The Whitehouse web pages have been updated. Here is the new agenda on:
Energy & Environment
Green Building Impact Report
- Green Building Impact Report 2008 – <http://digbig.com/4ydfg>
From today’s DocuTicker Newsletter No. 67
“This Green Building Impact Report is the first-ever integrated assessment of the land, water, energy, material and indoor environmental impacts of the LEED for New Construction (LEED NC), Core & Shell (LEED CS) and Existing Building Operations and Maintenance (LEED EBOM) standards.”
Green Building Impact Report
- Green Building Impact Report 2008 – <http://digbig.com/4ydfg>
From today’s DocuTicker Newsletter No. 67
“This Green Building Impact Report is the first-ever integrated assessment of the land, water, energy, material and indoor environmental impacts of the LEED for New Construction (LEED NC), Core & Shell (LEED CS) and Existing Building Operations and Maintenance (LEED EBOM) standards.”
Are We Killing The Planet One Google Search At A Time?
From the Washington Post, Sunday, January 11, 2009; 11:30 AM
TechCrunch.com
Jason Kincaid has written a brief description of relative carbon costs of common activities in comparison with a search using the Google search engine.
It serves as a reponse to Alex Wissner Gross, in the Times of London, where he proposes that a Google search produces 7 grams of carbon, whereas Google says only .2 grams
Will there be abrupt climate change in the 21st Century?
- Abrupt Climate Change: Will It Happen this Century? –
Read the conclusions drawn from an assessment of the scientific literature.
There is also a link to the full report.
White House Science Advisor likely to be John P. Holdren
December 18, 2008 From ScienceInsider blog, via the Astrophysics Dept. Librarian, Jane Holmquist:
Obama Chooses Harvard Academic as Science Adviser
Washington — John P. Holdren, director of the Program on Science, Technology, and Public Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, is the likely choice as White House science adviser in the Obama administration, according to a report posted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Mr. Holdren, a professor of environmental policy, canceled a planned staff meeting today at Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and instead flew to Chicago to meet with Obama transition officials and prepare for the announcement, the association’s ScienceInsider blog said, without identifying its sources.
President-elect Barack Obama, a graduate of Harvard Law School, is expected to announce his choice of Mr. Holdren as science adviser during his weekly radio address on Saturday, ScienceInsider reported.
Mr. Obama already has nominated the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Chu as energy secretary and named Carol M. Browner, a former head of the Environmental Protection Agency, to a new position in charge of coordinating energy issues.
—Paul Basken
Reducing Your Carbon Footprint — CQ Researcher
This Week’s Report, from the CQ Researcher weekly alert:
“Reducing Your Carbon Footprint” by Thomas J. Billitteri, December 5, 2008
Can individual actions reduce global warming?
As climate change rises closer to the top of the government’s policy agenda – and an economic crisis intensifies – more and more consumers are trying to change their behavior so they pollute and consume less. To reduce their individual “carbon footprints,” many are cutting gasoline and home-heating consumption, choosing locally grown food and recycling. While such actions are important in curbing global warming, the extent to which consumers can reduce or reverse broad-scale environmental damage is open to debate. Moreover, well-intentioned personal actions can have unintended consequences that cancel out positive effects. To have the greatest impact, corporate and government policy must lead the way, many environmental advocates say.
Are measures of individual carbon emissions valid?
Should government do more to encourage individuals to reduce their carbon footprints?
Can individual action significantly reduce global climate change?
To view this week’s entire report on CQ Researcher Online, click here.
CQ Researcher is an excellent service/publication.
State of the World Population 2008
- State of the World Population 2008: Reaching common ground: culture,
gender and human rights – <<a href=”http://www.docuticker.com The source of the report is the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). It coincides with this year’s 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and is available on the web or as a PDF (2.5 MB).
Source: [DocuTicker] Newsletter No.60
Global Change Education Program, Dept. of Energy
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER) sponsors the Global Change Education Program (GCEP) to promote undergraduate and graduate education and training in support of the Department’s global change research activities. Global change research encompasses a number of technical areas, including atmospheric sciences, ecology, global carbon cycles, climate, and terrestrial processes.
GCEP has two components:
· Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE)
· Graduate Research Environmental Fellowships (GREF).
SURE appointments are competitive, require U.S. Citizenship, and a minimum overall GPA of 3.0 (4.0 system). In addition, GREF requires applicants to have successfully completed at least one year of graduate school.
For further information:
· Visit the website, http://www.atmos.anl.gov/GCEP/
· Contact Jeffrey Gaffney at jsgaffney@ualr.edu, Nancy Marley at namarley@ualr.edu, or Milton J. Constantin at milton.constantin@orau.org.
The Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) administers the GCEP for the Department of Energy. ORISE is managed under contract by the Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU).
Milton J. Constantin
Program Manager
865/576-7009 (T)
865/241-9445 (F)
milton.constantin@orau.org
From an email from: Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education
Al Gore on Climate, Energy & the Economy
The Climate for Change ,
By AL GORE:
“How we can save the economy and the earth at the same time.”
An OpEd piece from the Nov. 9th, New York Times.