climate policy22
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Dazed but Mostly Confused: Why Americans don’t know what to think about climate change
A string of recent polls have heralded the decline of American interest in climate change: fewer people believe in it, fewer people see it as a serious problem, and more people think scientists don’t agree about it. Coupled with recent scandals over hacked emails and allegations of inaccuracy in the IPCC, these polls seem to…
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When High Hopes Make Little Sense: Why the Hartwell Paper Fails to Deliver
Earlier this year, 14 energy academics, analysts and advocates gathered with hopes of reinventing the way the international community treats climate policy. The result, The Hartwell Paper: A new direction for climate policy after the crash of 2009, aims to examine “all aspects of the crisis which enveloped global climate policy” last December during the…
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Climate News Roundup – Week of 6/7
10 Eastern States Join Wind Energy Consortium, Providence Business News On Tuesday a memorandum of understanding signed by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and the governors of ten states established an Atlantic offshore wind energy consortium. The goal is to promote the efficient development of wind resources on the Outer Continental Shelf from Maine…
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Climate News Roundup – Week of 5/31
United States Climate Report to UN Projects 4% Emissions Rise by 2012, Associated Press (via Metronews Halifax) On Tuesday, the U.S. delivered its first emissions report to the United Nations since 2006. The projections indicate about a 4% increase in emissions between now and 2020, which includes a 1.5% rise in CO2 emissions. The emphasis…
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Wally Broecker: 50 Years of Climate Science Innovation
Since arriving at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in 1952, for a college summer internship, Wally Broecker has come up with some of the most important ideas in modern climate science. He was one of the first researchers to recognize the potential for human-influenced climate change, and to testify before Congress about its dangers. He helped pioneer…
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State of the Planet 2010: Join the Global Conversation
What is the current state of the planet? How do we move forward on a global climate deal? On March 25, The Earth Institute, Columbia University; The Economist; and Ericsson will bring together some of the world’s most influential thinkers to propose innovative solutions to these and other critical questions at our biennial State of…
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Climate News Roundup – Week of 3/21
Progress Seen on Forest Scheme, Tehran Times Germany joins a 60-country and multi-billion dollar effort to stave deforestation in developing and tropical countries. The plan was initially discussed during the Copenhagen summit this December. However, the details were finally fleshed out Thursday at an all-day conference in Paris, where representatives gathered to decide how to…
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China and India officially agree to associate with Copenhagen Accord
This week, China and India agreed to add their names to the list of countries officially “supporting” the Copenhagen Accord. Athough both countries had previously submitted emission reduction commitments to be included in the Accord, agreeing to be listed is a gesture of official endorsement. In their letters to the Secretariat both India and China…
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Urbanization, Deforestation, Reforestation
2009 was noted as the first year that more people lived in urban spaces than in rural areas. The hope that a majority urban population would slow the clearing of tropical forests — our most effective carbon sinks — seems, however, to have been misplaced. The idea was simple: if more people moved into forested…