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Climate Change (climate + change)
Kinds of Climate Change Terms modified by Climate Change Selected AbstractsCLIMATE CHANGE, LUDDITES AND UNNECESSARY DEATHSECONOMIC AFFAIRS, Issue 1 2004Roger Bate No abstract is available for this article. [source] THE RESPONSE OF PARTIALLY DEBRIS-COVERED VALLEY GLACIERS TO CLIMATE CHANGE: THE EXAMPLE OF THE PASTERZE GLACIER (AUSTRIA) IN THE PERIOD 1964 TO 2006GEOGRAFISKA ANNALER SERIES A: PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY, Issue 4 2008ANDREAS KELLERER-PIRKLBAUER ABSTRACT. Long-term observations of partly debris-covered glaciers have allowed us to assess the impact of supra-glacial debris on volumetric changes. In this paper, the behaviour of the partially debris-covered, 3.6 km2 tongue of Pasterze Glacier (47°05,N, 12°44,E) was studied in the context of ongoing climate changes. The right part of the glacier tongue is covered by a continuous supra-glacial debris mantle with variable thicknesses (a few centimetres to about 1 m). For the period 1964,2000 three digital elevation models (1964, 1981, 2000) and related debris-cover distributions were analysed. These datasets were compared with long-term series of glaciological field data (displacement, elevation change, glacier terminus behaviour) from the 1960s to 2006. Differences between the debriscovered and the clean ice parts were emphasised. Results show that volumetric losses increased by 2.3 times between the periods 1964,1981 and 1981,2000 with significant regional variations at the glacier tongue. Such variations are controlled by the glacier emergence velocity pattern, existence and thickness of supra-glacial debris, direct solar radiation, counter-radiation from the valley sides and their changes over time. The downward-increasing debris thickness is counteracting to a compensational stage against the common decrease of ablation with elevation. A continuous debris cover not less than 15 cm in thickness reduces ablation rates by 30,35%. No relationship exists between glacier retreat rates and summer air temperatures. Substantial and varying differences of the two different terminus parts occurred. Our findings clearly underline the importance of supra-glacial debris on mass balance and glacier tongue morphology. [source] A 2000-YEAR CONTEXT FOR MODERN CLIMATE CHANGEGEOGRAFISKA ANNALER SERIES A: PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY, Issue 1 2005K.A. MAASCH ABSTRACT. Although considerable attention has been paid to the record of temperature change over the last few centuries, the range and rate of change of atmospheric circulation and hydrology remain elusive. Here, eight latitudinally well-distributed (pole-equator-pole), highly resolved (annual to decadal) climate proxy records are presented that demonstrate major changes in these variables over the last 2000 years. A comparison between atmospheric 14C and these changes in climate demonstrates a first-order relationship between a variable Sun and climate. The relationship is seen on a global scale. [source] "OUR HOME IS DROWNING": IÑUPIAT STORYTELLING AND CLIMATE CHANGE IN POINT HOPE, ALASKA,GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW, Issue 4 2008CHIE SAKAKIBARA ABSTRACT. Contemporary storytelling among the IÑupiat of Point Hope, Alaska, is a means of coping with the unpredictable future that climate change poses. Arctic climate change impacts IÑupiat lifeways on a cultural level by threatening their homeland, their sense of place, and their respect for the bowhead whale that is the basis of their cultural identity. What I found during my fieldwork was that traditional storytelling processed environmental changes as a way of maintaining a connection to a disappearing place. In this article I describe how environmental change is culturally manifest through tales of the supernatural, particularly spirit beings or ghosts. The types of IÑupiat stories and modes of telling them reveal people's uncertainty about the future. Examining how people perceive the loss of their homeland, I argue that IÑupiat storytelling both reveals and is a response to a changing physical and spiritual landscape. [source] ALPINE AREAS IN THE COLORADO FRONT RANGE AS MONITORS OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND ECOSYSTEM RESPONSE,GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW, Issue 2 2002MARK W. WILLIAMS ABSTRACT. The presence of a seasonal snowpack in alpine environments can amplify climate signals. A conceptual model is developed for the response of alpine ecosystems in temperate, midlatitude areas to changes in energy, chemicals, and water, based on a case study from Green Lakes Valley,Niwot Ridge, a headwater catchment in the Colorado Front Range. A linear regression shows the increase in annual precipitation of about 300 millimeters from 1951 to 1996 to be significant. Most of the precipitation increase has occurred since 1967. The annual deposition of inorganic nitrogen in wetfall at the Niwot Ridge National Atmospheric Deposition Program site roughly doubled between 1985,1988 and 1989,1992. Storage and release of strong acid anions, such as those from the seasonal snowpack