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In
the Spotlight
NRC
Releases Report on Climate Change Education
New Blog
Post: "Adapting to climate change: A matter
of dollars and sense"
EPA
Releases Policy Statement on Climate Change Adaptation
Cross-EPA Climate Change Adaptation Planning Work Group
Lead Author for Strategy to Reduce Maryland's
Vulnerability to Climate Change
Webcast:
"An Introduction to Climate Change Adaptation"
2010 GreenGov Presidential Award
Article on Carbon Sequestration and Groundwater
Protection
NRC Releases Report on Climate Change Education
The global
scientific community now unequivocally accepts that
human activities cause global climate change. Although
information on climate change is readily available, the
nation still seems unprepared or unwilling to respond
effectively to climate change, due partly to a general
lack of public understanding of climate change issues
and opportunities for effective responses. To begin
addressing this issue, the National Research Council
(NRC) Roundtable on Climate Change Education, on which
Joel Scheraga serves, convened a workshop in October
2010. The workshop focused on the goals of climate
change education for various target audiences and the
potential challenges in reaching those goals across the
range of these audiences, among both the public and
decision makers. This
NRC report is a summary of
discussions at the workshop.
EPA Releases Policy Statement on Climate Change
Adaptation Planning
On June 2, 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency released its first-ever
Policy Statement on
Climate Change Adaptation. The statement commits the
agency to addressing the impacts climate change may have
on its programs, policies, rules, and operations through adaptation
planning. The statement was developed by the Cross-EPA
Work Group on Climate Change Adaptation Planning,
chaired by Joel Scheraga.
(copy of Policy Statement...)
Cross-EPA
Work Group on Climate Change Adaptation Planning
EPA
has established a new Work Group on Climate Change
Adaptation Planning. The Work Group is chaired by Joel
Scheraga and charged with developing and implementing a
climate change adaptation plan for EPA.
Two
recent policy actions motivated the establishment of the
Work Group. First, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson
identified climate adaptation as an important component
of her climate change priority. As noted in EPA’s
Strategic Plan, the Agency must incorporate the
anticipated, unprecedented changes in climate into its
programs and rules to continue to fulfill statutory,
regulatory, and programmatic requirements. Second, the
importance of "mainstreaming" climate adaptation into
EPA’s activities was reaffirmed in a report delivered to
President Obama by the Interagency Climate Change
Adaptation Task Force in October 2010. The Task Force
report states that individual federal agencies should
establish and implement coordinated climate adaptation
action plans that address the challenges posed by
climate change to their missions, operations, and
programs.
The new EPA Climate Change
Adaptation Work Group will develop and implement an
adaptation plan for EPA that simultaneously satisfies
the goals of the EPA Strategic Plan and the
Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force.
Lead Author for Strategy to Reduce
Maryland's Vulnerability to Climate Change
Maryland's people, wildlife, land and public investments
are at risk due to expected consequences of climate
change including sea level rise, increased storm
intensity, extreme drought and heat waves, and
intensified wind and rainfall events. The Maryland
Commission on Climate Change released its
Phase II Strategy for Reducing Maryland's Vulnerability
to Climate Change on January 24, 2011. The
report outlines strategies to reduce the impacts of
climate change within the following sectors: Human
Health; Agriculture; Forest and Terrestrial Ecosystems;
Bay and Aquatic Environments; Water Resources; and
Population Growth and Infrastructure. Joel Scheraga is the Lead Author of
the Human Health chapter. |
