Climate Change

Rank #1: Paris COP 21: reaction and analysis.
Alyssa Gilbert and Ajay Gambhir are two experts from Imperial's Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Envrionment who were in Paris observing the talks. Here they give their reaction and thoughts going forward.

Rank #2: Paris COP 21 Climate Talks: Reactions and analysis.
Alyssa Gilbert and Ajay Gambhir from Imperial's Grantham Institute for Climate and the Environment react to the new deal brokered at the COP 21 UN Climate summit in Paris

Climate Change

Climate Change

Rank #1: Freeman Dyson speaks with e360.
Freeman Dyson, Princeton physicist, has been roundly criticized for insisting global warming is not an urgent problem. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Dyson explains his iconoclastic views and why he believes they have stirred such controversy.

Rank #2: Calculating the Costs of Climate Change.
A national policy to cut carbon emissions by as much as 40 percent over the next 20 years could still result in increased economic growth, according to an interactive website that reviews 25 of the leading economic models being used to predict the economic impacts of reducing emissions.

Coping with Climate Change: Life After Copenhagen

Coping with Climate Change: Life After Copenhagen

Rank #1: 7. The Political Environment of International Climate Negotiation (March 4, 2010).
Michael Wara, Stanford Law Professor, discusses the international negotiation of climate change, the agreement that emerged from Copenhagen, the likely results, and the dynamics this will create in the US government approach to sustainability. (March 4, 2010)

Rank #2: 6. The General Public: Why Such Resistance? (February 25, 2010).
Ben Santer, a research scientist from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, discusses the recent problems with the use of the freedom of information act for non-US citizens to demand complete records. (February 25, 2010)

Environment

Exploring key scientific and political environmental issues facing us today.

Rank #1: What Future for Life on Earth.

Rank #2: Future Directions in Conservation Sciences.

Climate Change (Audio)

Climate change is here; it's happening. Find out what that means, why scientists are so sure and what we need to do now.

Rank #1: Brandi McKuin Merced: U.S. Tuna Fisheries: A Trifecta of Sustainable Practices at Odds with Climate Mitigation .
Brandi McKuin, Merced: U.S. Tuna Fisheries: A Trifecta of Sustainable Practices at Odds with Climate Mitigation Series: "Women in Science" [Science] [Show ID: 31066]

Rank #2: Center for Climate Change Impacts and Adaptations.
As humankind faces massive changes in weather patterns, sea level, ocean acidity, and oxygen levels, Scripps Oceanography has launched a new center focused on understanding and adapting to the impacts of climate change. Mark Merrifield, Director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Center for Climate Change Impacts and Adaptations explains how the members of this dynamic network will develop strategies for climate change adaptation. Series: "Jeffrey B. Graham Perspectives on Ocean Science Lecture Series" [Science] [Show ID: 33720]

Energy policy and climate change - for iPod/iPhone

The 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen presents a new focus for international debate and decisions about energy and its use. What are the countries of Western Europe and Scandinavia doing to promote sustainable energy production? Just how different will the future energy map of Europe look? And is energy policy principally a scientific issue or a political one? This album contains a series of films exploring energy policy in various countries around Europe in 2006, framed by audio pieces recorded by Open University academic Godfrey Boyle in the run up to the Copenhagen Conference. He highlights the central issues that the conference aims to address, and gives an update on how European energy policies have changed since the films were made. This material forms part of The Open University course T206 Energy for a sustainable future.

Rank #1: The German model.
How, Germany has been investing significantly in renewable energy, and particularly in creating an industrial model for manufacturing and maintaining renewable energy products

Rank #2: Capturing carbon.
How carbon capture technology offers the possibility of reducing the damage caused by burning fossil fuels

Climate Change (Video)

Climate change is here; it's happening. Find out what that means, why scientists are so sure and what we need to do now.

Rank #1: (Re)active Resilience: How to Thrive in a Changing Climate.
Drawing on personal experiences of living with the Maasai tribe in east Africa and the Inuit of Greenland – whose cultures and resilience derive from living in constantly changing environments - Jacqueline McGlade explores how mind-sets, economies and ecosystems can become (re)active and more resilient to an increasingly uncertain world. McGlade has pioneered research in the dynamics of ecosystems, citizen science and social and environmental informatics. Series: "Bren School of Environmental Science & Management" [Science] [Show ID: 33663]

Rank #2: California Accomplishments in Addressing Climate Change featuring Robert Epstein.
California reached its goal of reducing emissions to 1990 levels four years ahead of the 2020 target date. Robert Epstein, co-founder of Environmental Entrepreneurs, takes a look at what is and is not working as we plan for an additional 40% reduction by 2030. He also examines California's role in reducing worldwide emissions in both developing and developed countries. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Science] [Show ID: 34463]

The ClimateReady Podcast: Adapting to Climate Change & Uncertainty

New to the podcast universe, the ClimateReady Podcast features interviews and segments on emerging trends in the intersection of climate change and water. International experts in policy, engineering, finance, and other sectors will provide cutting-edge perspectives on climate adaptation advances, challenges, and stories. This podcast is a product of the Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA).

