Climate Change

Fellow

Chris Field

2014 Fellow
Chris (he/him) is an Analyst in Natural Resources Policy with the Congressional Research Service. He has worked at the interface of science and policy for over 15 years as a practitioner, researcher, and educator. Before joining the...
Fellow Story

Hansen partners with WVU law school to analyze new EPA clean power plan

The Center for Energy and Sustainable Development at the West Virginia University College of Law will be analyzing the Environmental Protection Agency’s new plan to cut carbon pollution from power plants. Teaming up with Downstream Strategies, a Morgantown-based environmental consulting firm, the Center will be working on a project titled “Carbon Dioxide Emission Reduction Opportunities for the West Virginia Power Sector.” They will explore the various strategies available to West Virginia to comply with the EPA’s Clean Power Plan Proposed Rule. ...
June 11, 2014
Fellow Story

Wolf says new IPCC reports reveal terrifying climate threat to biodiversity

They're on the move, scrambling on paws and wings to find refuge from a planetary catastrophe. No, I'm not talking about the computer-generated birds and beasts fleeing the flood in the blockbuster movie Noah. As a scientist, I see many wonderful wildlife species in the real world -- from sea turtles whose nesting beaches are being flooded by rising seas to polar bears dying as sea ice vanishes -- struggling to survive man-made climate change.
April 21, 2014
Fellow Story

Sims Gallagher says clean coal not only solution in China

Other sources of energy, like renewable and nuclear power and natural gas, will be necessary for China all the same if the country hopes to control its carbon dioxide emissions. Clean coal "needs inevitably to be part of the solution in China, but it’s not the only solution. Far from it." said Gallagher, who just published a book on energy technology in China. Different kinds of power can serve different purposes, and it's impossible to predict which technologies will develop most successfully. ...
April 14, 2014
Fellow Story

Levin says Shell seems to be on positive path to reducing carbon emissions

Kelly Levin, a senior research associate at the World Resources Institute in Washington, who has researched the implications of the IPCC’s carbon budget, told Mashable that Shell’s decision, along with the other companies that signed the [Trillion Tonne Communiqué], is a positive sign.
April 14, 2014
Fellow Story

Rogers launches campaign to alleviate poverty to conserve rainforests

Amy Rogers has launched a crowdfunding campaign to support Forest for a Living, which seeks to pilot the first cost-efficient solution to deforestation and farmer exploitation in the tropics.
April 10, 2014
Fellow Story

Quist now with European Environment Agency

David Quist (2003) is now with the European Environment Agency, an agency of the European Union, working on natural resource use and emerging technologies for the EU's transition to a greener economy. Visit David Quist's LinkedIn profile or Twitter feed for more information
April 9, 2014
Fellow Story

Wisland asks which electricity source will best weather the drought in California?

Even though renewables (not counting small hydro) averaged 12 percent of the in-state power mix between 2001 and 2012, compared to hydropower that generation did not vary unpredictably from year to year. That predictability is very valuable to your electric utility, which needs to plan ahead and unfortunately can’t forecast the water year. Read more
April 9, 2014
Fellow Story

Uhl leads campaign against methane leaks that leads to White House action

The Obama administration on Friday announced a strategy to start slashing emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas released by landfills, cattle, and leaks from oil and natural gas production.
April 9, 2014
Fellow Story

Takahashi-Kelso quoted on inadequacy of oil spill responses

In a phone interview with The Huffington Post, Dennis Takahashi-Kelso, the Ocean Conservancy's executive vice president, said both Exxon and BP were reminders that plans for dealing with spills are meaningless if companies can't actually execute cleanup. Takahashi-Kelso was the Alaska Commissioner of Environmental Conservation during the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and says that the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 was a "very substantial improvement." But companies still struggle with execution of the response plans when a spill does happen.
April 1, 2014