t – 14 different observation stations through the state
The project as a whole will collect as much data as possible in the coming decade so that West Virginians have a solid base of knowledge to pull from, add to, and Lori hopes, an extra excuse to get outside and notice the world around them.
