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March 10, 2008

New analysis shows alarming increase in expected growth of China's carbon dioxide emissions

The growth in China's carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is far outpacing previous estimates, making the goal of stabilizing atmospheric greenhouse gases even more difficult, according to a new analysis by economists at the University of California, Berkeley, and UC San Diego.

Listen to the NPR story on "All Things Considered"

Previous estimates, including those used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, say the region that includes China will see a 2.5 to 5 percent annual increase in CO2 emissions, the largest contributor to atmospheric greenhouse gases, between 2004 and 2010. The new UC analysis puts that annual growth rate for China to at least 11 percent for the same time period.

Continue reading "New analysis shows alarming increase in expected growth of China's carbon dioxide emissions" »

January 17, 2008

"Buy local" applies to forests, too

by Dean Keith Gilless

Frozen pipes never concern San Francisco residents, but Minnesotans insulate the pipes around their homes every winter. The West Nile virus scares many Californians but doesn't alarm Scandinavians at all. Where you are in the world goes a long way toward determining the things you worry about.

Some Californians shy away from using wood for fear of contributing to the deforestation so frequently associated with global warming. But relying on imported goods means burning fossil fuels to bring those goods to market, which increases greenhouse gas emissions. The arguments to promote "locally grown" are no more or less valid when considering one's consumption of lumber and other forest products.

Continue reading ""Buy local" applies to forests, too" »

September 25, 2007

Opinion: Thinning trees helps environment

By Bill Dennison, Cal Forestry alum & past president of the California Forestry Association

The U.S. Forest Service recently became the first federal agency to register with the California Climate Action Registry, a first step to track greenhouse gas emissions attributable to global climate change from U.S. Forest Service operations.

But it's not nearly enough.

Continue reading "Opinion: Thinning trees helps environment" »

August 1, 2007

China's Chance to Lead

This op-ed, by Assistant Professor Max Auffhammer and UCSD economist Richard Carson, originally appeared in the Washington Post on August 2, 2007.

China is about to emerge as the world's leading emitter of greenhouse gases, a position the United States has held since 1890. Now is the time for China to take the lead in finding a way to reduce global emissions, which the United States has thus far failed to do. It should start by imposing a sizable tax on the carbon content of its fossil fuel consumption and by heading an effort among other major trading countries to do the same.

Continue reading "China's Chance to Lead" »

January 24, 2007

Six Nobel Laureates on climate crisis: "There is no time"

A campus colloquium on "Energy Self-Sufficiency in the 21st Century" recently took the global climate crisis as the starting point for a freewheeling discussion among some of the world's top thinkers. Issues covered included the urgent need to make conservation a national way of life, getting the U.S. public to accept nuclear reactors, and persuading the U.S. government to serve as a world leader in developing clean, renewable energy sources.

Read the Story

Watch the event
(2-hour webcast)


January 22, 2007

How the Earth breathes is key to climate change

From the Contra Costa Times:

ddb.jpgLooking out across an expanse of oak-grass savanna from the top of a 65-foot research tower near Ione in Amador County, biometeorologist Dennis Baldocchi [professor of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at] UC Berkeley sums up his part in the effort to get a more accurate picture of climate change.

"We want to see how the earth breathes, essentially," he said.

One of the pieces of the climate puzzle that hasn't come into focus yet is this flux of carbon between the earth and the atmosphere. How this interchange will be affected by changes in sunlight, temperature, rainfall and soil moisture is still a big gap in the climate models.

Continue reading "How the Earth breathes is key to climate change" »

January 19, 2007

Relying on Berkeley research, California establishes groundbreaking carbon standard for fuels

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has issued an executive order calling for California to establish the world's first carbon standard for transportation fuels. (Read about it in the Governor's op-ed here.)

Relying on research by David Roland-Holst, adjunct professor in ARE, the governor writes:

The University of California estimates our greenhouse gas emissions goals will increase our gross state product by $60 billion and create more than 20,000 new jobs. The time is now for America to transition to a clean-energy economy.... I am very pleased to be able to announce that California is leading the way.

More information on Roland-Holst's study is at http://calclimate.berkeley.edu/.

January 18, 2007

Study of rotting leaves could lead to more accurate climate models

Over the past decade, in numerous field sites throughout the world, mesh bags of leaf and root litter sat exposed to the elements, day and night, throughout the four seasons, gradually rotting away.

Now, those bags of decomposing organic matter have allowed a research team led by scientists from CNR and Colorado State University to produce an elegant and simple set of equations to calculate the nitrogen released into the soil during decomposition, which in turn could significantly improve the accuracy of global climate change models.

Continue reading "Study of rotting leaves could lead to more accurate climate models" »

January 3, 2007

Bringing carbon buyers and sellers to market

This editorial by Professor David Sunding appeared Dec. 28, 2006, in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's executive order to begin implementation of a market-based compliance program encouraging businesses to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions is clearly a step in the right direction toward cleaning our air of harmful carbon particulates. The next step is to make it financially attractive enough for businesses to comply with the program.

Continue reading "Bringing carbon buyers and sellers to market" »

December 5, 2006

Reducing pollution could increase rice harvests in India

Reductions of human-generated air pollution could create unexpected agricultural benefits in one of the world's poorest regions, according to new research by Maximilian Auffhammer, assistant professor of agricultural resources and economics, and his collaborators.

Continue reading "Reducing pollution could increase rice harvests in India" »

August 28, 2006

High-elevation studies look at climate change in the Sierra

From the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle:

Some of the world's best evidence of global warming was buried under 18 feet of snow in the Sierra Nevada last winter, and [UC Berkeley Forestry alumna] Connie Millar was determined to dig it out.

