Climate Change

It can be hard to escape the buzz of the activity around energy access initiatives that have been launched by a variety of stakeholders in India. However, this hype often muddles the real story of how entrepreneurs and enterprises are succeeding or failing to distribute energy technologies across this vast country. The space for business innovation in the sector is promising, with a large market of unelectrified people (over 300 million) and government targets aimed at boosting solar technologies and achieving universal electricity access by 2019.

Climate change is the keystone environmental problem of our times. While most proposed solutions emphasize reducing carbon emissions from fossil fuel combustion, measures that protect our remaining wildlands are also a means to combat and adapt to climate change. The designation of Mojave Trails, Castle Mountains, and Sand to Snow National Monuments in the California desert is an important mechanism for the United States to help fulfill its promise as a global leader on climate change.

The global climate agreement reached in Paris late in 2015, which sets specific targets nations will aim for in limiting emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse, was widely and justly regarded as a diplomatic triumph.

We scientists are the gatekeepers of the basic information that fuels decision making by nations, businesses and communities. As these public entities are more and more threatened by the advancing impacts of climate warming, from flooding, to water scarcity, to the spread of tropical diseases, our role as objective scientists has to change. We are so skilled at many, many detailed and quantitative tasks, but, as you would expect from a community of introverts, we are not great at shining that brilliant light back on ourselves.

In theory, local urban leadership on climate adaptation could significantly reduce the vulnerability of those who need the greatest protection. More people live in cities than ever, providing an opportunity to concentrate climate investments. In reality, most adaptation proposals try to protect existing development in coastal and low-lying urban areas in ways that perpetuate continued growth in these exposed areas. The fact is, there are winners and losers in urban climate adaptation projects, and it is the poorest and most marginalized who (as always) tend to lose.

“We need to convert more crop production to organic and ecological,” says Kendra Klein, staff scientist and agro-ecology expert at Friends of the Earth, an environmental organization. “And really the most important thing is reducing meat consumption.” Read more

Subnational governments—cities, counties, and states in the U.S. and around the world—have an essential role to play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and implementing integrative approaches to adaption. Leading up to the Paris climate talks, California Governor Jerry Brown, in partnership with the German state of Baden-Württemberg, gathered commitments from cities and regions to take specific actions toward aggressive emissions reductions, using a multitude of best practices that have been shared across the world.

Fellow Daniel Swain's research focuses on the causes of persistent patterns in the atmosphere—like the ones that cause drought or exceptional rain in California—and how climate change might be affecting them. In his spare time, the 25-year-old Marin native runs the California Weather Blog (weatherwest.com), a must-read for weather nerds where he comments on statewide weather patterns and their big-picture causes. He’s also the one who gave the name “Ridiculously Resilient Ridge” to the pattern that’s being blamed for our three years of drought.

Subnational governments—cities, counties, and states in the U.S. and around the world—have an essential role to play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and implementing integrative approaches to adaptation.