New England Climate Adaptation Project

New England Climate Adaptation Project PDF Author: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Science Impact Collaborative
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Climate change mitigation
Languages : en
Pages : 63

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Book Description

New England Climate Adaptation Project

New England Climate Adaptation Project PDF Author: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Science Impact Collaborative
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Climate change mitigation
Languages : en
Pages : 63

Get Book Here

Book Description


Managing Climate Risks in Coastal Communities

Managing Climate Risks in Coastal Communities PDF Author: Lawrence Susskind
Publisher: Anthem Press
ISBN: 178308488X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 443

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Book Description
Drawing on research from the New England Climate Adaptation Project, “Managing Climate Risks for Coastal Communities” introduces a framework for building local capacity to respond to climate change. The authors maintain that local climate adaptation efforts require collective commitments to risk management, but that many communities are not ready to take on the challenge and urgently need enhanced capacity to support climate adaptation planning. To this end, the book offers statistical assessments of one readiness enhancement strategy, using tailored role-play simulations as part of a broader engagement approach. It also introduces methods for forecasting local climate change risks, as well as for evaluating the social and political context in which collective action must take place. With extensive illustration and example engagement materials, this volume is tailored for use by researchers, policy makers and practitioners.

Do We Have a Climate for Change? Insights about Adaptation Planning Actions in Coastal New England

Do We Have a Climate for Change? Insights about Adaptation Planning Actions in Coastal New England PDF Author: Mrs. Ana M. Emlinger
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
"I just drink more coffee and stay late" - declared the town planner of a small coastal community in the South of Boston, Massachusetts (MA) referring to the need of extra work to address climate change adaptation in a short-staffed planning department. These words illustrate one of the many common issues faced by planners of small and medium coastal communities in the region. A systematic incorporation of climate change concerns into formal community planning, management, and infrastructure design is in nascent stage. The challenges of effective adaptation are complex and likely to be politically hard, especially at the local level where the impact of climate change is most likely to be experienced and administered. Climate science is providing an increasingly sophisticated picture of possible climate alteration in future decades, and for coastal zones in particular, the potential consequences are a cause for mounting concern. The role of planners comes to a new level of importance because they urge to develop creative and innovative responses to adapt the built environment to these challenges. Efforts are needed to guide proactive adaptation actions that benefit coastal communities for present and future generations. Overall, there is a pressing need to move beyond vulnerability analysis and into implementation of adaptation action. In the real world, however, planners of small coastal communities are often times alone in their innumerable professional daily struggles and issues related to climate change are frequently placed in the bottom of their list of priorities. One of the goals of the present research is to examine the status of climate adaptation planning at the local level in the coastal New England. The research also aims to investigate what are the preferred climate actions taken by these municipalities, the main forces behind the challenges faced by planners and city officials trying to deal with these issues and what they need to move forward in the adaptation planning. The results of this study showed many similarities among these coastal communities in NE. Barriers repeatedly found in the literature such as lack of financial support, staff dedicated to this matter, political support and information were confirmed with high rates in all states. However, despite the challenges encountered, 36 communities were able to break the barriers and advance in the adaptation planning process. The data collection for this study was divided in two phases: Phase 1 - In-person semi-structured interviews with planners in the coastal Massachusetts (conducted in 2011; n=15); Phase 2: Web-survey with city officials, mostly planners, of small and mid-sized coastal communities in New England, particularly the states of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, and Connecticut (Fall 2015, n=121). I focused on coastal areas, as these seemed the most likely to have begun considering climate change due to publicity about sea level rise and existing climate vulnerability. This study brings a range of benefits to Massachusetts' smaller coastal towns and cities, as well as to the broader region of New England. First, it generates empirically-based findings on what communities are doing to become better adapted to future climate, and why. This leads to improvements in our ability to advise communities on how to move ahead on this important topic based on their particular situation. These coastal communities constitute a system, like a string of intrinsically interconnected parts. These parts are not impacted alone by the challenges associated with climate change. For this reason the risks to which these communities are subject should be addressed collectively. Perhaps, this knowledge will be an important step to collaborate in the meeting of joint solutions for the region.