in an ionic pulse, have resulted in episodic acidification of surface waters. These biochemical changes alter the quantity and quality of organic matter in high-elevation catchments of the Rocky Mountains. Affecting the bottom of the food chain, the increase in nitrogen deposition may be partly responsible for the current decline of bighorn sheep in the Rocky Mountains. [source] CLIMATE CHANGE: Copenhagen SummitAFRICA RESEARCH BULLETIN: ECONOMIC, FINANCIAL AND TECHNICAL SERIES, Issue 12 2010Article first published online: 9 FEB 2010 No abstract is available for this article. [source] CLIMATE CHANGE: Ministerial ConferenceAFRICA RESEARCH BULLETIN: ECONOMIC, FINANCIAL AND TECHNICAL SERIES, Issue 12 2009Article first published online: 6 FEB 200 No abstract is available for this article. [source] MODELED REGIONAL CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE HYDROLOGIC REGIONS OF CALIFORNIA: A CO2 SENSITIVITY STUDY,JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN WATER RESOURCES ASSOCIATION, Issue 3 2004Mark A. Snyder ABSTRACT: Using a regional climate model (RegCM2.5), the potential impacts on the climate of California of increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations were explored from the perspective of the state's 10 hydrologic regions. Relative to preindustrial CO2 conditions (280 ppm), doubled preindustrial CO2 conditions (560 ppm) produced increased temperatures of up to 4°C on an annual average basis and of up to 5°C on a monthly basis. Temperature increases were greatest in the central and northern regions. On a monthly basis, the temperature response was greatest in February, March, and May for nearly all regions. Snow accumulation was significantly decreased in all months and regions, with the greatest reduction occurring in the Sacramento River region. Precipitation results indicate drier winters for all regions, with a large reduction in precipitation from December to April and a smaller decrease from May to November. The result is a wet season that is slightly reduced in length. Findings suggest that the total amount of water in the state will decrease, water needs will increase, and the timing of water availability will be greatly perturbed. [source] POTENTIAL IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON CALIFORNIA HYDROLOGY,JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN WATER RESOURCES ASSOCIATION, Issue 4 2003Norman L. Miller ABSTRACT: Previous reports based on climate change scenarios have suggested that California will be subjected to increased wintertime and decreased summertime streamflow. Due to the uncertainty of projections in future climate, a new range of potential climatological future temperature shifts and precipitation ratios is applied to the Sacramento Soil Moisture Accounting Model and Anderson Snow Model in order to determine hydrologic sensitivities. Two general circulation models (GCMs) were used in this analysis: one that is warm and wet (HadCM2 run 1) and one that is cool and dry (PCM run B06.06), relative to the GCM projections for California that were part of the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. A set of specified incremental temperature shifts from 1.5°C to 5.0°C and precipitation ratios from 0.70 to 1.30 were also used as input to the snow and soil moisture accounting models, providing for additional scenarios (e.g., warm/dry, cool/wet). Hydrologic calculations were performed for a set of California river basins that extend from the coastal mountains and Sierra Nevada northern region to the southern Sierra Nevada region; these were applied to a water allocation analysis in a companion paper. Results indicate that for all snow-producing cases, a larger proportion of the streamflow volume will occur earlier in the year. The amount and timing is dependent on the characteristics of each basin, particularly the elevation. Increased temperatures lead to a higher freezing line, therefore less snow accumulation and increased melting below the freezing height. The hydrologic response varies for each scenario, and the resulting solution set provides bounds to the range of possible change in streamflow, snowmelt, snow water equivalent, and the change in the magnitude of annual high flows. An important result that appears for all snowmelt driven runoff basins, is that late winter snow accumulation decreases by 50 percent toward the end of this century. [source] IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON MISSOURI RWER BASIN WATER YIELD,JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN WATER RESOURCES ASSOCIATION, Issue 5 2001Mark C. Stone ABSTRACT: Water from the Missouri River Basin is used for multiple purposes. The climatic change of doubling the atmospheric carbon dioxide may produce dramatic water yield changes across the basin. Estimated changes in basin water yield from doubled CO2 climate were simulated using a Regional Climate Model (RegCM) and a physically based rainfall-runoff model. RegCM output from a five-year, equilibrium climate simulation at twice present CO2 levels was compared to a similar present-day climate run to extract monthly changes in meteorologic variables needed by the hydrologic model. These changes, simulated on a 50-km grid, were matched at a commensurate scale to the 310 subbasin in the rainfall-runoff model climate change impact analysis. