School of Natural Resources and Environment

Climate

Ice-age reptile extinctions provide a glimpse of likely responses to human-caused climate change

A wave of reptile extinctions on the Greek islands over the past 15,000 years may offer a preview of the way plants and animals will respond as the world rapidly warms due to human-caused climate change, according to a University of Michigan ecologist and his colleagues. The Greek island extinctions also highlight the critical importance of preserving habitat corridors that will enable plants and animals to migrate in response to climate change, thereby maximizing their chances of survival.

COP16 update: Week One

Dec. 6, 2010

During the first week of the UN climate conference in Cancun, Erb Institute student Miguel Sossa helped a non-profit agency launch a sustainable-marketing campaign, ate lunch with like-minded students from across the world, observed as foreign dignitaries positioned their appeals, shook hands with a top UN official who replied "Go Blue!," and shared thoughts on the rice trade with an ambassador on his ride back to his hotel.

Dean Bierbaum contributes to White House report on energy policy

Two University of Michigan professors contributed to a White House report this week that calls for the United States to craft a government-wide federal energy policy and update it regularly with strategic reviews every four years. The report provides a roadmap for the federal role in transforming the U.S. energy system within one to two decades—a transformation that is necessary, the report concludes, for reasons of economic competitiveness, environmental stewardship and national security.

SNRE students part of U-M contingent at U.N. climate conference

Thirty University of Michigan students, alumni, faculty and friends are attending the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico. The two-week conference starts today, Monday, Nov. 29. Representatives from the countries that signed the 1994 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, a treaty that addresses climate change and adaptation to rising temperatures, are participating. Of the 10 students in the group, six are from the School of Natural Resources and Environment.

Facilitating Climate Change Responses

Hoffman contributes to National Academies book on climate change

Andrew Hoffman, associate director of the Erb Institute and SNRE professor, participated in a series of workshops addressing the behavioral and social science aspects of global climate change. The recently published book Facilitating Climate Change Responses documents the information presented in the workshop presentations and discussions. This material illustrates some of the ways the behavioral and social sciences can contribute to the new era of climate research. Professor Hoffman delivered the introductory comments and moderated a panel discussion for the session on the greening of business, which is covered in Chapter 4.

Recommendations for federal action on climate-change adaptation from UCAR to the White House

The report on national climate-change adaptation that was delivered yesterday to the White House science adviser is now available to the public. Dean Rosina M. Bierbaum, who co-chaired the D.C. climate adaptation summit last spring held by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) that formed the basis of the report, was one of the committee that introduced the report to Dr. John Holdren, the President' Science and Technology Adviser. The report identifies seven priorities:

Dean Bierbaum presents a climate-change adaptation report to White House

Dean Rosina M. Bierbaum is joining science colleagues from around the nation today in delivering a National Climate Adaptation Summit Report to President Obama's science adviser. The report is based on last springí¢â‚¬â„¢s National Climate Adaptation Summit, of which Dean Bierbaum was co-chair. The report's release can be viewed as a live streamed webcast. The event begins at 3:30 p.m. EST, and takes places in the main auditorium of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Building in Washington, D.C. The report, as well as webcast instructions, can be found at http://www.joss.ucar.edu/events/2010/ncas/report_release_webcast.html.

U-M, MSU to lead $4.2 million, federally funded Great Lakes climate change initiative

The University of Michigan and Michigan State University will jointly lead a federally funded effort to help Great Lakes-region residents anticipate and adapt to climate change. The interdisciplinary effort will be funded by a five-year, $4.2 million grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The new Great Lakes Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments Center (GLISA) will focus initially on the watersheds of lakes Erie and Huron and three critical topics: agriculture, watershed management, and natural resources-based recreation and tourism.

National climate-change study published; dean, faculty were authors

SNRE Dean Rosina M. Bierbaum and Professors Andy Hoffman, Maria Carmen Lemos and Ted Parsons contributed to a series of recently published national reports on climate change. The National Research Council of the National Academies of Science produced the series, called America's Climate Choices, at the request of Congress.

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