Millar, a veteran field scientist for the U.S. Forest Service, sweated uphill with three colleagues on a July morning, headed deep into Lundy Canyon, just north of Mono Lake, one of the few access points to the Sierra crest along its rugged eastern flank....

This story also quotes Forestry alumnus Bob Coats.

Read the full story: WATER SIGNS
Miniature rock glaciers. Drying meadows. Warming lakes. High-elevation studies try to predict the impact of climate change

August 21, 2006

Not facing warming is costly

From a letter to the Sacramento Bee by Prof. Michael Hanemann:

I disagree with Margo Thorning's dire prediction of economic doom from the Assembly Bill 32 legislation requiring statewide reductions in greenhouse gases by 2020.

Continue reading "Not facing warming is costly" »

August 17, 2006

Report: Climate action will boost state economy

A new report delivered to state legislators and led by ARE Professor David Roland-Host says that returning California greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, as envisioned by pending global warming legislation, could significantly stimulate the state economy.

Continue reading "Report: Climate action will boost state economy" »

August 1, 2006

Heat waves renew interest in climate change

Dramatic natural phenomena such as huricanes and heat waves have renewed the mainstream media's interest in global warming, and several excellent articles have recently feature UC Berkeley climate change scientists.

Continue reading "Heat waves renew interest in climate change" »

May 15, 2006

Supreme Court brief presents global warming facts

Two University of California, Berkeley, climate researchers have signed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal in a case that could force the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles. The lawsuit, brought against the federal government by the State of Massachusetts, seeks to slow the onset of global warming.

Continue reading "Supreme Court brief presents global warming facts" »

April 20, 2006

Energy Symposium: The "Rosenfeld Effect"

Eleven eminent scientists will speak on Friday, April 28 on topical energy issues at this day-long symposium honoring their colleague, California Energy Commissioner, UC Berkeley Professor Emeritus, and energy efficiency pioneer Arthur H. Rosenfeld, on the occasion of his 80th birthday. Rosenfeld has also just received the prestigious Enrico Fermi Award (press release here).

This event will be webcast live

Sessions of The "Rosenfeld Effect" Energy Symposium will discuss the role of increased energy efficiency in California, in China, and on a global scale; the intersection of energy and safe drinking water in the developing world; the twin challenges of mitigating climate change and sustaining orderly markets in fluid fuels; how to turn good science into good politics; and defining, predicting, and coping with global warming.

View the full program.

8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Friday, April 28
Sibley Auditorium, UC Berkeley

This event has reached full capacity. However, it will be webcast live at http://webcast.berkeley.edu/events/details.php?webcastid=15730

Contact Adrienne Hink with questions.


April 19, 2006

FAQ on Forest Carbon

There’s progress on the climate front. Suddenly the U.S. is waking to the reality of climate change as glaciers melt and seasons become more extreme. For California, predictions of declining snow packs and drier summers mean threats to urban water supplies and higher risk of wildfire. Across the country, states are taking the initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Frequent questions arise about the California Climate Action Registry and its Forest Protocols. Forest landowners are starting to learn more and examine how the Registry might benefit them. Some misconceptions have developed, thus a brief overview helps in understanding how the protocols work and the potential they offer to landowners, forests and the global environment.

Read the FAQ developed by visiting CNR faculty member Andrea Tuttle, former director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection:

http://nature.berkeley.edu/site/forms/pdf/forest_carbon_faq.pdf

January 23, 2006

With $1.6 million grant, new HydroWatch Center seeks full view of Earth's water cycle

Inez Fung, co-director of the Berkeley Institute of the Environment, and her research team have received $1.6 million from the W.M. Keck Foundation to establish the Keck HydroWatch Center at UC Berkeley.

Research undertaken at the HydroWatch Center will help scientists better understand the water cycle and predict its changes. Their aim is to dramatically expand the observations of all aspects of the water cycle by developing cost-effective, rapid-response, and accurate sensors and techniques to monitor water quality, quantity, and pathways.

Continue reading "With $1.6 million grant, new HydroWatch Center seeks full view of Earth's water cycle" »

January 13, 2006

Forest landowners playing role in fight against global warming

By Andrea Tuttle

California's forests have something to celebrate.

The first forest projects in California designed specifically to fight global warming were recently announced at the United Nations conference on climate change in Montreal. By registering in the California Climate Action Registry, the Garcia River Forest in Sonoma County and the Van Eck property in Humboldt show a new model for protecting natural resources.

The projects will reduce greenhouse gases and restore streams and roads, all while working to produce timber. Perhaps most surprising is that well-known environmental groups, including the Conservation Fund, the Pacific Forest Trust, the Nature Conservancy and the State Coastal Conservancy, will actually manage logging on these lands to save them and better the environment.

Continue reading "Forest landowners playing role in fight against global warming" »

December 19, 2005

Overfishing may drive endangered seabird to rely upon lower quality food

The effects of overfishing may have driven marbled murrelets, an endangered seabird found along the Pacific coast, to increasingly rely upon less nutritious food sources, according to a new study by biologists at the University of California, Berkeley.

The results, to be published online by early March 2006 in the journal Conservation Biology, suggest that feeding further down the food web may have played a role in low levels of reproduction observed in contemporary murrelet populations, and has likely contributed to the seabirds' listing as an endangered species, the researchers said.

Read the Full Story at the UCB NewsCenter

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