 ArcticWarming.net is CA-CP's newest website, providing crucial information about the warming and thawing of the Arctic region. At Clean Air-Cool Planet, we are promoting solutions that will mitigate the effects of human activity on this vital region and its sensitive ecology. In recognition of the Arctic's important role in climate change, and the acceleration of warming in the region, CA-CP wanted to provide the latest and best information science has to offer about the effects of these changes. The site was developed to provide important background for participants on the Arctic Expedition for Climate Action, described below.
The website features dramatic photographs of the region's mountains, ice cliffs and wildlife taken by CA-CP CEO Adam Markham and National Geographic photographers. The Climate Policy Center's Research Associate Dan Rizza has interviewed world renowned Arctic scientists to get the latest updates on conditions in the Arctic. The site includes descriptions of the fragile land and water ecosystems and the changes that will affect not only the Arctic, but the rest of the world. Please visit ArcticWarming.net.
Arctic Expedition for Climate Action
In July, three CA-CP staff members participated in an extraordinary trip to the Arctic, part of a high-level expedition of 100 leaders of government and business that included President Jimmy Carter, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Meg Whitman (CEO of e-bay), and Larry Page, founder of Google. Participants on the 7-day trip to the Norwegian High Arctic issued a call for action on climate change: The Spirit of Endeavor Statement. Click to read more about this expedition.
 A recent New York Times feature article, "Green, Greener, Greenest" discussed the green revolution on college campuses, noting that the Princeton Review now includes a "green rating," giving points for things like "environmentally preferable food," power from renewable sources and energy-efficient buildings. The article quotes Jenn Andrews, manager of CA-CP's Campus Program. CA-CP's Campus Outreach Coordinator, Anne Stephenson, interviewed Jenn about the issue of green ranking.
Jennifer Andrews,
Campus Program Manager
Anne: The Princeton review recently released a report on college and university sustainability rankings that was received with a lot of grumbles from the campus community. Is sustainability rankable? What was the controversy about?
Jenn: Sustainability is an aspirational concept, which makes it a sort of "moving target"-not one that really lends itself to objective scoring or ranking. On the other hand, because it's an aspiration, it's all the more essential for schools (and their stakeholders) to be constantly evaluating where they are vs. where they want to be. So, there's a balance. Rankings help school administrators contextualize that challenge and think about how to best meet it.
The controversy stemmed from the reality that sustainability is a broad topic and people have different priorities. It also stemmed from the difference between incremental and transformational change. Some transformational changes - the systems schools put in place to be more sustainable in the future - don't immediately show up on rankings. So some of the controversy stems from how to correlate the value of sustainable actions with what changes are visible or quantifiable.
Read the rest of the interview...
 Clean Air - Cool Planet is developing new civic engagement strategies for climate change, linking science educators and corporations by taking business people to Northwest Montana to glimpse some of the continent's last remaining glaciers as part of an effort to help them better manage carbon pollution in their own operations. In July the organization teamed up with the Wright Center at Tufts University to cosponsor a week-long workshop at Glacier National Park, which offers public school teachers from across the nation a chance to experience briefings from scientists and researchers affiliated with Redland College, The Glacier Institute, the Crown of the Continent Learning Center, The National Park Service, NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory Outreach Program, and the Wright Center.
For a second consecutive year, CA-CP program managers worked alongside public school educators who helped gather scientific data in the park. They learned how to monitor changes in ice, interpret polar and temperate glacier data, and understand how environmental science can be used in all classrooms. Two-person teams from Colorado, Massachusetts and Wyoming returned to their communities to work jointly in developing curriculum to integrate climate change into their chemistry, earth science, geology and physics classes. In addition to presentations on some of the work of previous participants, the group learned about CA-CP's Climate Change Backpack, an innovative joint venture with the New England Science Center Collaborative and the New England Aquarium, and heard a presentation on pragmatic solutions--including carbon offsets-- from COO Bob Sheppard, who is director of CA-CP's Corporate Program.