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster PDF Author: Bill Gates
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0385546149
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 201

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Book Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • In this urgent, authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical—and accessible—plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe. Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science, and finance, he has focused on what must be done in order to stop the planet's slide to certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only explains why we need to work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases, but also details what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal. He gives us a clear-eyed description of the challenges we face. Drawing on his understanding of innovation and what it takes to get new ideas into the market, he describes the areas in which technology is already helping to reduce emissions, where and how the current technology can be made to function more effectively, where breakthrough technologies are needed, and who is working on these essential innovations. Finally, he lays out a concrete, practical plan for achieving the goal of zero emissions—suggesting not only policies that governments should adopt, but what we as individuals can do to keep our government, our employers, and ourselves accountable in this crucial enterprise. As Bill Gates makes clear, achieving zero emissions will not be simple or easy to do, but if we follow the plan he sets out here, it is a goal firmly within our reach.

Action Research for Climate Change Adaptation

Action Research for Climate Change Adaptation PDF Author: Arwin van Buuren
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131770228X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 215

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Book Description
Governments all over the world are struggling with the question of how to adapt to climate change. They need information not only about the issue and its possible consequences, but also about feasible governance strategies and instruments to combat it. At the same time, scientists from different social disciplines are trying to understand the dynamics and peculiarities of the governance of climate change adaptation. This book demonstrates how action-oriented research methods can be used to satisfy the need for both policy-relevant information and scientific knowledge. Bringing together eight case studies that show inspiring practices of action research from around the world, including Australia, Denmark, Vietnam and the Netherlands, the book covers a rich variety of action-research applications, running from participatory observation to serious games and role-playing exercises. It explores many adaptation challenges, from flood-risk safety to heat stress and freshwater availability, and draws out valuable lessons about the conditions that make action research successful, demonstrating how scientific and academic knowledge can be used in a practical context to reach useful and applicable insights. The book will be of interest to scholars and students of climate change, environmental policy, politics and governance.

Adapting Infrastructure to Climate Change

Adapting Infrastructure to Climate Change PDF Author: Todd Schenk
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317272633
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
Many of the challenges that decision-makers grapple with in relation to climate change are governance related. Planning and decision-making is evolving in ambiguous institutional environments, in which many key issues remain unresolved, including relationships between different actors; funding arrangements; and the sources and procedures for vetting data. These issues are particularly acute at this juncture, as climate adaptation moves from broad planning processes to the management of infrastructure systems. Concrete decisions must be made. Adapting Infrastructure to Climate Change draws on case studies of three coastal cities situated within very different governance regimes: neo-corporatist Rotterdam, neo-pluralist Boston and semi-authoritarian Singapore. The book examines how infrastructure managers and other stakeholders grappling with complex and uncertain climate risks are likely to make project-level decisions in practice, and how more effective decision-making can be supported. The differences across governance regimes are currently unaccounted for in adaptation planning, but are crucial as best practices are devised. These lessons are also applicable to infrastructure planning and decision-making in other contexts. This book will be of great interest to scholars of climate change and environmental policy and governance, particularly in the context of infrastructure management.

Role-play Simulations

Role-play Simulations PDF Author: Danya Lee Rumore
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 315

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Book Description
This dissertation tests the effectiveness of tailored, science-based role-play simulations as a tool for transformative civic education and engagement around science-intensive environmental issues. I do so by studying the results of the New England Climate Adaptation Project (NECAP). NECAP was a two-year participatory action research project aimed at building the capacity of coastal New England communities to adapt to climate change while also testing the effectiveness of role-play simulations as a civic engagement tool. The project engaged 555 diverse stakeholders across four partner coastal New England municipalities in role-play simulation workshops. Data were collected through pre- and post-workshop questionnaires administered to all participants, follow-up interviews with 30 percent of participants from each workshop, and observation. Results show that, when used in a civic engagement context, role-play simulations can stimulate transformative learning about science-intensive environmental issues in the way the simulations are designed to. Participation in the NECAP simulations led to statistically significant increases in participant concern about local climate change risks, support for local adaptation action, and confidence in the prospects of effective local adaptation action. For many participants, the simulations also resulted in increased familiarity with and support for using the consensus building approach for local adaptation decision-making; increased empathy for different perspectives and interests related to adaptation; and generally enriched understanding of local climate change risks and adaptation options. Results were largely consistent across the four towns, as well as across people of different genders, age groups, income levels, education levels, and political viewpoints. The simulations had the greatest learning effect for people who came into the workshops being somewhat concerned about climate change risks. These findings suggest that role-plays are effective across diverse demographics, and that they may be particularly powerful for engaging people who are generally in the "undecided middle" in terms of their perspectives on the issue of interest. I conclude that tailored, science based role-play simulations do, in fact, offer a powerful approach for transformative learning and civic engagement around complex science-intensive environmental issues like climate change adaptation. I also explore the mechanism through which role-play simulations catalyze transformative learning.