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) rainfall-runoff model was used in this study. The climate changes were applied to the 1965 to 1989 historic period. Overall water yield at the mouth of the Basin decreased by 10 to 20 percent during spring and summer months, but increased during fall and winter. Yields generally decreased in the southern portions of the basin but increased in the northern reaches. Northern subbasin yields increased up to 80 percent: equivalent to 1.3 cm of runoff on an annual basis. [source] GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE AND PUBLIC PERCEPTION: THE CHALLENGE OF TRANSLATION,JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN WATER RESOURCES ASSOCIATION, Issue 2 2000Susan Seacrest ABSTRACT: Global climate change is examined from the perspective of its relevancy and urgency as a public policy issue. Interpreting from literature specific to investigations into public awareness and concern, climate change is seen as a legitimate though less than urgent issue. The literature reveals that the general public holds surprising misconceptions about the processes contributing to climate change, including failure to grasp the fundamental connection to CO2. General ambivalence is also suggested from the results of two surveys conducted by The Groundwater Foundation. They first asked participants in a recent Groundwater Guardian Conference to rate levels of discussion and concern for water resources implications in the participants' communities. A second survey polled national water resource organizations about the extent climate change has been a focus of their educational, investigative, or advocacy efforts. The paper concludes by describing basic barriers to stimulating public response to climate change, which education about the issue should address, and by offering a model to educate and involve citizens based on the Groundwater Guardian program developed by the The Groundwater Foundation. [source] PACIFIC NORTHWEST REGIONAL ASSESSMIENT: THE IMPACTS OF CLIMATE VARIABILITY AND CLIMATE CHANGE ON THE WATER RESOURCES OF TEE COLUMBIA RWER BASIN,JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN WATER RESOURCES ASSOCIATION, Issue 2 2000Edward L. Miles ABSTRACT: The Pacific Northwest (PNW) regional assessment is an integrated examination of the consequences of natural climate variability and projected future climate change for the natural and human systems of the region. The assessment currently focuses on four sectors: hydrology/water resources, forests and forestry, aquatic ecosystems, and coastal activities. The assessment begins by identifying and elucidating the natural patterns of climate vanability in the PNW on interannual to decadal timescales. The pathways through which these climate variations are manifested and the resultant impacts on the natural and human systems of the region are investigated. Knowledge of these pathways allows an analysis of the potential impacts of future climate change, as defined by IPCC climate change scenarios. In this paper, we examine the sensitivity, adaptability and vulnerability of hydrology and water resources to climate variability and change. We focus on the Columbia River Basin, which covers approximately 75 percent of the PNW and is the basis for the dominant water resources system of the PNW. The water resources system of the Columbia River is sensitive to climate variability, especially with respect to drought. Management inertia and the lack of a centralized authority coordinating all uses of the resource impede adaptability to drought and optimization of water distribution. Climate change projections suggest exacerbated conditions of conflict between users as a result of low summertime streamfiow conditions. An understanding of the patterns and consequences of regional climate variability is crucial to developing an adequate response to future changes in climate. [source] INTRODUCTION TO SPECIAL ISSUE: ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON FISHERIESNATURAL RESOURCE MODELING, Issue 2 2007Rögnvaldur Hannesson [source] CLIMATE CHANGE AND FISHERIES: ASSESSING THE ECONOMIC IMPACT IN ICELAND AND GREENLANDNATURAL RESOURCE MODELING, Issue 2 2007RAGNAR ARNASON ABSTRACT. . Climate changes in the 21st century are expected to significantly increase ocean temperatures and modify other oceanographic conditions in the North Atlantic. Marine biological research suggests that the impacts on the commercially most important fish stocks in the Icelandic-Greenland ecosystem may well be quite substantial. This will obviously lead to a corresponding impact on the economies of these two countries. However, the timing, extent and biological impact of global warming is quite uncertain. As a result the economic impact is similarly uncertain. This paper attempts to provide estimates of the impact of altered fish stocks due to global warming on the Icelandic and Greenland economies. The approach is one of stochastic simulations. This involves essentially three