[DIALOGnews] DIALOG and DISCCRS News 03/10/06
Susan Bennett
bennetsk at whitman.edu
Fri Mar 10 15:48:34 CST 2006
DIALOG and DISCCRS News
03/10/2006
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
RESOURCES
Must-Read Book: CHILDREN OF THE SUN, by Al Crosby.
http://www.yesterdaysisland.com/04_articles/life/crosby.html or
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0228/p14s04-bogn.htm
World Climate Research Programme electronic newsletter:
The WCRP announces its first electronic newsletter or e-zine.
This newsletter will be emailed quarterly to all WCRP friends,
stakeholders and researchers. If you wish to subscribe to WCRPs e-
zine please send your contact details to wcrp at wmo.int!
NSF Call for Proposals: Research and Evaluation on Education in
Science and Engineering (REESE), emphasis on graduate education
http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf06019
SCIENCE NEWS
Church joins crusade over climate change
(see below)
Scared of Sharks? Just Dive 10,000 Feet
(see below)
Carbon Burial Plan for North Sea
(see below)
The Critical Importance Of Mangroves To Ocean Life
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/02/060227123154.htm
Shell unveils carbon burial plan for North Sea
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article350122.ece
Global warming may melt away fun, study says
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/
2002851014_warming08m.html
Japan - Coal power station shelved because of climate change cost
http://tinyurl.com/q9agb
NASA SURVEY CONFIRMS CLIMATE WARMING IMPACT ON POLAR ICE SHEETS
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/environment/ice_sheets.html
Bering Sea Ecosystem Responding to Changes in Arctic Climate
http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=pr06042
FORUM
Gender and Climate Change - a Forgotten Issue?
http://www.tiempocyberclimate.org/newswatch/comment050711.htm
SUMMER PROGRAMS, COURSES, INTERNSHIPS, MEETINGS, OPPORTUNITIES
Symposium on Hypoxia in Gulf of Mexico
(see below)
NECSI SUMMER SCHOOL -- June 12-23, 2006
(see below)
Summer school on identification & modelling of controls in marine
ecosystems - June 2006
http://www.eur-oceans.org/eamr/school/
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Resources
Must-Read Book: CHILDREN OF THE SUN, by Al Crosby
See http://www.yesterdaysisland.com/04_articles/life/crosby.html
for info about Al and http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0228/p14s04-
bogn.htm for info on his latest book.
I give this book by Environmental Historian Al Crosby my highest
personal recommendation -- this is the latest in a long line of
superlative books by Al-- Ecological Imperialism is my favorite, but
probably only because it was the first of his books that I read. They
are all terrific! -- He has always been a pioneer. Jared Diamond drew
on much of his material for Guns, Germs and Steel.
***************************************************
Science News
Church joins crusade over climate change
Nature 440, 136-137 (9 March 2006) | doi:10.1038/440136a
Special Report
Evangelical leaders have called on the United States to step up
its efforts to control greenhouse-gas emissions. But can they force
action where others have failed, asks Amanda Haag.
Fire and brimstone are coming to the aid of US science, as
evangelical scientists and their allies in the religious community
embark on a battle against climate change.
"The time has come...for destroying those who destroy the Earth,"
says Calvin DeWitt, a professor of environmental studies at the
University of Wisconsin, Madison, quoting from the Scriptures. The
Bible teaches stewardship of the planet, he says, which is partly why
86 prominent US evangelical Christians last month signed the
'Evangelical Climate Initiative' calling for mandatory limits on
greenhouse-gas emissions.
The movement began in 2000, when 50 evangelical scientists —
including DeWitt — signed a statement calling for policy-makers to
take steps towards reducing the threat of climate change. It is a
rare move in the United States, where environmentalists and the
religious community often find themselves in opposite camps. Climate
activists hope the initiative will have the political clout to help
sway President George W. Bush's administration towards mandatory
emissions cuts. Bush has not signed up to the international Kyoto
Protocol on regulating greenhouse gases. Instead, he is promoting
clean-energy technologies through agreements such as the six-nation
Asia–Pacific partnership. Yet many of Bush's core supporters are
religious conservatives.
Evangelicals are a powerful social force in the United States,
with the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) boasting 30
million members. 'Evangelical' is an umbrella term encompassing more
than 50 denominations whose members typically believe in Jesus Christ
and that the Bible is the authoritative word of God. The NAE has not
officially endorsed the climate initiative, but many of the
organization's leaders believe it represents a growing consensus that
climate change is a matter for concern.
Climate researchers are watching the movement with optimism. Jim
White, a University of Colorado geochemist who studies ice sheets in
Greenland, says that it will almost certainly accelerate public
support for action on climate change. "To have a group that has
historically fought the notion come around — I think that does impact
on the public's thinking," he says.