Climate Change Impacts on Ocean and Coastal Law

Climate Change Impacts on Ocean and Coastal Law PDF Author: Randall Abate
Publisher:
ISBN: 0199368740
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 748

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Book Description
Ocean and coastal law has grown rapidly in the past three decades as a specialty area within natural resources law and environmental law. The protection of oceans has received increased attention in the past decade because of sea-level rise, ocean acidification, the global overfishing crisis, widespread depletion of marine biodiversity such as marine mammals and coral reefs, and marine pollution. Paralleling the growth of ocean and coastal law, climate change regulation has emerged as a focus of international environmental diplomacy, and has gained increased attention in the wake of disturbing and abrupt climate change related impacts throughout the world that have profound implications for ocean and coastal regulation and marine resources. Climate Change Impacts on Ocean and Coastal Law effectively unites these two worlds. It raises important questions about whether and how ocean and coastal law will respond to the regulatory challenges that climate change presents to resources in the oceans and coasts of the U.S. and the world. This comprehensive work assembles the insights of global experts from academia and major NGOs (e.g., Center for International Environmental Law, Ocean Conservancy, and Environmental Law Institute) to address regulatory challenges from the perspectives of U.S. law, foreign domestic law, and international law.

Climate

Climate PDF Author: Igor Linkov
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400717725
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 591

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Book Description
Rising sea levels and altered weather patterns are expected to significantly alter coastal and inland environments for humans, infrastructure and ecosystems. Potential land-use changes and population increases, coupled with uncertain predictions for sea level rise and storm frequency/intensity represent a significant planning challenge. While efforts to mitigate climate change continue, plans must be made to adapt to the risks that climate change poses to humans, infrastructure, and ecosystems alike. This book addresses integrated environmental assessment and management as part of the nexus of climate change adaptation. Risk analysis has emerged as a useful approach to guide assessment, communication and management of security risks. However, with respect to climate change, an integrated, multi-criteria, multi-hazard, risk-informed decision framework is desirable for evaluating adaptation strategies. The papers in Part 1 summarize societal and political needs for climate change adaptation. Part 2 includes papers summarizing the state of the art in climate change adaptation. Three further parts cover: the process of change in coastal regions, in inland regions, and, finally, the potential challenges to homeland security for national governments. Each of these parts reviews achievements, identifies gaps in current knowledge, and suggests research priorities.

Bilateral Ecopolitics

Bilateral Ecopolitics PDF Author: Philippe Le Prestre
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351955365
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 302

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Book Description
The context in which environmental policy decision-making occurs has changed, resulting from widening environmental problems, increased demands from groups and citizens, continuing pressure on the continent's resources and normative shifts. The complexity of current issues is related to an even broader contextual shift: the globalization of environmental issues exacerbated by trade liberalization, especially on a regional level and the potential contradictions between trade and the environmental international agenda that this implies. This volume studies the new dimensions of resource conflict between Canada and the United States, accounting for the emergence of new bilateral environmental issues and detailing how trade liberalization has fostered both disputes and policy convergence. It also examines the recent shifts in America towards a unilateral foreign policy and how this affects active Canadian diplomacy Ideal as a resource tool for students and academics, this book will be a key resource in the areas of global governance, US-Canadian foreign policy and environmental policy.