steps. The first is to obtain predictions of the impact of global warming on fish stocks and the associated probability distribution. For this we rely on recent marine biological predictions. The second step is to estimate the role of the fisheries sector in the two economies. This is done with the help of modern econometric techniques based on economic growth theory and historical data. Obviously these estimates are also subject to stochastic errors and uncertainty. The third step is to carry out Monte Carlo simulations on the basis of the above model and the associated uncertainties. The result of the Monte Carlo simulations consists of a set of dynamic paths for GDP over time with an expected value and a probability distribution for each future year. On this basis it is possible to calculate confidence intervals for the most likely path of GDP over time. The results indicate that the fisheries impact of global warming on the Icelandic GDP is more likely to be positive than negative but unlikely to be of significant magnitude compared to historical economic growth rates and fluctuations. The uncertainty of this prediction, however, is large. For Greenland, the impact on fish stocks and the GDP is highly likely to be positive and quite substantial relative to the current GDP. Due to less knowledge of the relationship between the fisheries sector and the Greenland economy, however, the confidence interval of this prediction is even wider than in the case of Iceland. [source] CLUMSY SOLUTIONS FOR A COMPLEX WORLD: THE CASE OF CLIMATE CHANGEPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Issue 4 2006MARCO VERWEIJ Successful solutions to pressing social ills tend to consist of innovative combinations of a limited set of alternative ways of perceiving and resolving the issues. These contending policy perspectives justify, represent and stem from four different ways of organizing social relations: hierarchy, individualism, egalitarianism and fatalism. Each of these perspectives: (1) distils certain elements of experience and wisdom that are missed by the others; (2) provides a clear expression of the way in which a significant portion of the populace feels we should live with one another and with nature; and (3) needs all of the others in order to be sustainable. ,Clumsy solutions', policies that creatively combine all opposing perspectives on what the problems are and how they should be resolved , are therefore called for. We illustrate these claims for the issue of global warming. [source] Front and Back Covers, Volume 26, Number 4.ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY, Issue 4 2010August 2010 Front cover caption, volume 26 issue 4 Front cover THE GAZA FREEDOM FLOTILLA Mohammed Rassas, a second-generation Palestinian, sports a T-shirt declaring his longing for the homeland he has never known. Mohammed's family was forced to leave Palestine long before he was born, with no opportunity for return. Instead, Mohammed has lived most of his life between Saudi Arabia and Greece, which became his second home. For three weeks Mohammed joined dozens of Greek, Arab and Western volunteers in preparing the Greek ship Eleftheri Mesogeios (,Free Mediterranean'), to carry 2000 tons of humanitarian aid, including prefabricated houses and hospital equipment, to Gaza. The ship formed part of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, an international effort by volunteers from 36 countries that aimed to send eight ships to Gaza, carrying 700 passengers and 10,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid, in an attempt to prise open the strict embargo Israel has imposed on the Gaza strip since 2007. The Israeli army attacked the flotilla in international waters, killing eight Turkish nationals and one Turkish-American national, and injuring many more. Flotilla participants were placed behind bars. Intending to propagate their own version of events, the Israeli authorities confiscated audio-visual records made by witnesses. As an ethnographer invited to participate in the flotilla, Nikolas Kosmatopoulos was a witness to the events that took place. His notes are published in the form of a narrative in this issue of ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY. Israel has so far rejected the UN's call for an international independent inquiry. The Turkish government has threatened to cut all ties with Israel unless it apologizes or agrees to such an inquiry. Back cover CLIMATE CHANGE ,There is no planet B': an estimated 100,000 people demonstrate at the Copenhagen Climate talks, 12 December 2009. Since the débâcle of the UN Climate talks in Copenhagen last December, a broad new global coalition of resistance has begun to emerge. It includes the Climate Camp protesters who took direct action against the coal-fired Kingsnorth power station and the fourth runway at Heathrow, the tens of thousands of demonstrators who joined the Wave in London in December and the estimated 100,000 who marched at Copenhagen. They join others who have intimate experience of melting sea ice and Andean glaciers, flooding in Bangladesh and New Orleans and droughts in Africa. In April, in Cochabamba, Bolivia, a conference of 35,000 