Climate Week: Climate Change Takes Center Stage
During the last week of September, three high-profile global meetings will address the challenge of climate change. On Monday, September 24, the United Nations will convene a unique High-Level Session of the General Assembly, at which dozens of heads of states will address this topic. Starting Wednesday, September 26, the Clinton Global Initiative will bring governments, business, NGOs and media together to catalyze concrete action to address climate change. Starting Thursday, September 27, the Bush administration will host representatives of leaders from 15 major economies for an unprecedented meeting on this topic.
To preview these events and assess their significance, Brookings will host a forum on Friday September 21. After the program, panelists will take audience questions.
Introduction:- Strobe Talbott, President, The Brookings Institution
- Carlos Pascual, Vice President and Director, Foreign Policy Studies, The Brookings Institution
- Yvo de Boer, Executive Director, United Nations, Framework Convention on Climate Change
- David B. Sandalow, Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution, chair of the Energy & Climate Working Group at the Clinton Global Initiative
Ambassador Room Hilton Embassy Row 2015 Massachusetts Ave, NW
Forests and Climate Change
Institute of Ecosystem Studies President Dr. William Schlesinger is going to be speaking at 6:00 pm this Thursday on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., about his recent work on the interaction between forests and climate—and its implications for how and whether carbon offsets should be allowed.
Glenn Hurwitz has more at Grist.
Before coming to IES, Dr. Schlesinger served in a dual capacity at Duke University, as both the James B. Duke Professor of Biogeochemistry and Dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences.
255 11th Street SE (close to the Eastern Market metro stop)
RSVP with Glenn Hurwitz (glenn dot hurowitz at ecologyfund dot net)
American Infrastructure Investment and Improvement Act, Habitat and Land Conservation Act of 2007, U.S.-Peru Trade
Business meeting to consider original bills entitled, “American Infrastructure Investment and Improvement Act”, “The Habitat and Land Conservation Act of 2007”, and to review and make recommendations on proposed legislation implementing the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement
Ecosystem Thresholds and Climate Tipping Points
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to learn about the impacts climate change is having on ecosystems, in particular those changes that are rapid, large, and potentially irreversible. We now have evidence that there may be thresholds that, once crossed, will present serious coping challenges to humans. This raises a major strategic challenge in the climate policy debate before this Congress: What concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere might lead to environmentally, socially and economically unacceptable impacts?
In response to this question, a project was developed jointly by the H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics, and the Environment, the Joint Global Change Research Institute, and The Nature Conservancy, entitled “Understanding the Consequences of Thresholds in Global Change and Their Implications for Decision-Making.” The project promotes understanding of the physical, natural, and social dynamics that underlie ecological thresholds in order to better inform ongoing adaptation measures and response options across scales of decision-making. Our panel will focus on the work of this important initiative and its draft report, which is based on the first of a series of meetings that took place in 2006. Case studies presented at the meeting included impacts on the critical ecosystems of the American Rockies and Alaska such as: drought in the Colorado River Basin; bark beetles in Western Canada; and forest die-off and die-back in the West. Our speaker panel includes Ecothresholds Project participants and other experts:
- Dr. Anthony Janetos (Moderator), Director, Joint Global Change Research Institute, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory/University of Maryland
- Dr. Ed Miles, Virginia and Prentice Bloedel Professor of Marine Studies and Public Affairs, University of Washington
- Dr. Neil Cobb, Director, Merriam-Powell Center for Environmental Research, Northern Arizona University
- Dr. Mark Eakin, Coordinator, NOAA Coral Reef Watch, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- Dr. John Wiens, Lead Scientist, The Nature Conservancy
- Michael Bradley, Canfor Pulp Limited Partnership
The Ecothresholds Project envisions workshops and conferences to engage resource managers and practitioners to explore responses to threshold effects that challenge the condition of ecosystem services and the foundation of a range of natural resource management practices. Creating a dialogue between this project and policymakers will help ensure that the major strategic questions being addressed by this project will be incorporated into the federal policy debate on climate change.
This briefing is open to the public and no reservations are required. For more information, contact Fred Beck at 202-662-1892 ([email protected])
Urban Development and Climate Change
The Urban Land Institute will hold a news conference to release a report titled “Growing Cooler: The Evidence” that will discuss the relationship between urban development and carbon dioxide emitted by vehicles.
