Climate Change

On this Switzer Network News report, we learn about the intersection between global climate change and agriculture, why current "solutions" are inadequate and where we need to go next globally.

On my first major research cruise, the ship was hit by a hurricane. On the second, the weather was even worse. In one particularly nasty storm, I remember standing braced on the ship’s bridge late at night, watching bolts of lightning light up the world. Each one revealed waves taller than the ship extending to the horizon in every direction. We bobbed haplessly among them. At a time like that, it’s hard not to feel philosophical about the power of nature.

Tim Greiner of Pure Strategies talked about how supplier scorecards with questions about energy can help companies track energy consumption and energy performance as energy reduction metrics.

If you want to know what climate change will bring to the Earth’s aridlands, look to the North American Southwest. Better yet, talk to landscape ecologist Craig Allen, who has been working to understand and conserve New Mexico’s Jemez Mountains for 30-plus years, and who is featured in A Great Aridness, William deBuys’ well-researched new book on the region’s ongoing transformation. Read the full review

To see how thoroughly the concept of ecosystem services — the economic analysis of the natural world’s intersection with human endeavors — is embedded in climate change research, check out this forecast from a group led by researchers at Duke University and the Environmental Defense Fund.

Ecosystem services play a crucial role in sustaining human well-being and economic viability. People benefit substantially from the delivery of ecosystem services, for which substitutes usually are costly or unavailable. Climate change will substantially alter or eliminate certain ecosystem services in the future. To better understand the consequences of climate change and to develop effective means of adapting to them, it is critical that we improve our understanding of the links between climate, ecosystem service production, and the economy.

When you talk to climate scientists about winners and losers, a few words come up over and over again: could, might, maybe. According to University of Arizona environmental economist Derek Lemoine, local climate-change patterns are difficult to predict because uncertainties in the global model “are compounded when considering smaller scales.” Read the full story

Amber Pairis, Climate Change Adviser of the State of California Department of Fish and Game, said the release of the public draft of the NFWPCAS is a major milestone for natural resources adaptation and clearly illustrates how state, federal, and tribal entities are working together to create a collective vision for how they respond.

Despite this year’s unusually warm and dry January, winter in the Bay Area is often cold and wet, and that means higher heating bills. “Many Oakland homeowners are thinking about heating bills again, and how drafty their homes are,” said the City of Oakland’s sustainability coordinator Garrett Fitzgerald. “This is a great time to go ahead and make those improvements that will make their homes more comfortable and more affordable.”