The decarbonization of the Arctic

Pond Inlet

watercolour and crayon

Charlene Brown, 2017

Two of the concerns that represent areas where we might have some leverage in our up-coming negotiations with ‘Trump Country’ are also essential  factors in Canada’s crucial decarbonization program. These are Arctic security and energy security – areas in which we are already behind schedule in targets pertaining to the 2015 Paris agreement.

Climate change is causing greater and more rapid temperature increases in the Arctic.  The reason is simple.  Ice and snow are white and therefore reflect a lot of the incoming sunlight. After an initial warming and melting of the snow and ice, the white surface gets replaced with a darker surface of the open ocean, which absorbs more sunlight, thus leading to additional local warming.  

Parts of the coastline are ice-free for longer periods and the ‘Northwest Passage’ is navigable for several weeks very year. This could enable the shipment of supplies which now must be flown in, lowering the now-horrendous cost of food, but also makes the mineral-rich area more vulnerable.

Compounding all the climate-related problems in the Arctic is the fact that per person carbon emissions are much higher there because of the widespread use of fossil fuels for heating and generation of electricity.

A network of small modular nuclear reactors would solve a lot of problems.

One last painted pair – for now

Mount Rundle
watercolour card
©2024 Charlene Brown

This is the mountain as seen from the old highway just west of Banff – a location frequently used by the plein air classes when I attended the Banff School of Fine Arts 70 years ago.

Semi-abstract version

This is the last painted pair in this series.  Next I’m going to try computerpainting (with Photoshop™) variations along the realism/abstract continuum ─ on one painting.

There will be more pairs where both are painted, as I’ve still got lots of those blank watercolour cards.

 

A proactive approach to four potentially awful years

Pangnirtung Fjord*

watercolour and crayon

©2007 Charlene Brown

Most of the articles in the Opinion section of the November 9 Globe & Mail were about ‘Trump Country.’  I read every word of disbelief/ disgust/dismay about the outcome of the American Election, and agreed with almost all of them.

But I have only clipped and saved one article, the relatively positive ‘Taking control of our relationship with Trump’ by Edward Greenspon, Janice Gross Stein, and Drew Fagan. 

The gist of this piece is that discussions with the Trump government must shift from “the most beautiful word in the world” – tariffs – to another subject of which he is fond ─ negotiations.  And the focus should be on “doing things together in areas where we can clearly help them, and sometimes where only we can help.” These would include: Arctic security (hence the painting, above), critical minerals, energy security, and advanced technologies such as AI research, space surveillance, semi-conductor packaging.

*Pangnirtung is the only place in Canada where I’ve actually seen chartreuse arctic poppies. I like these flowers so much that I transplanted them as far away as Yukon in a painting I posted in 2016

Still chipping away at my 50-pack of greeting cards…

Castle Mountain
watercolour card
©2024 Charlene Brown

This is the view of Castle Mountain seen from the TransCanada Highway about halfway between Banff and Lake Louise. This card was a variation on one of the few acceptable Christmas cards I painted last year.

Semi-abstract version

I prefer this to the representational version above, but hardly anyone else does.

 

The site of the Climate Change Conference, COP29

Baku, Azerbaijan

watercolour and marker

©2024 Charlene Brown

This painting is a composite of pictures found on the internet. I’ve never been to Baku (and won’t be going for COP29) but I got petty close in 2017 when I was in Tabriz, Iran, an 8-hour drive away

The next major international UNFCCC* event is the Climate Change Conference, COP29, in Baku, Azerbaijan, starting in a few days on November 11. 

At the heart of this year’s negotiations is the post-2025 climate finance goal, known as the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG). High-emitting, wealthy Global North states, like Canada, owe a “climate debt” to Global South countries, who have contributed the least to climate change yet are facing the brunt of its impacts. Climate finance is essential to the energy transition.

*UNFCCC stands for United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Convention has near universal membership (198 Parties) and is the parent treaty of the 2015 Paris Agreement.Ba

Another pair of greeting cards

Lake Minnewanka and Mt. Inglismaldie
watercolour card
©2024 Charlene Brown

This version of Lake Minnewanka was on a Thank you card I painted several months ago.

Semi-abstract version

This card was painted using a technique I outlined in a 2018 blog post about abstracting landscapes I’d paintedpreviously.  (When painting the much smaller greeting card however, the initial rough drawing is done with masking fluid, rather than oil pastel or crayon.) As in the 2018 abstract, I’ve introduced the ‘Hundertwasser’ effect on the deciduous trees.