Contact: Nicole Daigle at 202-715-1553
Urban Land Institute, 1025 Thomas Jefferson St. N.W., Suite 500 West
Renewable Electricity Standards
10:15 Hobson: We agree with the DOE that the potential for wind energy and solar energy in the Southeast are limited. Solar will not be a large source. Landfill methane will be a good source for small-scale generation. We think that a national one-size-fits-all standard is bad. We must either buy credits or pay an alternative compliance payment to the government. It essentially imposes a tax on resource-poor areas. We’ve assessed that 15% impact on our customers. It would be a billion dollars a year. There are 25 states with renewable portfolio standards. Not one of the 25 states’s standards is consistent with the proposed national standard. We believe federal funding and incentives with local standards is the best way.
10:20 Reedy: “I’d put my money on the sun.” That was Thomas Edison in 1931. The president’s vision for the DOE’s solar initiative lies behind the forces under discussion today. I spent most of my career with utilities. Ultimately utilities make decisions all about risk. How can inherently risky ventures such as steam-powered coal plants work? They are very complicated, have unreliable fuel sources, and offer environmental risks. Renewables will lower the risk.- Economic feasibility: PV systems without financial incentives are projected to cost 9 cents per kilowatt hour by 2020 instead of 31 cents now. Florida consumers pay 12 cents now. By 2020 they can be expected to pay 18 cents per hour. One major frustration to the solar industry is comparing the base rate of convention to the peak rate of solar.
Cap-and-Trade 101: Using Markets to Fight Climate Change
- Sen. Thomas R. Carper, D-Del.
- Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, I-Conn.
Contact: Marni Goldberg at 202-546-0007 or [email protected]
Yorktown Room, Hyatt Regency Hotel, 400 New Jersey Ave. N.W.
Carbon Finance World 2007
18 – 20 September 2007, The University of Chicago Gleacher Center, Chicago
Carbon finance experts estimate that the global carbon market is now worth over $27 billion. Financial giants along with Fortune 500 companies, utility & energy companies, fund managers and regulatory bodies are cashing in on the lucrative concept of carbon finance. Carbon Finance World 2007 has been developed to examine the emerging opportunities in this new global market. This conference will provide attendees with countless business development and networking opportunities, real investment prospects and an action plan for profitable growth.
Climate Organizing Leadership Development Training
The 2008 legislative session is only 5 months away. Do know what you need to do to save the climate?
You need to get COLD, the Climate Organizing Leadership Development. Starting in September the Chesapeake Climate Action Network will kick off an advanced global warming activist training series designed to empower new climate leaders in Maryland, DC and Virginia.
The training series will feature expert speakers, guest trainers, and will provide you with the valuable skills that you need to become the lead climate organizer in your area. The COLD trainings will capitalize on the years of experience of some of the most respected organizers in the region to help give you the insider information that you need to stand up to even the most powerful of foes.
Trainings will be located in Baltimore, Richmond, Falls Church, and Washington DC. There will be five trainings in all, once a month from September to January 08.
For more info on the DC trainings, email: [email protected] or apply here.
For more info on the Baltimore trainings, email [email protected] or apply here.
For more info on the Richmond trainings, email [email protected] or apply here.
For more info on the Northern Virginia, email [email protected] or apply here.
Health Consequences of Global Warming
A Conference: Health Consequences of Global Warming: Examining the Links; Breaking the Chains
Friday – Sunday September 14 – 16, 2007
Hotel Veto Conference Center 201 S. Linn St Iowa City, IA
Jointly sponsored by: The University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine and Physicans for Social Responsibility, in cooperation with the University of Iowa Center for Human Rights, Global and Regional Environmental Research, and College of Public Health.
