From the president of the United States to citizens throughout the world, people are becoming more aware of how climate change is affecting the planet.
President Barack Obama traveled to Alaska this month to bring more attention to the environment.
“Alaskans are on the frontlines of one of the greatest challenges we face in this century: climate change,” Obama said, according to the WH.GOV/ALASKA website. “Climate change once seemed like a problem for future generations. For most Americans, it’s already a reality. In Alaska, glaciers are melting. Storm surges once held at bay now endanger entire villages. As Alaska’s permafrost melts, some homes are even sinking into the ground. Alaska is our wake-up call.”
On a local level, Hampshire resident Leola Widmayer, 87, has seen firsthand how the Alaskan landscape has changed due to climate change.
Widmayer has traveled to Alaska four times. Her first cruise in 1989 was with her husband, Dave, to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary and in 1999 the couple embarked on a cruise for their 50th anniversary. After Dave died, Widmayer took a cruise in 2008 with her sister-in-law, MaryAnn Peterson, and this year, she went on an Alaskan cruise with Hampshire couple Mike and Sheila Conro, Judy Johnson of Hampshire and Ann Kamp of Elgin.
The one glacier she has visited during all four cruises is the Mendenhall Glacier, about 12 miles from downtown Juneau.
“Each time I saw the Mendenhall Glacier, there was less snow on it,” Widmayer said. “In 2008, the tour guide said it had receded 600 feet that year. The tour guide this summer said it is receding one to two feet every day.”
Widmayer visited the Portage Glacier in 2008, which is adjacent to Turnagain Arm, about 50 miles southeast of downtown Anchorage.
“Dave and I originally signed up to see it in 1989, but the boat hit an iceberg, broke a propeller, and the trip was canceled,” she said. “After I finally saw it in 2008, I sent a photograph of it to a cruise consultant. He was shocked at how much it had receded. He used to ski on it when he attended the University of Alaska Anchorage. Now the place where he once skied is all black dirt.”
Widmayer said that, except for one cruise to Nova Scotia, she has always traveled on the Holland America line. Although she never learned how to swim, she has no qualms about sailing on a cruise ship.
“There was no place to learn how to swim when I was growing up in Hampshire,” Widmayer said. “I know that cruise ships are safe because there are always plenty of lifeboats and life preservers.”
Widmayer and her husband saw the former Mount McKinley, now known as Denali, during their first cruise to Alaska.
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“It is usually clouded in, but the clouds broke that day so the bus driver was able to show us the full top of the mountain,” Widmayer said.
The mountain has the tallest peak in North America. Its current name, Denali, means “the high one” in the local Koyukon language.
Widmayer thinks the mountain should have kept the name of the 25th United States president.
“That’s how it’s been known as for years,” she said.
Widmayer said climate change was noticeable when she was in Alaska this summer.
“It was warmer than usual, and people have been saying that Alaska this year had the least amount of snowfall ever recorded.”
Denise Moran is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.