GEMI Resources

GEMI (Global Environmental Sustainability Initiative)
From their website; "Since 1990, the Global Environmental Management Initiative (GEMI) has created tools and provided strategies to help business foster global environmental, health and safety excellence and economic success. GEMI provides a forum for corporate environmental leaders throughout the world to work together, learn from each other through the activities of work groups, benchmark with peers and create tools that can be used by GEMI members and others."
GEMI general Sustainability Site
http://www.gemi.org/gemihome.aspx
GEMI Climate Change & business
http://www.gemi.org/businessandclimate/

Lost all my links

Just lost all my links here,, in the side bar at the right. It will take awhile to re-do them . :(

New features for the modeling for AR5 (2013)

Some cool new science add-ins for the modeling running up to AR5.
-Inclusion for the first time of the permafrost melt that is underway.
-Complete integration of the nitrogen cycle.
-Perhaps the most cool feature, Representative Concentration Pathways.
What those are, is answers to 4 "what if" questions. The 4 things are 4 scenarios regarding the overall warming power of human activities. The scenarios are (all running from the model's start time to 2100):

RCP8.5 Emissions rise indefinitely, ghg concentrations reach 1,370 p.p.m.
RCP6.0 Emissions level off, ghg concentrations reach 850 p.p.m.
RPP4.5 Emissions level off, ghg concentrations reach 650 p.p.m.
RCP3.0-PD Emissions level off, ghg concentrations reach 490 p.p.m.

One question I have, is about the "target" aka, the 2 degree "guard rail" concept of not more than 350 p.p.m. in 2050. How does that relate to RCP3.0-PD? If anyone knows, let me know...

The other "Met"...

The Met - Hadley Centre is another good source for climate change science information. http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climatechange/
Good educational materials.
It is the main climate center for the United Kingdom. In fact, it is the home for complex of computers for the leading modeling group's big data run for IPCC-AR5 due out in 2013; the uber-model known as HadGEM2-ES.
HadGEM2-ES is a major computer science achievement, worth reading about in and of itself. It is currently being used to "hindcast". Hindcasting is essentially (though not literally) running the program backwards, and tweeking it until it "Forcasts" the details of the historical record. That testing step should be completed in about a month.
The facility, that has 27 supercomputers operating as one machine, is actually a property of the Ministry of Defense.

Anyway, an example of one of their public education documents:
Climate Change Fact Sheet:
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climatechange/guide/downloads/quick_guide.pdf

Cultural Cognition?

Cultural Cognition is a new subject for me. If it is also for you, and you work with the public, here are a few links:
"The Cultural cognition of risk, sometimes called simply cultural cognition, refers to the hypothesized tendency of persons to form perceptions of risk and related facts that cohere with their self-defining values."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_cognition

The Cultural Cognition Project at Yale Law School
http://www.culturalcognition.net/

Cultural Cognition of Scientific Consensus

Dan M. Kahan  Yale University - Law School
Hank Jenkins-Smith  University of Oklahoma
Donald Braman  Cultural Cognition Project; George Washington University - Law School
February 7, 2010
Cultural Cognition Project Working Paper No. 77 http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1549444   (Click on "one click download" for the free PDF)

The Front Fell Off

Worthy of Monty Python, but for real:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkQELfL5LU8

The Bloom Box?

Hmmmm... interesting
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6228923n&tag=contentMain;contentBody

Good history of science category book on the idea of rapid climate change

I always forget to post this.
The Discovery of Global Warming by Spencer Weart, (2003, and later updates, the last in 2009) Available as a book, and a complete copy on-line, courtesy of the Center for History of Physics of the American Institute of Physics.
http://www.aip.org/history/climate/

Whatevergate

An interesting post from the folks at Realclimate.
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/02/whatevergate/#more-2806

"Climategate": Climatologist Phil Jones interview with Nature

Climatologist Phil Jones interview with Nature.
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100215/full/news.2010.71.html
Published online 15 February 2010 Nature doi:10.1038/news.2010.71 Corrected online: 16 February 2010

Eyes on the Earth

Nasa has a portal type site on climate science with educational resources for all ages.
Global Climate Change: Nasa's Eyes on the Earth.
http://climate.nasa.gov/

Be sure to mouse over the "Vital Signs of the Planet" dashboard feature on the main page. Very neat.

NOAA Climate Service?

In an announcement on Feb. 8, 2010, the Department of Commerce and NOAA proposed establishing a NOAA Climate Service.
http://www.noaa.gov/climate.html

New NOAA Climate Services

Climate.gov
A beta site (as of this date) for scientificaally based climate change information
for citizens and educators. Pretty cool. Even has some online apps.
Part of the building of the proposed National Climate Service?
http://www.climate.gov/

Happy Darwin Day 2010!