Bob was joined at the workshop by Deb Kaplan of Stonyfield Farm Yogurt, and Adesina Stewart of Whole Food Markets, two corporate partners engaging in carbon management strategies that include educating their employees, suppliers and customers.
The "highpoint" of the week was Wednesday's six-hour hike to view Grinnell Glacier with Dr. Dan Fagre, the park's ecologist, who is involved with one of the nation's premiere climate change research programs. The group saw firsthand the impact of seasonal variations in precipitation on the fragile alpine areas, in the glacial-scoured banded mountains. Participants also learned about stromatolites, ancient fossils of blue-green algae that provide a glimpse into the planet's earliest physical and chemical compositions, from a time when this area was part of a vast inland sea.
The Wright Center for Innovative Science Education is housed at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, as part of its Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. The Wright Center is dedicated to the creation and sharing of novel instructional techniques and interdisciplinary resources for pre-college teachers. Through its fellowships, workshops, seminars, and a variety of public-outreach activities, the Center provides leadership in the training and retraining of science teachers to use innovative methods to stimulate young minds.
Winter is coming. Heating and lighting season is coming. For many, if not most, of us, that means we're going to be spending more money on energy in the coming months - and with the price of oil and other fossil fuels pushing the cost of most forms of energy up, it's going to be a season of saving, as well.
So what are the best ways to save energy? Not the "Buy a hybrid - replace your furnace - install solar panels" variety, but the stuff you can do with little or no money. Here is the Clean Air - Cool Planet Top 10:
1. Turn thermostats down by 3 to 5 degrees on your furnace and water heater. Yes, this may mean wearing more clothes in the house. That's one of things they're for. And if you can't hold your hand under the hot water, it's too hot!
2. Turn the heat down further when you leave the house for the day, and turn it down when you sleep at night. If you have a programmable thermostat, even better - you can program it to do this for you, and set it to bring the heat up before you get home and before you get up.
Read more of our Energy Saving Tips...
Featured events and initiatives
For more opportunities to get involved, visit CA-CP's website.
With a grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Climate Policy Center hired Dr. Jane A. Alexander, former Deputy Director of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), to head a study designed to explore and communicate options for the design and implementation of the recently authorized Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). ARPA-E draws on the highly successful model of DARPA to pursue high-risk, high-payoff energy research. Since enactment, a rapidly growing list of supporters are calling for the implementation and funding of ARPA-E.
On June 26, 2008, CA-CP co-sponsored a briefing on the Hill for congressional staff and other leaders to discuss the innovative research practices of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and the opportunities for ARPA-E to enhance the Federal role in transformational energy research. Speakers included Dr. Anthony J. Tether, Director of DARPA; Matthew Trevithick of Venrock venture capital group; and Representative Bart Gordon (D-TN), Chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology.
The briefing was attended by 119 people, including 2 Congressmen and representatives of more than 30 Congressional offices.
The Northern New England Chapter of the American Planning Association is hosting a conference on planning for tomorrow this week at the Woodstock Inn in Woodstock, Vermont. The "Looking Forward" track includes a panel discussion called "Planning and Implementing Strategies for a Low Carbon Future." On the panel is CA-CP's Community Program Manager, Christa Koehler, along with Julia Dundorf of the New Hampshire Carbon Challenge, also a representative of the Carbon Coalition. For more information on the conference, visit the NNECAPA website.
Bob Sheppard, COO of Clean Air-Cool Planet and director of its corporate program, will be speaking at the Corporate Climate Response conference in Chicago on Sept. 22-23. Bob will be a member of an expert panel titled "To Offset or Not to Offset." Some of the questions they will address are:
--Is carbon neutral still a realistic and useful goal?
--How should companies use the voluntary carbon market?
--How will offsetting work with mandatory carbon trading?
--How can you prove additionality?
--Do customers and suppliers understand the complexities of offsetting?
Read more about the conference...
Issues Worth Watching
News from around the Nation
|