Climate-induced changes in sea level are seen by many
evangelicals as having a moral dimension. And it is this public
support that some believe could influence conservative legislators.
Eileen Claussen, president of the Pew Center on Global Climate
Change, based in Arlington, Virginia, says that the lack of
significant public demand for action on climate has hampered
acceptance by members of Congress. "So I think the evangelical
initiative is welcomed by all," she adds.
One reason many are hopeful about change is that certain key
evangelicals — such as Ted Haggard, president of the NAE, and Richard
Cizik, the group's vice-president of government affairs — speak
regularly with the White House. "That's very significant," says
DeWitt. "I think the president really wants evangelicals to see him
as evangelical." If Bush does not warm to the idea of mandatory
emissions, DeWitt says, he could lose some of his key support.
To have a group that has historically fought the notion come
around does impact on the public's thinking. Backers of the
initiative are now distributing the statement to Congress, hoping to
educate legislators on their views. "They may be able to hear the
message about climate change from us where they couldn't necessarily
hear it and really listen to it from others," says Reverend Jim Ball,
executive director of the Evangelical Environmental Network, which is
championing the initiative.
A positive development would be to bring together two bipartisan
groups of senators — one led by John McCain (Republican, Arizona) and
Joe Lieberman (Democrat, Connecticut), and the other by Pete Domenici
(Republican, New Mexico) and Jeff Bingaman (Democrat, New Mexico) —
who have separately put forward climate-change legislation. Domenici
and Bingaman have scheduled an April congressional climate conference
to discuss ways of mandating emissions cuts.
The evangelicals say they realize they won't change minds
overnight. "We're under no illusions that our statement, or its
circulating, is going to break open the log jam," says Ball. In the
meantime, the group is airing advertisements on major television
networks. They next aim to build relationships within the business
community, in part by planning for a November meeting between
business leaders and evangelicals to help show that climate change
can be tackled in ways that will not harm the economy.
John Houghton, a leader in the Christian environmental movement
(see 'The man who preaches science'), says the task is particularly
hard in the United States. He lectures frequently to international
audiences and says that, outside the United States, he rarely
encounters resistance to the validity of climate-change science. But
leaders of the initiative feel the science is now solid enough to
convince even the unbelievers. "If there was not such an overwhelming
scientific consensus, we probably wouldn't be able to get traction on
this issue in our community," says Ball.
Biblical imperative
But there is still plenty of ground to cover. The NAE's Cizik
opted not to sign the statement, although he is a convert to
accepting climate change as a reality and helped persuade many
supporters of the initiative. Cizik had originally signed the
document, but 22 evangelical leaders asked him not to be seen as
taking a stand for the NAE, which historically acts only in cases of
consensus on an issue. Cizik retracted his name, feeling that he
could make a stronger case as a facilitator than an advocate.
For him, the ramifications are greater than politics alone. "I
believe the very reputation of the gospel is at stake," he says. He
likens climate change to the civil-rights movement of the 1960s, in
which evangelicals did not act aggressively.
A union between evangelicals and scientists was only a matter of
time, says DeWitt, who has written at length on "evangelical
environmentalism". Raised in the Christian Reformed Church, he grew
up believing that investigation of the natural world goes hand in
hand with biblical theology. Not until he went to college did he
become aware of the divide between the two communities. "We've built
this illusion that we can talk about ourselves on the one hand and
the environment on the other hand," says DeWitt.
For many evangelicals, the flashpoint was the growing realization
that climate change could wreak its worst effects on the poorest
countries, in the form of heat waves, floods and tropical diseases.
Sea-level rise could immerse low-lying regions, and agricultural
productivity could be sharply reduced in areas such as sub-Saharan
Africa.
More than ever, evangelicals are viewing their call to respond as
a biblical and moral imperative. "It's a bigger question now," says
DeWitt. "Do you really answer to the creator of Heaven and Earth?"
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Antarctica Is Shrinking - Gravity Survey Shows Overall Loss in Ice
from Nature News
First Greenland, and now Antarctica. Research shows that both of
these massive ice sheets are getting smaller.
"In my mind, there is no doubt that Antarctica is losing mass,"
said Isabella Velicogna of the University of Colorado at Boulder, and
lead author of a paper published in Science1, the latest study in an
avalanche of research on the topic.
Just two weeks ago, Science also published an article stating
that Greenland is melting more quickly than it is growing (see
'Glacial pace picks up').
Previous work on both of these areas has shown that the edges of
the ice sheets are melting while their centres are growing thanks to
increased snowfall. It has been unclear until recently whether the
sum of these two effects is a growing or shrinking mass of ice.
http://tinyurl.com/rb5kh
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Scared of Sharks? Just Dive 10,000 Feet
from the New York Times (Registration Required)
Here's a little secret: There are no sharks in the deep oceans.