A day when people celebrate the life's work of Charles Darwin, who was born on February 12, 1809.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin_Day

The Ultimate Mix Tape

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123534818

IPCC flooded by criticism

"Just over two years after winning the Nobel Peace Prize, the United Nations panel on climate change is undergoing a period of soul-searching." ...
Published online 2 February 2010 Nature 463, 596-597 (2010) doi:10.1038/463596a
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100202/full/463596a.html

Climate Change & Food Monitoring?

From the journal Nature about a study done on maple syrup:

"Human-related carbon emissions may skew isotope analysis for food-quality control."

"We've known that atmospheric carbon isotope values were changing, but nobody was applying this to food science," says geochemist John Valley at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "Clearly, food-monitoring studies need to start taking atmospheric isotope data into account."
Published online 5 February 2010 Nature doi:10.1038/news.2010.56
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100205/full/news.2010.56.html 

Greensburg, Kansas: Rebuilding a City

City's Municipal Government:
http://www.greensburgks.org/ 

City's Recovery Plan page:
http://www.greensburgks.org/recovery-planning

Greenburg Greentown:
"Greensburg GreenTown is a charitable, nonprofit organization working in Greensburg, Kansas to rebuild the town following the devastating tornado in May of 2007. The town has made a remarkable comeback, reinventing itself as a model for sustainable building and green living now recognized around the world. GreenTown’s mission is to make green building and living easily understood, appealing and accessible to all."
http://www.greensburggreentown.org/

Greensburg: A Story of a Community Rebuilding
The Discovery Channel serieshttp://planetgreen.discovery.com/tv/greensburg/

Sustainable Communities Public Policy Forum & Roundtables

A Wisconsin Idea Forum

March 25-26, 2010
University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley
Communication Arts Center
1478 Midway Road, Menasha

http://sustainablecommunitiesforum.wisconsin.edu/

"The Sustainable Communities Public Policy Forum is the third in a series of forums designed to focus University of Wisconsin System resources on Wisconsin's most vexing social, environmental, and economic challenges. These forums inform the debate around selected current issues confronting Wisconsin residents by bringing objective, research-based information to the dialogue. Forums utilize experts to cover issues impacting the state of Wisconsin. The targeted audience includes state lawmakers, community leaders, business people, faculty, staff, and students."

Be there, or be square!
Questions about the forum? Contact sustainablecommunities@uwex.uwc.edu 


Six regional Sustainable Communities Roundtables

http://sustainablecommunitiesforum.wisconsin.edu/roundtables/

"The two- to three-hour sessions will open with an overview of sustainability efforts in the state and conclude with a facilitated process to identify sustainability policy issues, barriers, strengths, and possibilities...Roundtables are open to local community development professionals, local government officials, sustainability board members, organizations and grassroots groups, consultants, businesses, community leaders, and faculty and students who have been engaged in local sustainability efforts."

The Northeast Wisconsin one is:
De Pere Roundtable

Date: March 2, 1-3:30 p.m.
Location: Kress Family Library, 333 N. Broadway, De Pere
Contacts: Judith A. Knudsen, judith.knudsen@ces.uwex.edu , 920-391-4651
Catherine Neiswender, catherine.neiswender@ces.uwex.edu , 920-232-1972

The Central Wisconsin one is:
Central Wisconsin Roundtable

Date: Feb. 26, 9 a.m.-noon
Location: Travel Guard, 3300 Business Park Drive, Stevens Point
Contact: Center for Land Use Education, 715-346-3783

Report identifies opportunities to retrain Wisconsin workers for green careers

From COWS and the Apollo Alliance.
"The report, Mapping Green Career Pathways: Job Training Opportunities and Infrastructure in Wisconsin, recommends strengthening Wisconsin’s existing training infrastructure to build workers’ skills for green-collar jobs. Many of these jobs will be in construction and manufacturing, sectors currently in decline but projected to account for the majority of new jobs in clean energy industries. The new study also charts existing training programs - apprenticeship, technical college and community-based pathways - that represent key elements of a greener workforce development system."

http://www.cows.org/pdf/rp-mappingreportWI.pdf

Interactive Climate Change Simulation Tools (on-line)

The Sustainability Institute has online climate simulation tools.
http://www.sustainer.org/?page_id=67

About the Institute:
"A non-profit organization founded in 1996 by the late Donella (Dana) Meadows, the Sustainability Institute applies systems thinking, system dynamics modeling, and organizational learning to economic, environmental and social challenges."
About the climate tools:
"Our primary simulation — the one underneath most of our current work — is the Climate Rapid Overview and Decision-support Simulator (C-ROADS). The online, 3-region version of C-ROADS is called C-Learn and is available here online. And we also have a dynamic, Climate Momentum Simulation, based on multiple runs of our C-ROADS model. We have two much simpler animated simulations completed and available online — the Climate Bathtub Animation and MIT’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Simulator."