people, many of them indigenous Americans, began to organize to protect themselves and Mother Earth , Pachamama , to avert catastrophic climate change. This new social movement poses a personal and professional challenge to anthropologists to integrate climate issues and global politics into the discipline and into their lives. [source] A Call to Action for Conserving Biological Diversity in the Face of Climate ChangeCONSERVATION BIOLOGY, Issue 5 2010Malcolm Hunter Jr. No abstract is available for this article. [source] Climate Change and Moving Species: Furthering the Debate on Assisted ColonizationCONSERVATION BIOLOGY, Issue 5 2007MALCOLM L. HUNTER JR No abstract is available for this article. [source] U.S. Security: the Nexus of Oil Importation and Climate ChangeCONSERVATION BIOLOGY, Issue 4 2007Gary Hart No abstract is available for this article. [source] The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Working with Faith Representatives to address Climate Change: The Two Wings of Ethos and EthicsCROSSCURRENTS, Issue 3 2010Natabara Rollosson First page of article [source] Capitalism and Climate Change: Can the Invisible Hand Adjust the Natural Thermostat?DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 6 2009Servaas Storm Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I've tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice. (Robert Frost, ,Fire and Ice', New Hampshire,1923) ABSTRACT Can climate change be stopped while fossil fuel capitalism remains the dominant system? What has to be done and what has to change to avoid the worst-case consequences of global warming? These questions are debated in the six contributions which follow. This introduction to the debate sets the stage and puts the often widely diverging views in context, distinguishing two axes of debate. The first axis (,market vs. regulation') measures faith in the invisible hand to adjust the natural thermostat. The second axis expresses differences in views on the efficiency and equity implications of climate action. While the contributions do differ along these axes, most authors agree that capitalism's institutions need to be drastically reformed and made fundamentally more equitable. This means a much broader agenda for the climate movement (going beyond carbon trading and technocratic discussion of mitigation options). What is needed for climate stability is a systemic transformation based on growth scepticism, a planned transition to a non-fossil fuel economy, democratic reform, climate justice, and changed global knowledge and corporate and financial power structures. [source] Supporting Adaptation to Climate Change: What Role for Official Development Assistance?DEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 6 2009Jessica M. Ayers The formal financial mechanisms for managing adaptation to climate change under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are falling significantly short of meeting needs in the most vulnerable countries. Given the close relationship between development and adaptation, it is tempting to use existing channels of development assistance to fill this gap. However, it is imperative that development assistance is not seen as a substitute for specific adaptation finance. This article therefore attempts to distinguish between the two roles, and considers how development assistance might support and complement adaptation funding and action under the Convention, rather than competing with or substituting it. [source] Religion and Science: What Is at Stake?DIALOG, Issue 3 2007Lynne Lorenzen Abstract:, "Religion and Science: What Is at Stake" looks at the latest information available on global warming from the International Panel on Climate Change and puts it in the context of the current culture war between progressives and conservatives. We worry that the science will become captive to ideological concerns that are theological, economic, and therefore political. The ideological domination of science may make a sustainable response to global warming even more difficult. It is vitally important that Christian theologians learn enough about the science to be articulate and support the scientists in their endeavors to promote our care of the creation. [source] Challenges and recovery actions for the widespread, threatened Grey-headed Flying-fox: A review from a New South Wales policy perspectiveECOLOGICAL MANAGEMENT & RESTORATION, Issue 2009Kylie McClelland Summary The challenges of managing and conserving threatened species that have a widespread distribution operate at several levels and recovery of these species is a complex process. This paper provides an overview of how science is informing the management and conservation of the Grey-headed Flying-fox (Pteropus poliocephalus) in New South Wales. It outlines a series of research projects and activities the Department of Environment and Climate Change (New South Wales) has led or been involved in since the Grey-headed Flying-fox was listed as threatened in New South Wales in May 2001. This includes investigation of the species' distribution and abundance; its roosting and foraging habitat requirements; assessment of horticultural damage and