Nuclear power satisfies nearly 20% of the nation’s energy needs, and as much as half for states including New Jersey, South Carolina, Illinois and Connecticut. Its carbon-free nature, and safety record compared with coal – which kills millions of people each year – has earned nuclear power a long second look. Leading climate scientists including James Hanson, Kerry Emanuel and Michael Mann have taken strong public stands on its behalf.
Urban centers have been warming at double the global rate the last half-century. High daily temperatures are associated with increased mortality. Sustained increases in temperatures projected under most climate models represent a significant public health problem that may increase weather-related mortality in the United States. In a first of its kind study, Stone et al., (2014) modeled how local climate action plans that integrate land-based mitigation strategies through albedo and vegetation enhancement can mitigate future increases in heat-related mortality…
Transportation sector greenhouse gas reductions do more than save energy: greener public transportation alternatives can reduce traffic congestion, lessen US dependence on foreign oil and make the US more economically competitive. In addition to these benefits, policies that reduce GHG emissions by encouraging more active modes of transportation can have additional…
As part of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), China is experimenting with policies new to its domestic context for climate change mitigation, including carbon intensity targets and, most recently, an emissions trading system on a pilot scale. This presentation discusses how climate policy is developed in China, focusing on the major institutions and stakeholders involved. China’s climate change policy decisions are then discussed in the context of the country’s ongoing economic development and reform program.
Professor Hideaki Shiroyama, Graduate School of Public Policy at The University of Tokyo (Todai), will be visiting Yale on Friday, February 28, 2014, and will give a Special Lecture in the YCEI series on Interdisciplinary Topics in Energy. The lecture will discuss failures of regulatory policy and nuclear safety in Japan, along with proposals for reform, in light of the accident at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, which was caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake and the resulting tsunami on March 11, 2011.
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Since 1993, Pace University’s Land Use Law Center has fostered development of sustainable communities by promoting innovative land use strategies and techniques for dispute resolution. This year’s 13th annual Land Use and Sustainable Development Conference includes discussions involving local control of what many experts see as the inevitable development of New York State’s gas shale resources.
Rit Aggarwala is the former director of long-term planning and sustainability for New York City and currently special advisor to Michael Bloomberg in his role as chair of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group.
Tracey Osborne is Assistant Professor in the School of Geography and Development and Director of the Public Political Ecology Lab at the University of Arizona. Her research investigates the political ecology of environmental markets, particularly carbon markets, and their implications for the lives and livelihoods of forest communities in the Global South. Specifically, she explores the intersection of carbon markets, development, and agrarian change as they relate to forestry-based carbon initiatives in Mexico.
Radley Horton from Columbia University Earth Institute will speak on climate projections for New York City. The $20 billion Special Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency (SIRR) Plan for New York is grounded upon climate risk information provided by the New York City Panel on Climate Change (NPCC). This expert panel, tasked with advising the City on climate-related issues, completed a ‘rapid response’ climate assessment with updated climate projections.