Rank #1: Are We Tapped Out? How Urban Water Utilities Are Adapting to New Impacts.
Billions of people worldwide depend on municipal water utilities to deliver clean drinking water and treat their waste. There’s a reason that the word “utility” in English means both an agency or business that provides public services and something that performs consistently, even automatically. What happens when the utility of a utility is under threat? Water utilities are arguably what makes modern cities possible, supplying clean water, treating sewage and industrial waste, securing urban areas as centers of economic growth rather than as cesspools of ill health and disease. Consider Cape Town, South Africa. A city often compared with San Francisco in the US for its optimism, culture, and lifestyle. Cape Town is about a month away from day zero -- the term they use for when their reservoir will absolutely run out of water. In this episode of ClimateReady, we talk to civil engineer Divindy Grant to learn about a project led by Mott MacDonald (www.mottmac.com) to develop resilience standards for water utilities. Tune in to hear more about the ways in which these water service providers are working to ensure that taps continue to flow and toilets continue to flush even as floods, droughts, and sea level rise become more commonplace.

Rank #2: A High Probability of Uncertainty: How Do We Plan with Unknowns?.
Nobody has data from the future - it hasn’t happened yet. But for centuries we’ve assumed that the past can predict the future. What if it can’t anymore? Will engineers and planners become consumed by inaction and climate uncertainty?Climate Risk Informed Decision Analysis (CRIDA) is a new five-step water resources planning framework that helps address deep uncertainties associated with climatic, demographic and land-use change. CRIDA tackles the hardest part of climate adaptation: those times we need a hard number as engineers and economists, especially in parts of the world where may not have access to much data.In this episode of ClimateReady, we are joined by three of the lead authors behind the recently-released publication. Drs. Guillermo Mendoza, Ad Jeuken, and John Matthews each lend their perspectives on how an engineer, a climate scientist, and an ecologist (respectively) came together to create a new vision of resilience in water management planning and decision making.The CRIDA publication and additional resources are available at http://agwaguide.org/CRIDA. The guidebook is a co-publication of UNESCO IHP and the Integrated Center for International Water Resources Management (ICIWaRM), a UNESCO center in the United States.

Climate Change

How is climate change affecting plants and animals? How is climate change affecting national parks? What are indicators of climate change and how are these indicators measured? Tune in to this collection for the answers to these questions and more.

Rank #1: Climate Change's Impact on the California Coast - Part 2.
Natural Laboratory: Global warming is discussed in terms of how it is affecting marine species off the coast of California. Topics including geographic shifts of species, ocean acidification, and dead zones are emphasized.

Rank #2: Ocean Acidification: Where Will All the Seashells Go?.
Natural Laboratory: Due to higher carbon dioxide output, the oceans have become increasingly acidic. How is this acidity affecting marine organisms with shells? Tune in to find out.

Under the Microscope

Cambridge University's Under the Microscope is a collection of videos that capture glimpses of the natural and man-made world in stunning close-up and convey the excitement of cutting-edge science in areas that range from beetle eyes to killer T-cells, from nano-wires to fish skeletons. Logo image by Fernan Federici in the Haseloff Lab.

Rank #1: Mouse tail skin.
Here we can see the underside of mouse tail skin.Claire Cox:"The epidermis, which is the outer layer of mammalian skin, is maintained by numerous stem cell populations. The identification of the factors involved in controlling these populations and thus epidermal maintenance is highly valuable. Not only will it provide information as to how a complex tissue is organised and controlled, the principles that are learnt can be applied to other tissues. Through the work that I am completing, I hope that I can also gain a perspective as to what goes wrong in disease processes such as skin cancer. Skin cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers in the world, and understanding what goes wrong and the factors involved could potentially lead to new ideas as to prevention and treatment."The image is 700µm in width - this is about the size of the full stop in this sentence. About 5000 cells would fit on the surface of a full stop.Many thanks to:Dr Michaela Frye, Frye Lab members, Peter Humphreys, Margaret McLeish.More info:Wellcome Trust Centre For Stem Cell Researchhttp://www.cscr.cam.ac.ukDepartment of Physiology Development and Neuroscience http://www.pdn.cam.ac.uk/Claire Cox's profile:http://www.cscr.cam.ac.uk/research/researchers-by-group/frye-lab/claire-coxGraduate School of Life Sciences and its annual Poster and Image Competitionshttp://www.biomed.cam.ac.uk/gradschool/comp/2011/index.htmlMusic by Peter Nickalls:http://www.peternickalls.comFind more Cambridge research here:http://www.cam.ac.uk/research

