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The purpose of the Rutgers University Climate and Environmental Change Initiative is to study the causes of climate change, its effects on our society and environment and to inform society about those impacts.
SAVE THE DATE: March 28, 2012 - Extreme Weather and Climate Change: How Can We Address Uncertainty 1:30 Cook Campus Center A colloquium co-sponsored by the Initiative on Climate and Society and Climate and Environmental Change Initiative on communicating the links between extreme weather events and climate change. Panelists will include: Dr. Gabriel Vecchi (Research Oceanographer, NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory); Dr. Baruch Fischhoff (Howard Heinz Professor of Social and Decision Sciences and Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University); Joe Witte (George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication , broadcast meteorologist and formerly Chief Meteorologist NBC TV Network); and Dr. Richard Moss (Senior Staff Scientist with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Joint Global change Research Instititute, University of Maryland).
2011-2012 Energy Innovation Contest. The Rutgers Energy Institute is calling on individuals or teams of undergraduate students to develop the best innovative plans to reduce student energy consumption and promote eco-friendly practices throughout the New Brunswick Campus. The Rutgers Energy Institute will offer three awards: $2,500 for first place, $1,500 for second place, and $1,000 for third place. Register for the competition by sending an email indicating intent to submit an entry to Beatrice Birrer at bea@marine.rutgers.edu no later than February 27, 2012. Proposals must be submitted on or before April 2, 2012. Click here to read more about the REI contest.
December 21, 2011. Dr. Inga LaPuma, a Climate and Environmental Change Initiative Greenberg Fellow, presents results of her research "Fire in the Pines: A Landscape Perspective of Human-Induced Ecological Change in the Pinelands of New Jersey" to the NJ Pinelands Commission staff. Dr. LaPuma's research predicts that increasing CO2 and temperature accelerates the loss of pine cover in favor of oak-dominated systems.
December 16, 2011. Scientists examine the stability of warming permafrost in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions in an effort to better understand the net effect of carbon release into the atmosphere including recently discovered methane plumes from thermokarst lakes. See "As Permafrost Thaws, Scientists Study Risks."
December 11, 2011. “Climate Talks in Durban Yield Limited Agreement”. After heated discussions and disagreements, the 17th conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Durban, South Africa concluded Sunday December 11, 2011. The delegates agreed to continuation of the Kyoto protocol, the promise to work toward a new global treaty in coming years and the establishment of a new climate fund. While no concrete deal was agreed upon, the future treaty is to work towards a new agreement as soon as possible but no later than 2015 that treats all countries equally, advanced or developing, with the intent of it being legally binding. The delegates also agreed on the creation of the Green Climate Fund to help poor countries adapt to climate change and to measures involving the preservation of tropical forests and the development of clean-energy technology. The precise sources of money for the fund and the terms of any agreement that replaces the 1997 Kyoto Protocol will be negotiated at future sessions. Observers and delegates said that the actions taken at the meeting, while sufficient to keep the negotiating process alive, would not have a significant impact on climate change.
December 5, 2011. CLIMATE CHANGE: The latest on ice melt at the Third Pole. A peer-reviewed study done by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) reveals that the people of the Hindu Kush Himalayan region could soon experience the damaging effects of climate change. The Tsho Rolpa glacial lake of Nepal is undergoing a phenomenon known as glacial lake outburst floods, expanding at a rate of 60 meters/yr, posing a potential threat to hundreds of thousands of people.
December 5, 2011. UN study reveals impact of climate change in livelihoods in Sahel and West Africa. A recent United Nations report released at the UN conference in Durban, South Africa provides new evidence revealing that changing climatic conditions are having an impact on the natural resource availability and citizen livelihood in several hotspots in the West African region.
December 4, 2011. Carbon emissions show biggest jump ever recorded according to the 2010 analysis presented in the Global Carbon Project's annual report despite the economic downturn. Compared to a 7 percent drop in 2009, US emissions rose by a little more than 4 percent in 2010. The US is the world's second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, emitting 1.5 billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere in 2010. China, the top emitter, saw a 10.4 percent rise in its greenhouse gas emssions (2.2 billion tons of carbon in 2010).
November 30, 2011. Kean Takes Issue With Climate-Change Deniers: Global warming conference paints grim picture of NJ's future -- including shifting weather patterns, coastal flooding, violent storms, and rising smog levels. In addition to former New Jersey Governor Kean, former Governor James Florio, Rutgers Climate and Environmental Change Initiative Director Professor Anthony Broccoli and associated faculty Professor Robin Leichenko note the impacts of climate change to New Jersey's environment and economy. Read more coverage of the conference at http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/science-updates/global-warming-experts-paint-a-bleak-picture-of-new-jerseys-future
November 29, 2011. Preparing New Jersey for Climate Change: A Workshop for Decision Makers was co-hosted by Rutgers University Climate and Environmental Change Initiative and the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy in partnership with Clean Air Cool-Planet with support from PSEG.
November 2011. Congratulations to Tony Broccoli, Professor, Rutgers Department of Environmental Sciences and Director of the Climate and Environmental Change Initiative for his election to the rank of AAAS Fellow. Dr. Broccoli is being honored for his distinguished contributions to the understanding and modeling of past climate change, and to communicating climate science. The award will be conferred in Vancouver, British Columbia on February 18, 2012 during the AAAS Fellows Forum at the association's annual meeting.
RUTGERS CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE RELATED EVENTS
January 26, 2012 Dr. Stuart Pimm, Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology, Nicholas School of the Environment- Duke University. Biodiversity: the most beautiful carbon. 4:00PM in the Alampi Room of the Marine and Coastal Sciences Building on Cook Campus. (Refreshments are served at 3:30 p.m.)
January 27, 2012 Douglas Alsdorf, Associate Professor, Ohio State University, Earth and Planetary Sciences, will speak on New Remote Sensing Technologies for Mointoring Surface Water Resources. Seminar is at 3:00 pm, Room B115 Lucy Stone Hall on the Livingston Campus. Refreshments to follow. Click here to follow the Geography Department's events.
February 3, 2012 Dr. Nadine Unger, Assistant Professor, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University. Historical cropland expansion effects on the short-lived climate forcers. 2:30 PM in ENRS Building, Room 223 on the G.H. Cook Campus. (Refreshments are served at 2:15 pm).
February 10, 2012 Bethany Bradley, Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Conservation, University of Massachusetts, will speak on Predicting Plant Invasions Under a Changing Climate. Seminar is at 3:00 pm, Room B115 Lucy Stone Hall on the Livingston Campus. Refreshments to follow. Click here to follow the Geography Department's events.
March 28, 2012 - Extreme Weather and Climate Change: How Can We Address Uncertainty. A colloquium co-sponsored by the Initiative on Climate and Society and Climate and Environmental Change Initiative on communicating the links between extreme weather events and climate change. Panelists will include: Dr. Gabriel Vecchi (Research Oceanographer, NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory); Dr. Baruch Fischhoff (Howard Heinz Professor of Social and Decision Sciences and Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University); Joe Witte (George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication , broadcast meteorologist and formerly Chief Meteorologist NBC TV Network); and Dr. Richard Moss (Senior Staff Scientist with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Joint Global change Research Instititute, University of Maryland). 1:30-4:30 Cook Campus Center.