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climate change

19 April 2011 – 1:01 pm
Also posted in Uncategorized and news & events

James Hansen’s NZ Tour Dates

James Hansen will be touring New Zealand next month, giving a public lecture entitled “Climate Change: a scientific, moral and legal issue” in Auckland, Palmerston North, Wellington, Dunedin, Gore and Christchurch.

Coal and lignite will be a major focus of his visit, and he’ll be participating in a symposium on “the future of coal” in Wellington on May 17th.

Hansen’s tour is being sponsored by a number of groups, including 350.org, Greenpeace, Organic Systems NZ, Oxfam, The Pure Advantage, the Institute of Policy Studies, and a number of interested academics and individuals.

Hansen’s NZ Tour, May 2011
Thurs 12th May: Auckland: public lecture 6pm, University of Auckland Business School, OGGB4, Level 0, Owen Glenn Building, 12 Grafton Road.

Fri 13th May: Palmerston North: public lecture 1.30-2.45pm, Japan Lecture Theatre, Massey University.

Mon 16th May: Wellington: public lecture 5.45pm, Rutherford House, welcomed by Mayor Celia Wade-Brown.

Tues 17th May: Wellington: 8.45 am – 5.30 pm IPS Symposium on the Future of Coal (pdf) Victoria University: (he will speak 10.20 to 11.30, on panel 4pm -5.30pm).

Wed 18th May: Dunedin: public lecture5.30 – 7pm, St David’s Lecture Hall.

Thurs 19th May: Gore: 2 pm public meeting hosted by Mataura Landcare group, Gore District Council.

Friday 20th May: Christchurch: public talk 5.30 pm, hosted by Kennedy Graham, MP, venue to be confirmed.

Saturday 21st May: Auckland: Daytime event to be confirmed.

18 April 2011 – 10:53 am
Also posted in Uncategorized and health

Climate Change and Health papers

Global Climate Change And Health –A New Theme For Research in Environmental Medicine.
The ‘Hothaps’ programme for assessing climate change impacts on occupational health and productivity: an invitation to carry out field studies.

14 April 2011 – 9:23 am
Also posted in news & events

A public lecture by Dr. James Hansen

Centre for the Study of Agriculture, Food & Environment and
Otago Energy Research Centre

invite you to…

“Human-Made Climate Change: A Scientific, Moral and Legal Issue”

A public lecture by Dr. James Hansen -WORLD-RENOWNED CLIMATE SCIENTIST

Wednesday 18 May, 2011
5:30 pm
St. David Lecture Theatre
University of Otago

Dr. James Hansen is the director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, and Adjunct Professor at Columbia University?s Earth Institute. He is best known for bringing the urgency of the climate change issue to the world?s attention when he gave evidence to the US congress in 1988. Jeanette Fitzsimons, prominent NZ environmentalist, says: “Dr. Hansen is one of the best-known climate scientists in the world. He offers a recipe for how to achieve a stable climate that will be particularly relevant to New Zealand.”

Mark your calendars! And spread the word!

6 April 2011 – 6:03 pm
Also posted in news & events and podcasts and research

Renewable Energy – making the transition a reality

PODCASTS NOW AVAILABLE

Dr. Eric Martinot

Podcast: Prof Bob Lloyd

Podcast: Caroline Ryder

Podcast: Eion Scott

This seminar will focus on some of the more difficult aspects of the transition to renewable energy; what’s likely to be needed and what’s likely to be possible. Through the different perspectives and viewpoints we hope to interrogate more thoroughly what’s needed and by when.

Dr. Eric Martinot is an internationally recognized scholar and teacher on renewable energy.  He is lead author and research director emeritus of the REN21 Renewables Global Status Report, an annual synthesis of the state of renewable energy worldwide.  He serves as senior research director with the Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies in Japan, teaching fellow at Victoria University of Wellington, and senior visiting scholar at Tsinghua University in Beijing. He is also chair of the World Council for Renewable Energy (WCRE).  He was formerly a senior energy specialist with the World Bank and is author of 70 publications on sustainable energy. He has a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley and a B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Professor Bob Lloyd is from Australia, he came to New Zealand in 2002 after having worked for the Australian Coo-operative Research Centre for Renewable Energy (ACRE), based at Murdoch University in Perth. He has also worked on renewable energy systems in China and the Pacific Islands and taught at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji. His current research interests at Otago University, where he is the Director of Energy Studies and Associate Professor in the Physics Department, lie in energy conservation in residential housing and energy management including world energy resources and peak oil. His PhD from Flinders University in South Australia was completed in the field of experimental atomic physics.

