Sustainable Solutions for an Overused World

For a readable introduction, written to the usual high standards of The New Yorker, see the three part series by Elizabeth Kolbert (2005), "The Climate of Man", which appeared in the April 25, May 2 and May 9 issues of The New Yorker. Part I: "Disappearing islands, thawing permafrost, melting polar ice. How the earth is changing." Part II: "The curse of Akkad." (Akkad was the world's first empire, around 2300 B.C. It collapsed in a period of prolonged drought.) Part III: "What can be done?" Also an interview with the author.

The New Mexico Climate Change Advisory Group (CCAG) was created by Governor Richardson in June.ÊMembers include representatives from industry, agriculture, nongovernmental organizations, local government organizations including tribes, and the DOE Laboratories.ÊThe group is charged with proposing and evaluating ways to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to meet the targets set in the June Executive Order.ÊMeetings are open to the public.

UN Framework Convention on Climate Change includes information on the Kyoto protocol and Kyoto mechanisms including emissions trading.

The Global Commons Institute (GCI) has many resources on Contraction & Convergence.

The Heat is OnLine. Ross Gelbspan's site, with plenty of links to industry disinformation. His solution is called The World Energy Modernization Plan. See also Apollo Alliance, although their emphasis is more on "energy independence".

The Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 2001.

The Carbon Mitigation Initiative is a joint project of Princeton University, BP and the Ford Motor Company to develop strategies to reduce GHG emissions.Ê They are promoting a concept called Òstabilization wedgesÓ, 25 billion ton "slices" that need to be cut out of predicted future carbon emissions to stabilize atmospheric concentrations below 500 ppm (still well above today's level), which was described in an article in Science (Vol. 305, p. 968, 13 August 2004, available here.)Ê

Other pages for Sustainable Solutions course: