Posts Tagged ‘climate change’
Living Climate Change Video Challenge
Posted in Visions by Kate Archdeacon on February 22nd, 2010
Source: Inhabitat
As designers, we believe that envisioning the future leads to new choices and opportunities. Living Climate Change, an online community hosted by IDEO, presents a conversation designed to move the dialogue about climate change toward inspiring, human-centered scenarios that create new possibilities for business and society.
The Living Climate Change Video Challenge invites you to show us your vision of a future shaped by climate change, as we move along the path toward reduced carbon emissions.
The Challenge
Create an original video that envisions how climate change will impact our lives over the next 20 to 30 years. Looking beyond the doom and gloom and the policy discussions that have dominated the debate, how would you envision a human-centered, sustainable future? Which behaviors will change? Which will be preserved?
Tags: climate change, design, ideo, innovation
No Comments » |
Email This Post
Climate change Guide: how to win hearts and minds
Posted in Research by Kate Archdeacon on December 8th, 2009
Source: Environmental Research Web
From “Climate change: how to win hearts and minds“, by Liz Kalaugher
Despite the fact that in 2007 the scientists compiling the IPCC report were 90% certain that human activities are causing climate change, climate scepticism amongst the public is on the rise. In the US there has been a sharp decline over the last year in the percentage of the population who say there is solid evidence that global temperatures are rising, while in the UK the number of people believing that claims about the effects of climate change have been exaggerated rose from 15% to 29% between 2003 and 2008.
So how can a climate scientist best communicate their work to a sceptical audience?
With that in mind, the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions (CRED) at Columbia University has issued a guide on the psychology of climate change communication that brings together the latest social science research in the field. Although it’s a serious topic, the guide is easy to read and contains many a cartoon and case study to illustrate its points. “Gaining public support for climate change policies and encouraging environmentally responsible behaviour depends on a clear understanding of how people process information and make decisions,” says the report. “Social science research provides an essential part of this puzzle but there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to the challenges of communicating about climate change. Rather, each of the many barriers presents a new opportunity to improve the way we present information.”
Tags: climate change, communication, community
No Comments » |
Email This Post
Walk Against Warming
Posted in Events by Kate Archdeacon on November 30th, 2009
Source: Zero Carbon Moreland
Come along to the Walk Against Warming and help form a massive human sign, a sign so big that the message will reach Copenhagen! In Melbourne, the walk will start by the State Library, on the corner of Swanston Street and La Trobe Street at noon on December 12 and end at Princess Bridge. On the bridge, 20,000 people will make a human sign saying: SAFE CLIMATE – DO IT. Zero Carbon Moreland friends and supporters are invited to meet and walk together. To find actions in other cities, visit the website.
Tags: climate change, community, local action
No Comments » |
Email This Post
Climate-change affordability: Economic study
Posted in Research by Kate Archdeacon on November 19th, 2009
Source: Environmental Research Web
Image: D Sharon Pruitt via flickr CC
From “Climate-change policy is affordable after all” by Liz Kalaugher
Climate policy is cheaper than most economic studies have suggested. Indeed it is affordable without causing any disastrous effects on our economies. That’s according to Jeroen van den Bergh of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain, and Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. “I wasn’t satisfied with the dominant economic approaches, notably cost-benefit analysis of climate policy,” van den Bergh told environmentalresearchweb. “In addition, I had the feeling that many important arguments, including very down-to-earth ones, were being left out of the debate on climate policy. I decided therefore to list all the relevant alternative perspectives on the cost of climate policy I could come up with in a single paper.”
Writing in Climatic Change, van den Bergh details twelve new angles on climate policy cost that haven’t received any attention so far. He believes that cost-benefit analysis isn’t appropriate for climate change policies as it’s hard to be certain about the costs of climate damage, to put a cost on the value of a human life, or to handle scenarios that have a small probability of taking place but would have a high impact, including irreversible changes such as a slow-down of the global thermohaline circulation, or the collapse of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets. The studies tend also to neglect the impact of climate change on human conflict, biodiversity, economic development and human populations. Cost-benefit analyses carried out to date have come up with a wide range of estimates for climate costs. Instead van den Bergh prefers to assess the cost of a reasonably safe climate policy.
“If it can be argued that a safe climate policy means considerably lower net costs than the absence of such a policy, it is rational to be in favour of such a policy,” he writes. “This represents a kind of cost-effectiveness combined with precaution, given the uncertainties involved, aimed at avoiding extreme damage costs due to climate change.”
Tags: behaviour change, climate change, economics, governance, policy
No Comments » |
Email This Post
The Big Green Idea
Posted in Events by Kate Archdeacon on November 17th, 2009
Source: GreenRazor, the GreenPages Newsletter
An innovative funding scheme for eco-visionary Australians
Got a big green idea? Need money to help it grow? Then the British Council wants to hear from you. The Big Green Idea is a new funding initiative from the British Council designed to help put eco-visionary ideas into action. For the first time, in 2009 we’re offering five project grants of AU$10,000 each to people who will make a real contribution to Australia’s environmental future. The Big Green Idea is designed to assist in initiating new projects that motivate people to minimise their own climate change impacts. We’re looking for eco-entrepreneurs with savvy ideas to address some of the biggest sustainability challenges faced by urban communities.