Caroline Ryder is a senior policy analyst at the Ministry of Economic Development.  She currently works on renewable energy and RMA policy.

Eion Scott, Eco Design Advisor in the Building Policy unit of Auckland Council, has a background in communications and social marketing, is currently chairman of the Sustainable Living Education Trust and is actively involved with efforts to green the Christchurch rebuild. Eion specialised in energy efficiency while promoting Environment Canterbury’s Clean Heat Project, and is one of a dozen Eco Design Advisors trained by BRANZ to give free, practical, tailored advice to homeowners, architects and the building trade. He helped develop Auckland Council’s policy around solar hot water building consents and is involved in piloting the Council’s eco-loans programme, Retrofit Your Home, and the Green Building Council’s new Homestar© certified rating.

31 March 2011 – 11:41 am
Also posted in Uncategorized

summary of the IPCC Expert Meeting on Human Settlements and Infrastructure

Thanks to Professor Alistair Woodward for providing us with this brief summary of the IPCC Expert Meeting on Human Settlements and Infrastructure – March 22-24, Kolkata

The 4th Assessment Report had no stand alone section on urban issues, despite the importance of cities as an economic force and the centre of population growth world-wide. It has been resolved that the 5th Report will focus more explicitly on settlements and the related issue of infrastructure, and also will attempt to bridge more satisfactorily the work of Working Group 2 (impacts and adaptation) and Working Group 3 (mitigation). It might be noted also that AR4 focused strongly on technology and efficiency as responses to climate change; here there is an opportunity to take a broader approach, and examine the systemic and structural influences on land use and energy consumption.

31 March 2011 – 11:36 am
Also posted in NZ policy issues and Uncategorized and behaviour change and health and housing & building and news & events and transport and urban design and urban governance

Call for Papers 2011 PHA Conference

Themes and streams

1. A vision for the future of public health: for projects or work that suggest new ways of working in public health or successful models of intervention.
2. Sustainable communities and environments: for projects or work that suggest ways of sustaining strong communities and safe environments.
3. Diversity: for projects or activities that reflect health development issues for specific communities or groups of people.

More details available on the website

22 March 2011 – 1:04 pm
Also posted in Uncategorized and news & events

Call for Papers – Cities at Risk: Building Adaptive Capacities for Managing Climate Change

Taipei, Taiwan
April 11-13, 2011
Asian coastal cities are increasingly vulnerable to flooding disasters resulting from the combined effects of climate change (sea level rise, intensified storms, and storm surges), land subsidence, and rapid urban growth. As a part of the ongoing multi‐year effort titled “Cities at Risk” (CAR), which aims to reduce risks and vulnerabilities of Asian coastal cities brought on by climate change and urban growth, a series of international conferences were envisaged. The first such conference, CAR I, was held in Bangkok in February 2009 with support from APN, ICSU and Ibaraki University (Japan). Since then a number of priority activities have taken place, including formation of active city teams working on vulnerability assessment issues and establishment
of the IRDR International Center of Excellence at Academia Sinica in Taipei. Other cities throughout Asia are also establishing national centers for disaster risk management. Hence, a second international conference –
CAR II – is now being organized with support from Academia Sinica and other partners to assess progress, to consolidate a network of researchers, decision‐makers and institutions in the region and to identify priorities for the next several years.
Details here:

21 March 2011 – 2:43 pm

Climate Futures – Pathways for Society, Wellington Sessions

Te Papa 31 March-1 April, 2011
Join us for a dialogue on our future in a changing climate
Speakers include NASA’s Erik Conway, Canadian psychologist Robert Gifford,
Australian climate scientist David Karoly, UK environment author Fred Pearce,
and New Zealand’s Martin Manning, Sacha McMeeking and Paul Reeves.

The Forum will move from climate challenge through communication and human behaviour to decision-making – individual and collective.

More information about the Forum here

(reduced rates for students, NGOs and unwaged, one day registration available)

In addition to the two day forum there is an evening Café session for the Wellington community, and a Business Breakfast, see below.

