Category Archives: Concerns

Inspiration for Copenhagen

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Here are a couple of websites that were listed by Dana Roth and Fred Stoss on Chemical Information and Science & Technical Librarians listservs:

1. From Saturday’s International Day of Climate Action http://www.350.org/?p=4

2. Announcing two major photography exhibits, "Climate Change In Our World" and "How We Know About Our Changing Climate," which will premier in Washington DC just as the U.S. Senate begins debate on climate and energy legislation and a month before the international UNFCCC meetings in Copenhagen.
In an effort to educate and inspire about climate change and its solutions, Gary Braasch brings twenty 5-foot color photographs of climate change and its solutions today, to the Washington headquarters of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences — November 10 through March 15, 2010.
Accompanying this show of images from his book Earth Under Fire: How Global Warming is Changing the World is a teaching exhibit for kids and adults about how scientists learn about climate change, in association with Lynne Cherry. This show includes educational ideas for classrooms and Cherry’s films about kids who are reducing their climate impact in school and their communities.

Location: AAAS

For more information:

http://www.earthunderfire.com/pages/exhibit.html

Special Note: The "Young Voices" films also will be shown several times at events in Copenhagen.

NRC Report Examines Hidden Costs of Energy

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"October 19, 2009 — A new report from the National Research Council examines "hidden" costs of energy production and use — such as the the health impacts of air pollution — that are not reflected in market prices of coal or oil. The quantifiable damages alone were an estimated $120 billion in the U.S. in 2005, a number that reflects primarily health damages caused by air pollution from electricity generation and motor vehicle transportation."

Source: National Academies Newsletter; WhatsNew@nationalacademies.org

Seeing Climate, Seeing Change

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• October 12, 2009 – Fall 2009 STEP Seminar Series – “Seeing Climate, Seeing Change”

Heidi Cullen, Director of Communications, Senior Research Scientist, Climate Central,

Heidi Cullen is an excellent speaker: She needs more "soap boxes" She deserves many more platforms and communication devices! Climate Central is one: It’s "a new nonprofit science and media organization created to provide clear and objective information about climate change and its potential solutions."

She has excellent graphics, representative studies and anecdotes. Perhaps with Climate Central’s website, they will reach and convince lots more of us. As a "big picture" climate scientist of the Holocene, she could recite instances where climate change has drastically affected civilizations: the Anasazi, the Maya, the Great Drought of 1272-1298. People rely on climate stability.

A couple of worrisome publications: Raupach and Canadell, PNAS, 2007, illustrating CO2 data results beyond the "worst case" scenario, and Peter Stott, Nature, re: the hot summer deaths in Europe in 2003.

Human contribution to the European heatwave of 2003

Peter A. Stott, D. A. Stone, M. R. Allen

Nature 432, 610-614 (2 December 2004) doi:10.1038/nature03089 Letter

Abstract | Full Text | PDF | Rights and permissions | Save this link

Biological Sciences – Sustainability Science:

  • Michael R. Raupach,
  • Gregg Marland,
  • Philippe Ciais,
  • Corinne Le Quéré,
  • Josep G. Canadell,
  • Gernot Klepper,
  • and Christopher B. Field

Global and regional drivers of accelerating CO2 emissionsPNAS 2007 104:10288-10293; published online before print May 22, 2007, doi:10.1073/pnas.0700609104

Biological Sciences – Sustainability Science:

  • Josep G. Canadell,
  • Corinne Le Quéré,
  • Michael R. Raupach,
  • Christopher B. Field,
  • Erik T. Buitenhuis,
  • Philippe Ciais,
  • Thomas J. Conway,
  • Nathan P. Gillett,
  • R. A. Houghton,
  • and Gregg Marland

From the Cover: Contributions to accelerating atmospheric CO2 growth from economic activity, carbon intensity, and efficiency of natural sinksPNAS 2007 104:18866-18870; published online before print October 25, 2007, doi:10.1073/pnas.0702737104

She gives credit to GFDL, who, with the IPCC, is developing new climate models.

