OCA’s “Our Oceans in a Changing Climate” event June 6-7, 2014

On June 6-7, 2014, OCA led a series of activities focused on the health of the marine waters that embrace the Olympic Peninsula: an evening of engaging folk music and a day of enlightening speakers and activities for the whole family. Here are some photos of that event.

Friday evening June 6: Dana Lyons Concert – Elwha Heritage Center

Celebrate our local marine waters Friday evening with popular singer/songwriter Dana Lyons performing works from his new CD The Great Salish Sea. In the title track Dana sings the perspective of the 101 year-old matriarch of our resident orcas (known as Granny) as she reflects on the changes in sounds of boat traffic over the last century. Lyons, best known for his song “Cows with Guns,” is touring to raise awareness of the proposed export of fossil fuels through our region, its effect on orcas and on us all. http://www.cowswithguns.com He will play at 7:30 p.m. at the Elwha Heritage Center, First and Peabody Streets, Port Angeles. Admission $10.00.
Doors open at 6:45.

Saturday, June 7: Farmers’ Market, Landing Mall, Feiro Marine Life Center, Hollywood Beach

Landing Mall, 2nd Floor

Speakers will highlight the serious challenges facing the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Pacific Ocean.

11:00 a.m. Matt Krogh will address How Fossil Fuel Exports Threaten our Marine Waters. Matt does regulatory/scientific research and analysis focused on preventing the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure and pushing toward the transition to a fossil-fuel-free economy. He spent three years fighting proposed coal terminals in Bellingham and elsewhere and currently evaluates proposed oil shipping for ForestEthics in Bellingham. Matt holds degrees from Huxley College of the Environment at Western Washington University. http://forestethics.org/staff/mat t-krogh

Mike Doherty has agreed to tag onto Matt’s talk with his perspective on the threat to Port Angeles of becoming a bunkering site if the proposed coal and oil ports are approved. Mike represented the counties on the Vessel Traffic Risk Assessment committee for the Puget Sound Partnership.

12:30 p.m. Hansi Hals, Environmental Planning Manager for the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, will take questions on how the frequency of algal blooms that cause shellfish toxicity may be related to warming water. The Tribe has prepared a technical poster for viewing on the issue.
1:00 p.m. Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, researcher Liam Antrim will presentOcean Acidification and Impacts on Marine Life in the Pacific Northwest.
2:00 p.m. Marine Sanctuary staff will follow up with a new hands-on display on Ocean Acidification (great for all ages). T he world’s oceans have helped moderate the effects of human-produced greenhouse gases by absorbing about 30 percent of our carbon dioxide emissions, the most abundant greenhouse gas. But the ocean performs that service at the cost of ocean acidification—the rising pH of seawater caused as that dissolved carbon dioxide forms carbonic acid—threatening ocean food chains.
3:00 p.m. Olympic National Park physical scientist Bill Baccus, who has been tracking changes on the park’s wild coast for nearly a decade, will share a new video on coastal monitoring, Tides of Change. Bill will also discuss climate change impacts across the park, from mountain snowpack to tidepool communities.

Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary Discovery Room