A decent, brief explanation of "cap & Trade"

From the U.S. Energy Information Administration, What is a cap-and-trade program and how does it work? http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/energy_in_brief/cap_trade_program.cfm
Thanks for the tip Patrick Walsh.

Wisconsin Resource for Faith Sector

WICEC

Wisconsin Interfaith Climate & Energy Campaign (WICEC)
http://www.wicec.org/

Climate Change Resource for Wisconsin K-7 Through Adult Learners

New to me at least...
Climate Change: A Wisconsin Activity Guide
http://www.dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/ce/eek/teacher/Climateguide/PDF/WisCCGuideALL.pdf

U.S. Quadrennial Defense Review 2010

"Climate change and energy are two key issues that will play a significant role in shaping the future security environment. Although they produce distinct types of challenges, climate change, energy security, and economic stability are inextricably linked. The actions that the Department takes now can prepare us to respond effectively to these challenges in the near term and in the future." p 107
"Assessments conducted by the intelligence community indicate that climate change could have significant geopolitical impacts around the world, contributing to poverty, environmental degradation, and the further weakening of fragile governments. Climate change will contribute to food and water scarcity, will increase the spread of disease, and may spur or exacerbate mass migration." p 108

From Crafting A Strategic Approach to Climate and Energy section of the U.S. Quadrennial Defense Review 2010, 02/2010.
http://www.defense.gov/QDR/QDR%20as%20of%2029JAN10%201600.pdf


Report

New York & Green Building Codes

"The Green Codes Task Force is comprised of over 200 leading local and national industry experts that have worked tirelessly to evaluate New York City's building, zoning, health, consumer affairs, environmental protection, and other codes in order to identify impediments to green building, and propose valuable improvements that would promote more sustainable practices."
The reports are here:
http://www.urbangreencouncil.org/greencodes/

Natural Capital Database Project

"The Natural Capital Project is compiling a database of conservation project case studies from around the world that specifically incorporate the goal of protecting life-support systems. Initially, the database will only contain case studies from WWF and TNC, but eventually it will also include information from projects completed or in progress by other NGOs, governments, and businesses."

http://www.naturalcapitalproject.org/database.html

Are you an ArcGIS user? Interested in ecosystem services?

If you are, you might be interested in this tool:
"InVEST, a.k.a. Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs, is a suite of models and software tools under development by the Natural Capital Project. It currently runs in ArcGIS 9.2 service pack 2, ArcGIS 9.2 SP 6 and ArcGIS 9.3 SP 1. InVEST aims to provide a consistent methodology for measuring and comparing the value of multiple ecosystem services across real landscapes. For more information."
http://invest.ecoinformatics.org/
Background info: http://www.naturalcapitalproject.org/toolbox.html

Trouble Ahead for AR5?

AR5 (IPCC Assessment Report #5) is due out in the beginning of 2013. The level of research and quantity of new data since AR4 was prepared is expanding significantly. It will be into new areas and finer resolutions. Consequently, some areas will actually have higher "uncertainities". Given the general lack of scientific literacy, it could be rough sledding in the public understanding department.
http://www.nature.com/climate/2010/1002/full/climate.2010.06.html

Copenhagen Postmortem

Some bits from a postmortem of the Copenhagen Conference, at The Road From Copenhagen http://www.nature.com/climate/2010/1002/full/climate.2010.09.html

"So far, very few people are willing to pay substantial amounts of money to avoid uncertain and distant global warming, and government policy reflects that reality. Governments, to be sure, have made this even worse through their inability to reach even basic effective agreements — as was evident in Copenhagen. But the underlying cause is a basic lack of public interest in addressing the problem."
David G. Victor, Stanford University, California

"Copenhagen was a landmark event for at least two reasons. First, the global policymaking elite assembled there confirmed that the scientific evidence on global warming is the frame of reference for all climate-protection strategies. Second, after almost 20 years of lofty announcements and sustainability kitsch, the meeting made brutally clear how little the respective sovereign states are willing to contribute to the well-being of humankind."
John Schellnhuber, climate advisor to the German government and director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Research, Germany

"It is time to focus much more directly on the decarbonization of the global economy. This means improving energy efficiency and expanding low-carbon energy supply. These actions will result not from treaties but from processes of innovation implemented over many, many decades in a frustrating and incremental process."
Roger Pielke Jr, University of Colorado, Boulder

defossilization

Ran into a neat phrase for the move away from fossil fuels. David King, former chief science advisor to UK used it in a recent interview in  Nature,      defossilizing the economy.