Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Coastal Lagoons And Climate Change: Ecological And Social Ramifications In The U.S. Atlantic And Gulf Coast Ecosystems, Abigail Anthony, Joshua Atwood, Peter V. August, Carrie Byron, Stanley Cobb, Cheryl Foster, Crystal Fry, Arthur Gold, Kifle Hagos, Leanna Heffner, D. Q. Kellogg, Kimberly Lellis-Dibble, James J. Opaluch, Candace A. Oviatt, Anna Pfeiffer-Herbert, Nicole Rohr, Leslie Smith, Tiffany Smythe, Judith Swift, Nathan Vinhateiro

Arthur Gold

Lagoons are highly productive coastal features that provide a range of natural services that society values. Their setting within the coastal landscape leaves them especially vulnerable to profound physical, ecological, and associated societal disturbance from global climate change. Expected shifts in physical and ecological characteristics range from changes in flushing regime, freshwater inputs, and water chemistry to complete inundation and loss and the concomitant loss of natural and human communities. Therefore, managing coastal lagoons in the context of global climate change is critical. Although management approaches will vary depending on local conditions and cultural norms, all management scenarios will need …

Towards A Resilient Sydney: Research Into The Role Of Emergency Management In Climate Change Adaptation (Research Summary), Neil Dufty, Tim Morrison

Neil Dufty

No abstract provided.

Sea No Evil, Hear No Evil - Community Engagement On Adaptation To Sea Level Change, Neil Dufty, Heather Stevens, Stuart Waters, Greg Giles

Neil Dufty

No abstract provided.

Appropriate Climate Change Solutions: Towards Sustainable Bioenergy Agro-Production In Africa For Energy Equality And Poverty Alleviation, Ian Duvenage, Ros Taplin, Lindsay C. Stringer

Roslyn Taplin

Limited energy access within developing nations particularly in Africa is a primary reason for poverty. Biofuel production has been advocated by many experts as a solution to meeting the energy needs of African countries while reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Others argue that biofuel production will compete with land needed for food production. However it appears many African countries have available land beyond food needs, hence biofuel production may be an option for poor farmers to gain skills, create economic diversification and provide affordable energy without environmental degradation. This paper reviews the situation in Africa with regard to biofuels and …

Local Governments’ Risk-Based Approach To Climate Change Adaptation: A Missed Opportunity For Resilience In New South Wales, Nadine E. White

Nadine E White

Parts of New South Wales (NSW) have experienced warming of 1.5 to 2.0 degrees Celsius in the period 1960 to 2009, indicating that the impacts of climate change are already being felt. Immediate, effective adaptation to potential impacts is crucial in reducing vulnerability to climate change. All three levels of government in Australia have a role in adaptation planning however it is local government that is at the ‘coal face’ of the outcomes of imminent climatic changes. This empirical research seeks to discover whether the existing institutional and cultural environment of local governments in NSW facilitates or impedes effective adaptation. …

Century-Scale Responses Of Ecosystem Carbon Storage And Flux To Multiple Environmental Changes In The Southern United States, Hanqin Tian, Guangsheng Chen, Chi Zang, Mingliang Liu, Ge Sun, Arthur Chappelka, Wei Ren, Xiaofeng Xu, Chaoqun Lu, Shufen Pan, Hua Chen, Dafeng Hui, Steven Mcnulty, Graeme Lockaby, Eric Vance

Chaoqun (Crystal) Lu

Terrestrial ecosystems in the southern United States (SUS) have experienced a complex set of changes in climate, atmospheric CO2 concentration, tropospheric ozone (O3), nitrogen (N) deposition, and land-use and land-cover change (LULCC) during the past century. Although each of these factors has received attention for its alterations on ecosystem carbon (C) dynamics, their combined effects and relative contributions are still not well understood. By using the Dynamic Land Ecosystem Model (DLEM) in combination with spatially explicit, long-term historical data series on multiple environmental factors, we examined the century-scale responses of ecosystem C storage and flux to multiple environmental changes in …

Designing For Future Buildings: Adaptive Resuse As A Strategy For Carbon Neutral Cities, Sheila Conejos, Craig Langston, Jim Smith

Craig Langston

Adapting existing buildings is a viable alternative to demolition and replacement in order to mitigate climate change and global warming. Australian cities with inherent cultural heritage fabric, like Melbourne and Sydney, are actively promoting building adaptive reuse as a strategy that supports their programme for developing carbon-neutral cities. Thus, designing for future buildings with embedded adaptive reuse potential is a useful criterion for sustainability. Building adaptive reuse entails less energy and waste, protects the buildings’ heritage values- its socio-cultural and historic meanings; while giving them a new lease of life. This paper looks into urban conservation-- an interdisciplinary field that …