Café session
March 31st 6.30pm – 8.00pm
Icon Room, Te Papa

The Café session will be facilitated by Mr Ian Wedde – noted NZ poet, novelist and critic.

Theme: Expanding our thinking on climate change; what can I do, what do we need to do? Target audience: General public, including students

Café theme: Society taking the lead with a focus on what we can do as individuals (in terms of changing our thinking and taking actions) and what we need to do collectively and through our governance, economic and business processes to address climate change.

Speakers:

Gareth Renowden, author and journalist, Canterbury
Prof. Robert Gifford, social and environmental psychology, Victoria University, BC Canada
Prof. Sir Lloyd Geering, theologian, Wellington
Dr Bronwyn Hayward, social and political scientist, University of Canterbury

Register for the Cafe Session here

Business Breakfast – April 1st 7am-8.30am
Icon Room, Te Papa

The Business Breakfast Session will be led by Chris Laidlaw from Radio NZ’s Sunday Programme.

Theme: Responding to big risks, building resilience into our ‘capitals’: natural, built, social, economic and political

Purpose: to generate a dialogue that focuses on long-term risk management and how we can build resilience into the many ‘capitals’ we depend on for our well-being (land waters, atmosphere, biodiversity etc). The challenge is to do this in a world increasingly destabilised by human activities and the systems (social, economic, legal and political) that we use to achieve our societal goals).

Target audience: the business community, politicians, senior government officials

Panel:

Fred Pearce, UK author and environmental journalist

Professor David Karoly, Australian IPCC member, climate scientist, communication

Martin Kreft, Munich Re, Auckland

Register for the Business Breakfast here

The Business Breakfast and Cafe Session are being run in conjunction with the 2 day Climate Futures Forum

Enquiries to Liz.Thomas@vuw.ac.nz

Phone 04 463 5507

4 March 2011 – 12:37 pm
Also posted in news & events

Climate change,powerlessness and the commons dilemma: Assessing New Zealanders’preparedness to act.

Christopher Aitken, Ralph Chapman, John McClure

New article available on journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/gloenvcha

ABSTRACT Read More »

8 December 2010 – 2:16 pm
Also posted in news & events

Cities and Climate Change: Key messages from the OECD

http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/41/12/44272199.pdf

22 November 2010 – 2:22 pm
Also posted in news & events

Climate Change Forum, Te Papa, Wellington, 31 March / 1 April 2011

The NZ Climate Change Research Institute is hosting a two-day forum, supported by The Royal Society of New Zealand, at Te Papa, Wellington, 31 March / 1 April 2011.  Read More »

8 October 2010 – 10:26 am
Also posted in news & events

Climate Change Study Group – Call for Papers

Climate Change Study Group – Call for Papers
British Sociology Association Annual Conference
Date: 6-8th April 2011
Venue: The London School of Economics

The newly formed BSA climate change study group invites submissions to its session at the BSA 60th Anniversary Conference. Submissions to the open ‘climate change’ stream can address any aspect of this topic broadly defined. In addition we would like to invite contributions that explore new ideas, present recent research or promote debate on the following themes. Read More »

20 September 2010 – 10:36 am
Also posted in behaviour change and health and news & events

Signs of Change – 15-16 November 2010

1 Nation, 2 Days, 40 Signs of Change of Emerging Sustainability in Aotearoa
15-16 November 2010
Christchurch, Wellington, Auckland, Dunedin, Palmerston North, Hamilton

www.signsofchange.org.nz Read More »

17 September 2010 – 8:25 am
Also posted in Uncategorized and health and news & events

20th International Clean Air and Environment Conference – Call for Abstracts

Christchurch Convention Centre
Christchurch, New Zealand
Tuesday 5th – Friday 8th July 2011

Call for abstracts document

7 September 2010 – 12:29 pm
Also posted in NZ policy issues and behaviour change and health and news & events and transport and urban design

Atmosphere Update 01, August 2010

NIWA Link

The Healthy Urban Atmosphere research programme is New Zealand’s only long-term air quality research programme.

NIWA is leading the programme, which is funded by the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology, and is collaborating with a number of other NZ and overseas organisations.

Here we bring you updates from a selection of the research projects underway.