Tag: <span>climate change</span>

American Forests At Risk: Camille Stevens-Rumann joins the National Climate Seminar

American forests are at risk. Wildfires are becoming more frequent, fire season is lasting later into the year, and fires are burning for longer. And the costs of these fires continues to mount. The Forest Service spent $2 billion fighting forest fires last year. Wildfires in Northern California alone caused $65 …

Balancing the greenhouse gas emissions budget: it’s not just carbon!–by Emma Elbaum

Imagine, for a moment, a seesaw. On one side, put volcanoes, fires, and decomposing plants. On the other side, put trees, oceans, crops, and gardens. This seesaw represents how carbon dioxide enters and leaves the atmosphere. Trees, oceans, soil, and living organisms remove and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, …

Speeding Up Superfund, Cutting Out Climate Change – by Suzanne Flaum

Communities near Superfund sites are in for a rough couple of decades. We all know that climate change is steadily intensifying extreme weather events. Sea level rise and warming oceans are already causing more intense hurricanes and superstorms, culminating in disastrous storm surge along coastlines and significant inland flooding. As …

How data management is more challenging, and satisfying, than climbing mountains–by Holly Kistner

When I started graduate school at Bard College’s Center for Environmental Policy (CEP), I also started my student employment with Bard’s Office of Sustainability as the “energy intern.” Less than a year ago, I would have laughed at the prospect of me working with energy data. Me? I’d just spent two …

How to Have an Effective State EPA Without Federal Support–by James Richmond

Do you find that your state’s EPA isn’t getting the kind of support it once did from the federal government? And maybe even that recent gains it’s made in environmental regulation and protection are being rolled back? Let’s take a look at 5 ways California is able to have an …

From sea to rising sea: Jeff Goodell talks sea level rise with the National Climate Seminar

Journalist and author Jeff Goodell opened his discussion with the National Climate Seminar (hear his complete talk here) by apologizing for the call quality. As he explained, the WiFi signal isn’t reliable in Viequis, a small island off the coast of Puerto Rico, where he is reporting on the region’s slow recovery from …

Watershed Management through Ecosystem Services–by Lindsey Drew

This past January, I and my fellow Bard CEP classmates went on a two week research trip to Oaxaca, Mexico. During our time in the Sierra Sur region of Oaxaca, we visited the town San Miguel Suchixtepec, where we spent time at a local public school with a high regard …

Tropical Forests are Crucial to Managing our Climate: Deborah Lawrence Speaks with the National Climate Seminar

Tropical forests have a lot to offer: the richest concentration of biodiversity on the planet, a home for indigenous peoples, and the plants that are used to create many modern pharmaceuticals. In negotiations leading up to the UN Paris Climate Agreement, tropical forests were also formally recognized for their key …

The End of My Wilson Era

Recently, my internship organization, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., was ranked the #1 Transdisciplinary Research Think Tank in the world. After spending six months learning and absorbing information from the world’s top minds, I fully understand why they deserve such a ranking. A similar transdisciplinary …

Bard National Climate Seminar: Dr. Michael Neuman on Urban Storm Risk and Sustainability

By Vanessa Kichline This year’s hurricane season has been one of the worst on record. We’ve already seen two Category 5 hurricanes make landfall in the United States, wreaking havoc to the tune of some $200 billion in damages—and the season isn’t over yet. Dr. Michael Neuman, professor and award-winning researcher of …