Introducing the Challenge: Halting Climate Change Addressing Health and Human Rights Links
- Introducing Climate Change Science and Wedges, Jerry Schnoor PhD
- Introducing Human Rights Issues, Burns Weston LL.B, JSD
- Introducing Public Health Concerns, Jim Merchant MD PhD
- Michael McCally MD PhD, Executive Director, National PSR, Challenge of Global Warming to Preserving Global Health
- Redefining Security, Catherine Thomasson MD
- Introducing Student Groups’ Responses to Global Climate Change
- How Cuba Survived Peak Oil. Film, Maureen McCue MD PhD
- Faith Based Responses to Goobal Warming, Mark Kresowik & Lynn Heuss
- Invoking the Precautionary Principle, Carolyn Raffensperger JD
- UNA Process on Global Warming, Katy Hanson, Kate Karchay, Douglas Taylor PhD & Jerry Schnoor PhD
Saturday, September 15
9:00 AM Opening Keynote- Michael A. McGeehin PhD MSPH, Climate Change, Myriad Threats to Global Health: From Malaria Movement & Complex Disasters to Failing Food Production
9:45 AM Plenary Panel II
Linked Threats to Health and Environment: Current Energy Sources- Health Threats of Auto-Centered Cities, Catherine Thomasson MD
- Ports, Trade & Transit: Health Threats to Workers, Neighborhoods, and the Global Climate, Andrea Hricko MPH
- Nuclear Power’s Insurmountable Risks, Arjun Makhijani PhD
11:30 AM Plenary Panel III
Collateral Damage: Overlooked Health Costs of Disasters- Disasters–Loss and Mental Health–Challenge, Curt H. Drennen PsyD
- Disasters–Challenges to Maintaining Research and Care, Tyler Curiel MD MPH
- Unstable Climate–Challenges to Global Food/Water Security, Douglas Taylor PhD
1:15 PM Luncheon Speaker:
- Michael Klare PhD, Blood and Oil–Further Dangers and Consequences of Dependency on Petroleum
- “Low Carbon Diet”– Food Production with Low Carbon Emissions, Rich Pirog
- Consumption, Denial, and Fear, Fred Myer MA and Carolyn Raffensperger JD
- Iowa’s Uniquely Unhealthy Energy Options (Coal, Bio-fuels, Nuclear), Mark Kresowik BA, Alana Stamas, and Michele Kenyon Brown
- Healthy Sustainable Businesses–Incorporating Environmentally Friendly Practices, Peter Barnes MA, Fred Kirschenmann PhD, Geoff Willming, Matt Bulle
- Environmental Ethics, Voluntary Initiatives vs. Legal Imperatives to Heal Our Planet, Burns Weston LL.B, JSD and Andy Jameton PhD
- War, Global Warming, Public Health, and Opportunity Costs, Victor Sidel MD and William Hartung
3:30 PM Plenary Panel IV
Global Warming, Health and Human Rights Links- The Arctic Bellwether–Impact of Energy Extraction, & Use on Health and Human Rights of World’s Indigenous, Marginalized & Poorest, Donald Goldberg JD
- Healthcare of Poor, Minorities, Marginalized Before, During, After Katrina, Ravi Vadlamudi MD
- Promoting and Attaining a Healthy, Rights Based Paradigm, Michael Dworkin JD
- Confronting Coal, Bruce Nilles JD
- Concerned Scientists, Health Care Providers, Arjun Makhijani PhD and Catherine Thomasson MD
- Student Groups—Student PSR, AMSA, ESW, Global Pulse Leader
- Concerned Business Leaders, Peter Barnes MA, Fred Kirschenmann PhD, Geoff Willming, Matt Bulle
- Faith Based/Religious Leaders, Ben & Cathy Webb, others
- Law Makers, Rights Based, Andy Jameton RN PhD, Carolyn Raffensperger JD, and Ed Fallon BA
- Indigenous Peoples, Minorities, Labor, Mike McCally MD PhD, Ravi Vadlamudi MD MPH, and Dan Holub JD
Sunday, September 16
9:00 AM Opening Inspirational Remarks- Imperatives of Tikkun Olam, Gerald Sorokin
- Cool Congregations–Compelling Commitments, Rev. Ben Webb
- Peter Barnes MA, Introducing the Sky Trust to Protect the Atmosphere
10:15 AM Plenary Panel VI
Good News: Cases of Humane Healthy Living Through Sustainable Energy- How the West Coast is coming Clean & Green, Catherine Thomasson MD
- Cool Cities, Mark Kresowik BA and Frank Cownie (invited),
- UCS, Assessing the National Legislative Frontier: The Good Bad, and Nonexistent, Rich Dana
11:30 AM Plenary Panel VII
Developing Coalitions, Learning from Others, Working Together Toward a Healthy, Secure, Sustainable Future, Saturday Workshop Leaders Report Results & Consult Audience Members