Designing For Future Buildings: Adaptive Resuse As A Strategy For Carbon Neutral Cities, Sheila Conejos, Craig Langston, Jim Smith

Sheila Conejos

Adapting existing buildings is a viable alternative to demolition and replacement in order to mitigate climate change and global warming. Australian cities with inherent cultural heritage fabric, like Melbourne and Sydney, are actively promoting building adaptive reuse as a strategy that supports their programme for developing carbon-neutral cities. Thus, designing for future buildings with embedded adaptive reuse potential is a useful criterion for sustainability. Building adaptive reuse entails less energy and waste, protects the buildings’ heritage values- its socio-cultural and historic meanings; while giving them a new lease of life. This paper looks into urban conservation-- an interdisciplinary field that …

Adaptstar Model: A Climate-Friendly Strategy To Promote Built Environment Sustainability, Sheila Conejos, Craig Langston, Jim Smith

Sheila Conejos

Building adaptive reuse plays a critical role in emissions reduction and supports global climate protection. Thus, the designing of future buildings with embedded adaptive reuse potential is a useful criterion for sustainability. This paper describes the development of a new rating tool known as adaptSTAR, which offers holistic and unified design criteria suitable for assessing the adaptive reuse potential of future buildings. The findings show that criteria can be identified and weighted according to physical, economic, functional, technological, social, legal and political categories to calculate an adaptive reuse star rating. In addition, this paper reports on the first stage …

Adaptstar Model: A Climate-Friendly Strategy To Promote Built Environment Sustainability, Sheila Conejos, Craig Langston, Jim Smith

Craig Langston

Building adaptive reuse plays a critical role in emissions reduction and supports global climate protection. Thus, the designing of future buildings with embedded adaptive reuse potential is a useful criterion for sustainability. This paper describes the development of a new rating tool known as adaptSTAR, which offers holistic and unified design criteria suitable for assessing the adaptive reuse potential of future buildings. The findings show that criteria can be identified and weighted according to physical, economic, functional, technological, social, legal and political categories to calculate an adaptive reuse star rating. In addition, this paper reports on the first stage …

Adaptstar Model: A Climate-Friendly Strategy To Promote Built Environment Sustainability, Sheila Conejos, Craig Langston, Jim Smith

Jim Smith

Building adaptive reuse plays a critical role in emissions reduction and supports global climate protection. Thus, the designing of future buildings with embedded adaptive reuse potential is a useful criterion for sustainability. This paper describes the development of a new rating tool known as adaptSTAR, which offers holistic and unified design criteria suitable for assessing the adaptive reuse potential of future buildings. The findings show that criteria can be identified and weighted according to physical, economic, functional, technological, social, legal and political categories to calculate an adaptive reuse star rating. In addition, this paper reports on the first stage …

Developing The Next Generation Of Women And Minority Scientists For The Nuclear Energy Industry, Darrell Burrell, Andrea Todd, Aikyna Finch, Maurice Dawson

Maurice Dawson

The largest source of carbon dioxide emissions globally is the combustion of fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) in power plants, automobiles, industrial facilities and other sources. Generating electricity is the single largest source of carbon dioxide emissions, representing 41% of all emissions. Since 2007 the United States has been more actively considering nuclear power as an option for developing energy. Three decades after the Three Mile Island accident seemed to doom the nuclear power industry, the idea of a nuclear renaissance has been gaining public acceptance as a way to generate energy without greenhouse gas emissions and meet …

Global Effects Of Climate Change On Wildfire: Causal Relationships Of Fire, The Natural Environment And Human Activities, Lindon N. Pronto

Lindon N Pronto

Climate change and human activity is significantly impacting the frequency and severity of wildfires across the globe. Although climate change and human population are the overarching factors affecting wildfires in the current dialogue, the issues are more complex and often not fully understood. These issues range from global temperature increases and severe drought cycles to the relatively new phenomenon of the wildland urban interface (WUI). This is the area where structures are integrated with or immediately surrounded by areas of moderate to high fire risk and are directly linked to fuel types and topographic features. Because climate change is such …

The Influence Of Land Use And Climate Change On Forest Biomass And Composition In Massachusetts, Usa, J. R. Thompson, D. R. Foster, R. Scheller, David B. Kittredge

David B. Kittredge

Land use and climate change have complex and interacting effects on naturally dynamic forest landscapes. To anticipate and adapt to these changes, it is necessary to understand their individual and aggregate impacts on forest growth and composition. We conducted a simulation experiment to evaluate regional forest change in Massachusetts, USA over the next 50 years (2010–2060). Our objective was to estimate, assuming a linear continuation of recent trends, the relative and interactive influence of continued growth and succession, climate change, forest conversion to developed uses, and timber harvest on live aboveground biomass (AGB) and tree species composition. We examined 20 …

Can The Battle Against Climate Change Become An Effective Social Movement?, John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

No abstract provided.