Tags: climate change, funding, innovation
No Comments » |
Email This Post
Resource: Climate Change Map
Posted in Research by Kate Archdeacon on October 30th, 2009
Source: Met Office, UK
Image: Met Office
A new map illustrating the global consequences of failing to keep temperature change to under 2 °C was launched [last week] by the UK Government, in partnership with the Met Office. The map was developed using the latest peer-reviewed science from the Met Office Hadley Centre and other leading impact scientists. The poster highlights some of the impacts that may occur if the global average temperature rises by 4 °C above the pre-industrial climate average. Ahead of December’s international climate change talks in Copenhagen, the Government is aiming for an agreement that limits climate change as far as possible to 2 °C. Increases of more than two degrees will have huge impacts on the world.
The poster shows that a four degree average rise will not be spread uniformly across the globe. The land will heat up more quickly than the sea, and high latitudes, particularly the Arctic, will have larger temperature increases. The average land temperature will be 5.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. The impacts on human activity shown on the map are only a selection of those that may occur, and highlight the severe effects on water availability, agricultural productivity, extreme temperatures and drought, the risk of forest fire and sea-level rise. Agricultural yields are expected to decrease for all major cereal crops in all major regions of production. Half of all Himalayan glaciers will be significantly reduced by 2050, leading to 23% of the population of China being deprived of the vital dry season glacial melt water source.
“The map’s release marks a significant shift in political discourse on climate change, with many politicians until recently unwilling to discuss the possibility of a failure to hit the 2C target “, David Adam and Allegra Stratton, guardian.co.uk.
Read the full article.
Tags: climate change, discussion, governance, Resource
No Comments » |
Email This Post
350 October 24th: International Day of Climate Action
Posted in Events by Kate Archdeacon on October 23rd, 2009
Source: Climate Action Calendar
Image: 350 org via flickr CC
On October 24, join people all over the world to take a stand for a safe climate future.
This will be the most widespread day of climate action ever, with 158 countries participating and 3000+ actions planned to help ‘uncook the planet’ by setting a safer target of 350 parts per million CO2 in our atmosphere.
Visit www.350.org/map to find and RSVP for an action near you.
This movement has room for everyone
Tags: 350.org, climate change, community, local action
No Comments » |
Email This Post
Measuring Urban Heat via Cargo Bike
Posted in Research by Kate Archdeacon on September 29th, 2009
Source: Environmental Research Web
Image: amsterdamize
Researchers from Wageningen University, Netherlands, used the warm days in August to map out the urban climate in the cities of Rotterdam and Arnhem. During four time intervals on a 24 hours’ day, mobile traverse measurements were carried out with two cargo bicycles with measurement equipment.
The results may indicate to which extent heat stress may become a problem. Future projections of climate change show that frequency of heat waves will increase substantially in the next decades. Particularly in cities heat stress may become a serious problem due to the so-called Urban Heat Island effect (UHI), the phenomenon where the average temperature in the city is higher than in the surrounding area.
For technical reasons, the researchers use cargo bikes to transport the measurement apparatus. With a cargo bike it is easy to manoeuvre through the narrow streets in the city, while the instruments remain horizontal. The cargo bikes are equipped with a thermometer that registers the temperature, a humidity meter, a sensor for wind direction and wind speed, sensors that measure the amount of sunlight and sensors for the exchange of heat radiation. The measurements were conducted every second. In addition, the route was photographed at fixed intervals from 50 cm above the ground with a fisheye lens pointed upwards. This can be used to determine the percentage of the sky that is “covered” with buildings or greenery as seen from street level. This coverage largely determines the strength of the urban heat island effect. The felt temperature is determined by the air temperature combined with radiation, humidity and wind. The instruments are powered by a solar panel mounted on the baggage carrier.
Read the full article.
Source: Environmental Research Web
Tags: cargo bikes, cities, climate change, innovation
No Comments » |
Email This Post
Climate Change Adaptation Futures
Posted in Events by Kate Archdeacon on September 1st, 2009
Source: Rural Climate Network
Image: SMH
Conference: Climate Change Adaptation Futures: preparing for the unavoidable impacts of climate change
29 June – 1 July 2010, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
Co-hosted by Australia’s National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility and the CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship, this conference will be one of the first international forums to focus solely on climate impacts and adaptation.
It will bring together scientists and decision makers from developed and developing countries to share research approaches, methods and results. It will explore the way forward in a world where impacts are increasingly observable and adaptation actions are increasingly required.
The Climate Adaptation Futures Conference will showcase leading impacts and adaptation research from around the world.
It will explore the contribution of adaptation science to planning and policy making, and how robust adaptation decision making can proceed in the face of uncertainty about climate change and its impacts.
Registrations open online Monday 31 August, 2009.
Tags: climate change, conference, governance, Research
No Comments » |
Email This Post
The Age of Stupid
Posted in Events by Kate Archdeacon on August 12th, 2009
Source: GreenRazor, the GreenPages Newsletter
‘The Age of Stupid‘ is the new cinema documentary from the Director of ‘McLibel’ and the Producer of the Oscar-winning ‘One Day in September’.
This enormously ambitious drama-documentary-animation hybrid stars Oscar-nominated Pete Postlethwaite as an old man living in the devastated world of 2055, watching “archive” footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change while we had the chance?
Australian and NZ premieres August 19th.
Australian screenings and booking information here.
Tags: climate change, film
No Comments » |
Email This Post