My last day here has been met with feelings of great opportunity and optimism, as well as uncertainty and despair for what lies ahead of us as a nation and global community in the decades ahead. The majority of scientists, researchers, activists, and diplomats I’ve met over this trip have privately explained that the effects […]
Coming to COP24, I expected to laser-focus on the issue of livestock production. But being here has opened my eyes to all the complicated issues around food production including deforestation, water conservation, energy use in food preparation, decarbonizing supply chains, carbon release in soil, methane mitigation, food transportation, gender equality in agriculture, crop insurance, economies […]
As you may have heard, the United States delegation was met with laughter and disbelief at their panel here yesterday. “We strongly believe that no country should have to sacrifice economic prosperity or energy security in pursuit of environmental sustainability,” said Wells Griffith, Trump’s adviser. While this is horrific enough, I’ve met several organizations here […]
So thrilled to be here in Poland and see the excitement and commitment to climate change around me. While I stood in line for registration, I met environmental advocates from Tel Aviv talking about the nutritional value of a good hummus dish and two women from Marrakesh talking about traditional braised greens. As someone who […]
For those of us Minnesotans that live here because of the snow—this has been a tough winter so far. The weathercasters keep blaming El Niño, but if asked, I’m sure most of us would have a hard time explaining exactly what that means. Do you know? If you’re a teacher, could you explain it to […]
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released the Clean Energy Plan proposal this week. In the document, the EPA lays out how the United States will cut carbon pollution from existing power plants over the next (15) years. Without a national limit on carbon emissions, our nation’s health and wellness are being negatively affected. Our power […]
Want to know about the impacts of climate change in your community? Talk to a phenologist (that is: someone who studies events happening in nature). While “global warming”, as a term, is going out of favor because it’s describing things happening at an intangible, global scale, “climate change” seems to get closer to home, leaving […]
Arctic explorer Will Steger speaks on a panel with Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper about engaging youth in the policy of climate change at the Bellona Foundation stage at the COP15 conference in Copenhagen.
Geoengineering has emerged in recent years as a highly controversial solution for dealing climate change. Andrew Revkin recently discussed this on his blog in more detail, and Yale 360 has a great article posted today, A Hard Look at the Perils and Potential of Geoengineering. Essentially geoengineering focuses on finding human made methods to use […]
Today’s podcast from Point of Inquiry features yesterday’s blog topic (pure coincidence of course!) on the importance of science communication and the challenges the professional science communicators face. Some important points from the podcast, which features an interview with Andrew Revkin, include : “We face science centered risks: climate and energy crises, biological and nuclear terror […]