Federal Energy Efficiency And Conservation Laws, John Dernbach, Marianne Tyrrell

John C. Dernbach

This paper provides an overview of U.S. law and policy concerning energy efficiency and conservation. The United States appears torn between two narratives - one expressing the abundant demonstrated opportunities provided by energy savings and the other based on a fear of deprivation from using less energy. Rather than choosing between the two, U.S. law and policy splits the difference - embracing efficiency and conservation more or less halfheartedly. Energy efficiency and conservation policy thus has a Groundhog Day aspect, in which the same or similar arguments are made year after year, decade after decade, and often (it appears) to …

Impacts Of Tropospheric Ozone And Climate Change On Net Primary Productivity And Net Carbon Exchange Of China's Forest Ecosystems, Wei Ren, Hanqin Tian, Bo Tao, Arthur Chappelka, Ge Sun, Chaoqun (Crystal) Lu, Mingliang Liu, Guangsheng Chen, Xiaofeng Xu

Chaoqun (Crystal) Lu

We investigated how ozone pollution and climate change/variability have interactively affected net primary productivity (NPP) and net carbon exchange (NCE) across China's forest ecosystem in the past half century. Using the dynamic land ecosystem model (DLEM) in conjunction with 10-km-resolution gridded historical data sets (tropospheric O3 concentrations, climate variability/change, and other environmental factors such as land-cover/land-use change (LCLUC), increasing CO2 and nitrogen deposition), we conducted nine simulation experiments to: (1) investigate the temporo-spatial patterns of NPP and NCE in China's forest ecosystems from 1961–2005; and (2) quantify the effects of tropospheric O3 pollution alone or in combination with climate variability …

Climate And Land Use Controls Over Terrestrial Water Use Efficiency In Monsoon Asia, Hanqin Tian, Chaoqun (Crystal) Lu, Guangsheng Chen, Xiaofeng Xu, Mingliang Liu, Wei Ren, Bo Tao, Ge Sun, Shufen Pan, Jiyuan Liu

Chaoqun (Crystal) Lu

Much concern has been raised regarding how and to what extent climate change and intensive human activities have altered water use efficiency (WUE, amount of carbon uptake per unit of water use) in monsoon Asia. By using a process-based ecosystem model [dynamic land ecosystem model (DLEM)], we examined effects of climate change, land use/cover change, and land management practices (i.e. irrigation and nitrogen fertilization) on WUE in terrestrial ecosystems of monsoon Asia during 1948–2000. Our simulations indicated that due to climate variability/change, WUE in the entire area decreased by 3·6% during the study period, with the largest decrease of 6·8% …

The Essential And Growing Role Of Legal Education In Achieving Sustainability, John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

This article suggests that law schools need to play a leading role in the national and global effort to achieve sustainability, including the effort to address climate change. The article first describes the various drivers for sustainability in law schools. Clients are increasingly demanding that their lawyers 'walk the talk,' as many businesses and corporations already are. The universities that provide an institutional home for most law schools are also adopting sustainability policies and practices that influence their law schools. Within the legal profession, the American Bar Association, as well as many state and local bar associations, have adopted a …

Where Do We Stand On Global Warming?, Raymond S. Bradley

Raymond S Bradley

Global temperatures have risen by ~0.8°C since the end of the 19th century. This increase has not been linear, as there have been periods when temperatures were stable for short periods before rising once again. The reasons for these changes in the rate of temperature rise are related to anthropogenic factors (sulphate aerosol pollution versus greenhouse gas inputs to the atmosphere) as well as to natural factors (volcanic eruptions, solar irradiance variations, El Ni.o/Southern Oscillation [ENSO] fluctuations, etc). Over the last decade or so, temperatures have not risen at the same rate as in previous decades, and this has led …

Natural Archives, Changing Climates, Raymond S. Bradley

Raymond S Bradley

Climatic changes have occurred throughout human history, but instrumental measurements do not provide us with a very long perspective on climate variations. In many regions, instrumental records only extend back a century or two. To understand the longer-term variability of the climate system, we rely on natural archives— sediments, ice caps, peat bogs, cave deposits, banded corals and tree rings—in which a record of past changes in climate has been preserved. They are a treasure trove of the climatic and environmental history of the planet and provide information about factors that may have caused the climate to change, such as …

Climate Change, Sustainable Development, And Ecosystems: 2010 Annual Report, John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

No abstract provided.

