The relationship between personal experience and belief in the reality of global warming

A recently published article in Nature Climate Change suggests that your belief or disbelief in climate change alters your perception of its effects on your surroundings.


http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate1754.html

To Stop Climate Change, Students Aim at College Portfolios

Cool movement at Swarthmore and other colleges to get the school to sell off the endowement's holdings in fossil fuels.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/05/business/energy-environment/to-fight-climate-change-college-students-take-aim-at-the-endowment-portfolio.html

Edward Burtynsky photographs the landscape of oil

Check out this 4 minute TED talk - "In stunning large-format photographs, Edward Burtynsky follows the path of oil through modern society, from wellhead to pipeline to car engine -- and then beyond to the projected peak-oil endgame."

It's a reminder that we can all do our part to make a difference within our own little spheres of influence.

From the talk:

"I feel that all of us need to take the task of using our talents, our ways of thinking, to begin to deal with what I think is probably one of the most challenging issues of our time: how to deal with our energy crisis. And I would like to say on the other side, 30 or 40 years from now, the children that I have, I can look at them and say we did everything we possibly, humanly could to begin to mitigate what I feel is one of the most important and critical moments in our time."

How Drug Company Money Is Undermining Science

Check out this article on  the "thicket of entanglements" surrounding scientists, the pharmaceutical industry, and the government. 

Report: Wealthy Nations Falling Short on Climate Change Aid Pledge

This article was on DemocracyNow! today. For more, check out the show here and click ahead to 4:30 to watch. I think this speaks directly to the need for the US (and Obama) to step up as a leader in climate change mitigation and adaptation. 

Report: Wealthy Nations Falling Short on Climate Change Aid Pledge

As the United Nations climate summit gets underway in Qatar this week, a new study has found wealthy nations, including the United States, have fallen short on vows to give billions in aid to poorer countries in order to help them fight climate change. While $30 billion in new aid was pledged over a two year period ending this year, Monday’s report by the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development found less than $24 billion had been committed, most of it in loans that would have to be repaid. The climate talks come on the heels of a United Nations report that found the concentration of greenhouse gases has jumped 20 percent since 2000. During a news conference Monday, European Union negotiator Artur Runge-Metzger said Europe would be willing to ramp up its efforts to curb emissions if other countries would follow suit.

Artur Runge-Metzger: "We are ready to step up our ambition from 20 to 30 percent if other major economy would also move up to the higher end of their pledges. This offer is still on the table and it will stay on the table even after Doha. But in terms of making the international commitment of 30 percent, that requires a conversation with our partners around the world, in particular with the major economies. The United States already clearly says that it cannot move we don’t think there would be any productive discussion on upping individual countries’ targets in Doha."

How Bill McKibben Became Big Oil's Biggest Threat

This was in Outside Magazine a month or so ago.  We talk a lot about what we can do to communicate about climate change. This guy is a good example of someone who has taken action. I'm ashamed to say I hadn't heard about him before I read this.

http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/natural-intelligence/Boilover.html



-Dustin

Be persuasive. Be brave. Be arrested (if necessary)

A resource crisis exacerbated by global warming is looming, argues financier Jeremy Grantham. More scientists must speak out.

http://www.nature.com/news/be-persuasive-be-brave-be-arrested-if-necessary-1.11796

"In Hurricane Sandy's Fury, The Fingerprint Of Climate Change"

Check out this article in the Huffington Post: "In Hurricane Sandy's Fury, The Fingerprint Of Climate Change"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/29/hurricane-sandy-climate-change_n_2038859.html

Stay safe everybody!