Rank #2: Fly brain and gut.
PhD student Paola Cognigni shows us this beautiful image of a fruit fly’s brain and gut.Paola Cognigni:“This video shows the anatomical and functional connection between the brain and the gut in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. This work is carried out in Dr Irene Miguel-Aliaga's lab in the Department of Zoology as part of a research project that aims to find and explain the interactions between internal organs and their importance in growth and health.”The brain is about 700 microns wide (the entire image is something like1600 microns across): about the size of a pencil tip.The image was taken in the Zoology Dept Imaging Facility on a Leica SP5 confocal system.More info and images:http://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/zoostaff/miguel-aliaga/main.htmlMusic by Intercontinental Music Labhttp://www.intercontinentalmusiclab.com

4 Degrees and Beyond International Climate Conference

Podcasts from the 4 Degrees and Beyond Conference - Implications of a Global Climate Change of 4 plus Degrees for People, Ecosystems and the Earth System. The conference was co-hosted by the Environmental Change Institute, the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and the Met Office Hadley Centre and took place in Oxford on 28-30 September 2009.

Rank #1: Introduction to the 4 Degrees and Beyond Conference .
Mark New, Reader in Climate Science at the School of Geography and the Environment, introduces the 4 Degrees and Beyond conference, its main themes and why it was important.

Rank #2: Greenhouse gas contributions and mitigation potential of agriculture .
Third presentation of session 10 (Avoiding large climate change 2) from the 4 Degrees international climate conference: Greenhouse gas contributions and mitigation potential of agriculture: creating incentives within the existing carbon trading agreements

Climate Conversations: A Climate Change Podcast

Climate Conversations is the weekly climate change podcast from MIT Climate, an online community connecting questions to answers, research to solutions, and knowledge to action.You can also find us on iTunes at http://bit.ly/ClimateConversations

Rank #1: S2E3 How will Human Beings Adapt to a Changing Climate?.
How well have humans adapted to the current climate, and how will we adapt to new climate complexities? This week, the Climate Conversations team is joined by climate research scientist Nick Obradovich, who discusses the many ways the climate affects us in our day-to-day lives, including the way we sleep and exercise. Nick explains how he uses data science to look at climate and behavior, such as social media indications of how people’s mood changes with weather. We discuss climate change as a human cooperation challenge, and explore how developing countries will struggle to adapt to climate change: is it time to pay reparations to these countries?

Rank #2: S1E5 Teaching Kids about Climate Change.
This week the Climate Conversations team are joined by the founder of ClimateCurriculum.com and Science Teacher at Boston Latin School, Timothy Gay, whose goal is to get schools across the country teaching students about climate change. We discuss the challenges associated with bringing climate change into the science curriculum, and how Timothy’s students have taken up the mantle of climate activism. Timothy highlights some of the practical and hands on climate research activities that his students engage in, with a focus on climate solutions at a local level, and tells us about the future of his Climate Curriculum project. Join the conversation at climatex.mit.edu/

International Development

Talks and panel debates focusing on international development issues, featuring many prominent academics and practitioners. From Cambridge University International Development.

Rank #1: International Development: A Historical Perspective from Cambridge.
The Keynote Address for the special 800th Anniversary Edition Launch of Vision, CUiD's termly magazine. Professor Hart is the author of 'Memory Bank' and former head of the Department of African Studies in Cambridge.

Rank #2: The Development of Institutions and the Institutions of Development.
A talk by Professor Kunal Sen, the Manchester Academic on the role of Institutions in International Development.

Climate Change Unfolding

Trying to be part of the solution not part of the problem. A podcast following the difficulties of having a modern family, business and trying to leave the world in a better state than we got it. Genuine advice and experience for those who strive to lead a sustainable life.

Rank #1: Engaging The Masses (Part 1) - Fuelling The Fire.
Engaging The Masses (Part 1) - Fuelling The Fire by Climate Change Unfolding

Rank #2: Engaging the Masses (Part 2) - Changing The Culture.
The second part of a multi-episode series on engaging the masses in sustainability and climate change. This time Sam talks on changing the culture! How does the culture change? How do ideas spread out through the culture? How do we create an environment where people, businesses and politicians are pulled towards environmental action? Discussions around these points and more in this episode. Stand by for Part 3 on powerful empathy.