The "Cash For Clunkers" Program: A Sustainability Evaluation, Marianne Tyrrell, John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

This article describes and evaluates the effectiveness of the Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Act of 2009, also known as the “Cash for Clunkers” legislation. Under this law, Congress authorized persons trading in older and less fuel-efficient motor vehicles for newer and more fuel-efficient vehicles to receive a voucher worth up to $4,500 toward the purchase of the new vehicle. The article reviews various studies assessing the effectiveness of this legislation based on economic, social, and environmental criteria. Because these criteria are consistent with the goals of sustainable development, the legislation provides important lessons for future efforts to achieve …

Energy Efficiency And Conservation: New Legal Tools And Opportunities, John Dernbach, Robert Mckinstry, Darin Lowder

John C. Dernbach

Many new and ambitious energy efficiency and conservation laws are being enacted at all levels of government—and with greater financial incentives than provided previously. These innovations are intended to overcome or minimize market barriers such as principal-agent problems, information and transaction costs, high internal discount rates, and up-front capital needs that discourage cost-saving investments. Innovations such as public-private partnerships also require significant legal input and creativity for the client to reap the often remarkably large energy and cost savings. This article reviews a range of these tools, especially financial legal mechanisms, that could help significantly reduce U.S. energy consumption.

Community And Stakeholder Consultation For The Lake Macquarie Waterway Flood Management Plan (Report), Neil Dufty

Neil Dufty

No abstract provided.

Recent Advances In The Climate Change Biology Literature: Describing The Whole Elephant, A. Townsend Peterson, Shaily Menon, Xingong Li

Shaily Menon

Climate change biology is seeing a wave of new contributions, which are reviewed herein. Contributions treat shifts in phenology and distribution, and both document past and forecast future effects. However, many of the current wave of contributions are observational and correlational, and few are experimental in nature, and too often a conceptual framework in which to contextualize the results is lacking. An additional gap is the lack of effective cross-linking among areas of research, for example, connection of sea-level rise and climate change implications for distributions of species, or evolutionary adaptation studies with distributional shift studies. Although numerous important contributions …

Late Quaternary Distribution And Biogeography Of The Southern Lake Eyre Basin (Sleb) Megafauna, South Australia, Steve Webb

Steve Webb

Understanding the population demography, species distribution and biogeography of Australia’s megafauna is essential for understanding their extinction. This process is only just beginning, and this article discusses these aspects while concentrating on a particular region; the southern Lake Eyre Basin (SLEB). It is also the first detailed description of the distribution of megafauna across that region of central Australia. The data are based on an extensive longitudinal study of 41 palaeontological sites spread across 250 000km2. Megafauna adaptation and response to extensive environmental change during the late Quaternary is reflected in the composition and distribution of 21 megafauna species found …

Local Surface Water Policy Under Conditions Of Climate Change, Elizabeth Brabec, Elisabeth Hamin, Chingwen Cheng

Elizabeth Brabec

Climate change means two things for local stormwater managers – that storm events will become more severe, and rainfall will, in many instances, become more erratic, causing enhanced periods of drought and flood. Two approaches are needed to deal with the eventualities: mitigation and adaptation.

While urbanization increases stormwater runoff and decreases the lag time of stormwater discharge, there is also a resulting lack of infiltration and reduction in evapotranspiration (Brunke and Gonser 1997). Stormwater detention, retention and infiltration have attempted to compensate, resulting in the concentrated point location infiltration of stormwater, which replenishes groundwater and baseflow. Equally important to …

Preliminary Global Assessment Of Terrestrial Biodiversity Consequences Of Sea-Level Rise Mediated By Climate Change, Shaily Menon, Jorge Soberon, Xingong Li, A. Townsend Peterson

Shaily Menon

Considerable attention has focused on the climatic effects of global climate change on biodiversity, but few analyses and no broad assessments have evaluated effects of sea-level rise on biodiversity. Taking advantage of new maps of marine intrusion under scenarios of 1 and 6 m sea-level rise, we calculated areal losses for all terrestrial ecoregions globally, with areal losses for particular ecoregions ranging from nil to complete. Marine intrusion is a global phenomenon, but its effects are most prominent in Southeast Asia and nearby islands, eastern North America, northeastern South America, and western Alaska. Making assumptions regarding faunal responses to reduced …

Lost In Translation? A Boundary Work Perspective On Making Climate Change Governable, Robert Hoppe

Robert Hoppe

No abstract provided.