2/2/08- As seen in the keynoter

Gore discipe to speak

BY MICHAEL WELBER

KEY WEST — Dan Kipnis has made a living from the ocean.

A lifelong angler, he has been a commercial fisherman and had fish markets, charter boats and party fishing boats. He just loves to fish, traveling all over to do so. People in the Keys know him from the Islamorada Swordfish Tournament and a talk he gave at one of the crowd-drawing World Class Angler seminars in Marathon.

But now he’s worried. He’s seeing change in the oceans that warn of things to come.

“I noticed that things were changing in the water because I’m there every day,” he said. “I am seeing sea level rise. We’ve gone up on average 9 inches since 1935. That’s not even a century. It’s significant because when you get spring and fall tides, it is much more than 9 inches. We have water coming out of storm sewers here in Miami Beach, and it’s saltwater.”

So Kipnis decided to get involved. When former Vice President Al Gore put out the word that he planned to train 1,000 people to spread his message about climate change, Kipnis applied. And he was among those chosen from the 15,000 who applied.

Now he travels throughout the southeastern United States spreading the word about how climate change is affecting our warming and rising oceans.

He’ll bring that message to Marathon on Feb. 8 when he speaks to the annual meeting of Keys environmental group Green Living & Energy Education (GLEE). The session will be at the Marathon Community Theater beginning at 5 p.m. with a reception. It’s free and open to the public.

“You have a real issue in the Florida Keys,” he said. “You have the potential, 100 years from now, of not being able to live in most of the areas you live right now. That’s not a joke. With the ice we’re losing in Greenland, the potential for 10 or 12 feet of sea-level rise exists and with that you’ll have one narrow strip running right down the center of the Keys.”

One action Kipnis has taken is to help organize the first carbon-neutral fishing contest in Miami. Twenty-three boats competed in the event earlier this month.

According to the Environmental News Service, the tournament offset 200 tons of carbon dioxide emissions through AgCert, which will use the money for an East Coast methane capture project, converting it to electricity.

Kipnis was quoted as saying that “sportsmen know climate change threatens the fish we love and the habitats they live in. Offsetting our emissions is just one way to show we’re not going to pass the buck to the next generation of anglers.”

He’ll provide those attending the talk in Marathon with suggestions for things individual people can do to reduce their own carbon emissions. GLEE also offers residents the chance to get involved in local environmental efforts.

Those who want to attend can RSVP to info@keysglee.com or call 293-7658 by Monday.