She offered the questions: how can we convince the public to have the credence and trust in scientists that they profess to have? How can we get more local news sources to educate people about climate change?

("Global warming" has too many political connotations, it seems.)

Notable websites, blogs, etc., mentioned in the presentation:

http://www.propublica.org/ ProPublica represents "journalism in the public interest"

http://www.climateprogress.com/ "An insider’s view of climate science, politics, & solutions" The writer is Joe Romm, who was recognized by Time magazine as "One of the heroes of Environment 2009, and the Web’s most influential climate-change blogger".

http://planetgreen.discovery.com/ A website with ideas for everyone on becoming green, the the areas of fashion & beauty, food & health, home & garden, tech & transport, travel & outdoors, and work & connect.

Dr. Cullen hopes for the establishment of a National or World Climate Service, much like the National Weather Service.

Research4Life collective website for developing countries

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UK Research4Life launches website – 07 Jul 2009

Research4Life has announced the launch of www.research4life.org.. The website will act as the public face of the Research4Life partnership for journalists, partners and institutions considering joining one of the programmes. It will include news about the programmes, information on the partners and participating institutions, testimonials and case studies.

Research4Life is the collective name given to HINARI, AGORA and OARE, the three public-private partnership programmes of the WHO, FAO, UNEP, Cornell and Yale Universities and the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers. One hundred and fifty five publishers now participate in the programmes, including Elsevier, Springer, Wiley-Blackwell and Oxford University Press and many university and learned society presses. Together with technology partner Microsoft, Research4Life seeks to help achieve the UN’s Millennium Development Goals by providing the developing world with access to critical up-to-date scientific research.

The website features examples of how the programmes are having a real-world impact on developing countries.

Source: Knowledgespeak Newsletter 7/7/09

Mother Nature News: MNN.com

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The Nature Conservancy News, via their newsletter today, introduced the Mother Nature News Network which provides information and resources about technology, transportation, earth matters, food, business, home, lifestyle and family.

"You can read Conservancy news, nature and environmental articles, blogs, videos and how-to guides, along with breaking news stories, such as:

  • MNN TV shows Conservancy videos and gives visual advice on everything from green party planning and green parenting to impassioned musicians and local-food chefs.
  • The Green News Roundup with daily environmental news and coverage from around the web including nature.org.content from each of The Nature Conservancy’s state programs.
  • Plus, read what MNN’s featured bloggers cover about the Conservancy and green living topics from transportation to family to business and food. "

Mother Nature News: MNN.com

Posted on by

The Nature Conservancy News, via their newsletter today, introduced the Mother Nature News Network which provides information and resources about technology, transportation, earth matters, food, business, home, lifestyle and family.

"You can read Conservancy news, nature and environmental articles, blogs, videos and how-to guides, along with breaking news stories, such as:

  • MNN TV shows Conservancy videos and gives visual advice on everything from green party planning and green parenting to impassioned musicians and local-food chefs.
  • The Green News Roundup with daily environmental news and coverage from around the web including nature.org.content from each of The Nature Conservancy’s state programs.
  • Plus, read what MNN’s featured bloggers cover about the Conservancy and green living topics from transportation to family to business and food. "

Wikia Green — a new Wiki

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“…today [Jimmy] Wales and others at Wikia, Inc. announced the launch of a new eco-focused project, which they’re calling Wikia Green. The goal is to create a flexible, dynamic community wiki that covers anything and everything in the environmental and sustainable universe.”
From an interview reported in The Daily Green 9/9/08: “Wikia Green Launches as a “Wikipedia” for Enviros”

On their homepage is stated: 681 articles since March 2008

EPA Libraries’ Roller Coaster Ride

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Barbie E. Keiser, a resources management consultant in Washington, D.C., has written a review of the EPA libraries experience of attempting to close several libraries in the wake of a declining budget, but in the face of greater demand. She also writes about recommendations for best practices concerning its “second life”. She says that the website has improved.

The article can be found at www.epa.gov/libraries

One will be able to access the full article soon from Online Information Review, vo. 32(5): 25-29, Sep.-Oct. 2008. “EPA Libraries’ Roller Coaster Ride”