Marilyn

This week's seminar speaker, David D. Hart, has thought a lot about a question that has much concerned those of us in this seminar: If the evidence of climate change (or biodiversity loss, or destruction of ecosystem services or other major issues) is so freaking clear, what do we have to do to get the public to support doing something about it before it's too late, if it isn't already. Here's a link to a recent paper in which Hart writes some about this issue and one possible solution:

http://www.eeb.uconn.edu/people/capers/HartCalhoun2010.pdf

bob

Naomi Klein on Capitalism vs. the Climate

Some of you may have seen this already, but I read it again over the weekend and it impressed me so much all over again that I thought I should post it here so that anyone who hasn't read it would be aware of its existence. It's a terrific piece that looks unflinchingly at climate change and the unfortunate but inevitable consequences of economic growth. It's not pretty, but it seems more true than anything else I've read recently. It's long but very insightful. Enjoy:

http://www.thenation.com/article/164497/capitalism-vs-climate


bob

Science in the 2012 elections

Not sure how many of you saw Eric Schultz's email with this link which does a side by side comparison of Obama and Romney's perspectives on scientific issues of the day:

http://www.sciencedebate.org/debate12/

I found Romney's response to climate change particularly interesting:

"I am not a scientist myself, but my best assessment of the data is that the world is getting warmer, that human activity contributes to that warming, and that policymakers should therefore consider the risk of negative consequences. However, there remains a lack of scientific consensus on the issue — on the extent of the warming, the extent of the human contribution, and the severity of the risk — and I believe we must support continued debate and investigation within the scientific community."

Going back to our class last fall, I find this perpetuated idea that there is a "lack of scientific consensus" so frustrating. 

Romney also said:

"So I oppose steps like a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade system that would handicap the American economy and drive manufacturing jobs away, all without actually addressing the underlying problem. Economic growth and technological innovation, not economy-suppressing regulation, is the key to environmental protection in the long run."

It is still unclear to me how developing and building infrastructure based on increasing our capacity for green, low GHG emission energy sources would drive manufacturing jobs away...

Can the Occupy movement do anything for the environment?

Does the Occupy movement hold any hope for advancing environmental policies in the US? Again, the question arises: what power does our government have when corporations control the government? Is reclaiming the government from corporations a necessary first step?

Check out this recent article:

"I've been arrested four times now and I'll get arrested 1,000 times more until we see some change," said Barry Knight, a 44-year-old actor from Massachusetts. "We're fighting for nothing less than the future of our country. Do you want your kids to grow up in corptocracy' or in a democracy?"

Fossil Fuel Industry Finances Defeat of Obama

 Fossil Fuel Industry Ads Dominate TV Campaign

"Some of the mightiest players in the oil, gas and coal industries are financing an aggressive effort to defeat [Obama] or at least press him to adopt policies that are friendlier to fossil fuels. And the president’s former allies in promoting wind and solar power and caps on greenhouse gases? They are disenchanted and sitting on their wallets. "

For the full article:

New York Times article

Notes on posting in the blog

Hi group!

Just wanted to say a couple quick things about posting in the blog that should make it more functional.

First, try to title blog posts, seeing those larger "headlines" is useful if you are quickly looking through the blog.

Secondly, if you are going to post a link, you can click the "link" tab at the top of the page (in the "posting" window). This will provide a direct link. There is also a button to insert images.

Thirdly, I think it might be good if we try to "label" our posts. On the right hand side of the posting window, there is a box "labels". For instance, if you post an article about economics of climate change, include the labels "economics", "climate change", "capitalism", or whatever key words you think are appropriate. That way, if we want to look at all the posts on climate change, we can click on that label and they will all come up.

Just some thoughts, obviously you can get as involved, or not involved, at you would like to! Thanks!

-Marilyn

Eight Fallacies About Growth by Herman Daly
http://steadystate.org/eight-fallacies-about-growth/
Relevant to our discussion about GDP growth, from a website advocating a steady state economy.

- Lara

works for me.

Testing out the blog with a fascinating participatory demonstration encouraging Chinese city-dwellers to walk rather than drive. I have no idea if it made much of an impact, but it was such a creative idea!

http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2012/08/green-pedestrian-crossing-in-china-creates-leaves-from-footprints/?src=footer

(the rest of the blog posts are actually really fascinating, too! Not as directly related to our seminar topic, but if you're interested in artsy things with a sciency-element, there are some very cool things highlighted here!)

This is a test.

Testing to see how this is going to work! Hopefully we have a group!