the mitigation techniques used; public attitudes towards the species; and development of policies and plans to guide the species' conservation and management. Conservation gains for threatened species can be achieved through a sustained, focused programme of management, coordinated by dedicated individuals and informed by the available science. Scientists, policy-makers and the general community must continue to strive together for the recovery of widespread, threatened species. [source] Social Capital, Collective Action, and Adaptation to Climate ChangeECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY, Issue 4 2003W. Neil Adger Abstract: Future changes in climate pose significant challenges for society, not the least of which is how best to adapt to observed and potential future impacts of these changes to which the world is already committed. Adaptation is a dynamic social process: the ability of societies to adapt is determined, in part, by the ability to act collectively. This article reviews emerging perspectives on collective action and social capital and argues that insights from these areas inform the nature of adaptive capacity and normative prescriptions of policies of adaptation. Specifically, social capital is increasingly understood within economics to have public and private elements, both of which are based on trust, reputation, and reciprocal action. The public-good aspects of particular forms of social capital are pertinent elements of adaptive capacity in interacting with natural capital and in relation to the performance of institutions that cope with the risks of changes in climate. Case studies are presented of present-day collective action for coping with extremes in weather in coastal areas in Southeast Asia and of community-based coastal management in the Caribbean. These cases demonstrate the importance of social capital framing both the public and private institutions of resource management that build resilience in the face of the risks of changes in climate. These cases illustrate, by analogy, the nature of adaptation processes and collective action in adapting to future changes in climate. [source] Authority through synergism: the roles of climate change linkagesENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND GOVERNANCE, Issue 5 2006Björn-Ola Linnér Abstract This article examines the conceptual basis of synergies between the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and other international organizations and agreements. It discusses why synergies are made, what kinds there are and their potential consequences. Considering actors' divergent goals, synergies do not necessarily imply win,win outcomes. The article distinguishes between positive and negative synergetic effects, which should be explicated at different levels, such as the differing goals of various agreements, institutions, parties and social groups. Efforts of international organizations to increase synergy can be regarded as attempts to build authority. Yet, synergy is also used by countries to influence this process. Current synergetic efforts may profoundly affect the relocation of authority in global environmental governance, not only by streamlining mandates, practices and objectives, but also by leading to more powerful international organizations (e.g. WTO) increasingly taking precedence over climate change agreements. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] Critical issues series: Summaries from climate change presentationsENVIRONMENTAL PROGRESS & SUSTAINABLE ENERGY, Issue 3 2002Article first published online: 20 APR 200 The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) debuted its Critical Issues Series, which is "designed to establish dialogue between and among people and organizations with differing views," at the Spring National Meeting in New Orleans last March. The initial installment was entitled "Energy and a Sustainable Planet," and featured presentations on Climate Change, Alternative Energy Options, and the Viability of Nuclear Power. Below are brief summaries from three other talks given at the session on climate change. You can view a Webcast of these presentations at http://aiche.digiscript.com/. [source] AIChE offers technological insights to the public policy debate on global climate changeENVIRONMENTAL PROGRESS & SUSTAINABLE ENERGY, Issue 3 2000David E. Gushee Global climate change has been a major issue on the national political agenda since 1988. Several Committees on Capitol Hill conducted hearings concerning the heat waves then searing the nation. Testimony by several well-regarded scientists at those hearings that "we ain't seen nothing yet" led to impressive headlines in the national media. Since then, unusually high temperatures, a succession of forecasts of serious negative impacts from the projected continued warming, and well-publicized Congressional hearings led to the creation of the United Nation's Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) and its Kyoto Protocol. As a result, climate change is on just about every technology organization's agenda. In 1996, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers joined the list of organizations