That may come as a surprise, but for years, scientists who study
the deep sea have had a sneaking suspicion that sharks do not live
below about 10,000 feet. And now that suspicion has been confirmed by
Imants G. Priede of the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. The
finding, published in The Proceedings of the Royal Society B, has
implications for efforts to conserve shark species.
Dr. Priede has studied the deep oceans for more than two decades,
deploying cameras and other equipment 20,000 feet down near Hawaii,
among other places. "One of the facts that emerged was that we never
see sharks out on the abyssal plains," he said, referring to the deep
ocean basins far from land. http://tinyurl.com/povl3
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Carbon Burial Plan for North Sea
from BBC News Online
British and Norwegian oil companies have announced plans to bury
carbon dioxide under the bed of the North Sea.
Statoil and Shell plan to take CO2 from a power station in Norway
and pipe it to an oil field, where it will be used to force oil to
the surface.
The $1.2bn-1.5bn scheme will require major investment from
governments.
The process of carbon sequestration is viewed by some as a
partial solution to climate change, but can also help companies
exploit oil reserves further. http://tinyurl.com/evps6
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Summer Programs, Courses, Internships, Meetings, Opportunities
Symposium on Hypoxia in Gulf of Mexico
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are co-sponsoring a symposium on
25-27 April 2006 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to evaluate the current
scientific understanding of factors influencing hypoxia in the Gulf
of Mexico. Additional information on the symposium may be found at
http://www.cop.noaa.gov/stressors/pollution/features/fs-2005-11-25-
hyp.html
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NECSI SUMMER SCHOOL -- June 12-23, 2006
http://necsi.org/education/school/summer06.html
Week One - Complex Physical, Biological and Social Systems
Week Two - Modeling, Networks and Evolution of Complex Systems
Each program is the equivalent of a one semester course in a one
week format. They may be taken independently or consecutively. If
desired, arrangements for credit at a home institution should be made
in advance.
WEEK ONE
CX201: Complex Physical, Biological and Social Systems
Dates: June 12-16, 2006
Location: MIT, Cambridge, MA
This course offers an introduction to the essential concepts of
complex systems and related mathematical methods and simulation
strategies with application to physical, biological and social
systems. The course will particularly focus on the use of multiscale
representations as a unifying approach to complex systems concepts,
methods and applications.
Concepts to be discussed include: emergence, complexity,
networks, self-organization, pattern formation, evolution,
adaptation, fractals, chaos, cooperation, competition, attractors,
interdependence, scaling, dynamic response, information, and function.
Methods to be discussed include: statistical methods, cellular
automata, agent-based modeling, pattern recognition, system
representation and informatics.
WEEK TWO
CX202: Modeling, Networks & Evolution of Complex Systems
Dates: June 19-23, 2006
Location: MIT, Cambridge, MA
This course offers a systematic study of three key complex
systems areas.
Modeling: "how to" build models of complex systems (physical,
biological, social and engineering).
Networks: network models of complex systems: nodes and links,
connectivity; topologies: small worlds, scale free, modular; dynamics
of networks.
Evolution: evolution in biology, social and engineered systems,
altruism and selfishness, speciation, diversity, and spatial models.
TARGET AUDIENCE:
These courses are intended for faculty, graduate students, post-
doctoral fellows and others who would like to gain an understanding
of the fundamentals of complex systems, and develop methodological
tools for conducting research in their respective fields. For more
information and registration: http://necsi.net/education/school/
summer06.html
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This newsletter has been developed by C. Susan Weiler to distribute
information of potential interest to recent PhDs engaged in
interdisciplinary aquatic science or climate-change research, and to
build an international sense of community among recent grads. It
provides an international forum for the exchange of information and
opinions regarding research, professional and social issues. The
views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the
funding agencies or sponsoring societies. Dr. Weiler reserves the
right to edit or reject material submitted to the list.
Please submit announcements of interest to recent PhDs to
phd at whitman.edu. Send a short message in the body of an e-mail
message, and link to any appropriate websites. Do not send attachments.
Moving? Send address changes to dialog at whitman.edu or
disccrs at whitman.edu
**********
C. Susan Weiler, Ph.D.
Office for Earth System Studies Tel: 509-527-5948
Whitman College Fax: 509-527-5961
Walla Walla, WA 99362
weiler at whitman.edu
Programs for Recent PhDs http://aslo.org/phd.html
DIALOG poster http://www.aslo.org/phd/dialogposter.pdf
DISCCRS poster http://www.aslo.org/phd/disccrsposter.pdf
Workshop Report, Meeting the Needs of
Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Graduates in a
Changing Global Environment
http://marcus.whitman.edu/~weilercs/biocomplexity/
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