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CLIMATE CHANGE AND CLOUDS
Climatologists consider the role of clouds to be the largest single uncertainty in climate prediction. In fact, the United National Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, charged with evaluating climate change science, has made it a top priority. The Fulbright Scholarship has awarded Northland College Visiting Professor Andrew Jensen a grant to research climate change, aerosols, and clouds. Jensen will focus on research, conducting mathematical modeling in France at the Atmospheric Optics Laboratory at the University of Lille in Villeneuve d’Ascq from January through April 2017. Overall, clouds cool the Earth’s surface by shading about sixty percent of the planet at any one time and by increasing the reflectivity of the atmosphere. Given that, just a five percent increase or decrease in cloud reflectivity could have a huge impact.
Chequamegon Bay residents love where they live—and that’s good for business, according to the Northland College Center for Rural Communities. The Center released results in April from their study, “Roots in Chequamegon Bay: Opportunities for Strengthening Community Attachment,” showing that close to seventy percent of residents are highly attached to the Chequamegon Bay Area. “This strong attachment bodes well for the region, indicating personal investment and emotional connections, essential ingredients for community and economic growth,” said Brandon Hofstedt, faculty director of the CRC, noting only 2.9 percent of residents feel unattached. The report uses survey data collected from a representative sample of 496 residents in the region to examine how community values, attitudes, and social ties relate to attachment to the Chequamegon Bay area in northern Wisconsin. The report also identifies opportunities for investment in social infrastructure that have the potential to attract and retain residents and, in turn, spur community and economic growth. “Recent research suggests that communities that have residents who feel strongly connected also have high rates of economic growth,” Hofstedt said. “The Chequamegon Bay area has a large number of people who are strongly attached to this place, and this is fuel for sustainable, economic growth in the region.” “When residents are connected to the place they live in, they are less likely to move away, and are more likely to invest locally and contribute to the community,” Hofstedt said. Findings show that the three most important social attributes connecting residents to where they live are their views on how invested in the community other residents are, their level of trust in different groups, and if they experience the community as open and welcoming of others. “These data suggest that we should invest in strategies that increase opportunities for connections, engagement in community life, and other social aspects of community that can strengthen attachment and promote development in the Chequamegon Bay area,” Hofstedt said.