formally responding to the issue. The Government Relations Committee (GRC) formed a Task Force on Climate Change, made up of Institute members active in a number of aspects of the issue area. The charge to the Task Force: Look for opportunities for the Institute to contribute to the public policy debate on the issue and frame position papers accordingly. The first major conclusion of the Task Force was that AIChE is not in a position to state whether or not global climate change is a real public policy problem. However, to the extent that the public policy process treats climate change as an issue, the Institute is well positioned to comment on the technical merits of proposed policy responses. The Task Force recommended this posture to the GRC, which agreed. [source] Emissions of greenhouse gases attributable to the activities of the land transport: modelling and analysis using I-CIR stochastic diffusion,the case of SpainENVIRONMETRICS, Issue 2 2008R. Gutiérrez Abstract In this study, carried out on the basis of the conclusions and methodological recommendations of the Fourth Assessment Report (2007) of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), we consider the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG), and particularly those of CO2, attributable to the activities of land transport, for all sectors of the economy, as these constitute a significant proportion of total GHG emissions. In particular, the case of Spain is an example of a worrying situation in this respect, both in itself and in the context of the European Union. To analyse the evolution, in this case, of such emissions, to enable medium-term forecasts to be made and to obtain a model that will enable us to analyse the effects of possible corrector mechanisms, we have statistically fitted a inverse Cox-Ingersoll-Ross (I-CIR) type nonlinear stochastic diffusion process, on the basis of the real data measured for the period 1990,2004, during which the Kyoto protocol has been applicable. We have studied the evolution of the trend of these emissions using estimated trend functions, for which purpose probabilistic complements such as trend functions and stationary distribution are incorporated, and a statistical methodology (estimation and asymptotic inference) for this diffusion, these tools being necessary for the application of the analytical methodology proposed. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Drought changes phosphorus and potassium accumulation patterns in an evergreen Mediterranean forestFUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY, Issue 2 2007J. SARDANS Summary 1Climate models predict more extreme weather in Mediterranean ecosystems, with more frequent drought periods and torrential rainfall. These expected changes may affect major process in ecosystems such as mineral cycling. However, there is a lack of experimental data regarding the effects of prolonged drought on nutrient cycling and content in Mediterranean ecosystems. 2A 6-year drought manipulation experiment was conducted in a Quercus ilex Mediterranean forest. The aim was to investigate the effects of drought conditions expected to occur over the coming decades, on the contents and concentrations of phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) in stand biomass, and P and K content and availability in soils. 3Drought (an average reduction of 15% in soil moisture) increased P leaf concentration by 18·2% and reduced P wood and root concentrations (30·9% and 39·8%, respectively) in the dominant tree species Quercus ilex, suggesting a process of mobilization of P from wood towards leaves. The decrease in P wood concentrations in Quercus ilex, together with a decrease in forest biomass growth, led to an overall decrease (by approximately one-third) of the total P content in above-ground biomass. In control plots, the total P content in the above-ground biomass increased 54 kg ha,1 from 1999 to 2005, whereas in drought plots there was no increase in P levels in above-ground biomass. Drought had no effects on either K above-ground contents or concentrations. 4Drought increased total soil soluble P by increasing soil soluble organic P, which is the soil soluble P not directly available to plant capture. Drought reduced the ratio of soil soluble inorganic P : soil soluble organic P by 50% showing a decrease of inorganic P release from P bound to organic matter. Drought increased by 10% the total K content in the soil, but reduced the soil soluble K by 20·4%. 5Drought led to diminished plant uptake of mineral nutrients and to greater recalcitrance of minerals in soil. This will lead to a reduction in P and K in the ecosystem, due to losses in P and K through leaching and erosion, if the heavy rainfalls predicted by IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) models occur. As P is currently a limiting factor in many Mediterranean terrestrial ecosystems, and given that P and K are necessary for high water-use efficiency and stomata control, the negative effects of drought on P and K content in the ecosystem may well have additional indirect negative effects on plant fitness. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||