Climate Leadership Initiative Publications
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The Global Warming and Society program is focused on developing public education and communication strategies as well as promoting the Climate Change Resource Center, an initiative aimed at providing GHG quantifications for local governments and communities, municipal and regional assessments of socio-economic consequences of global warming and abrupt climate change, mitigation and adaptation policy analysis and program development and water and watershed management policy.
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Browsing Climate Leadership Initiative Publications by Subject "Climatic changes"
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Item Open Access Climate change communications(Community Planning Workshop, Community Service Center, University of Oregon, 2005-05) Potasnik, Rebeca; Almquist, Bill; Bodane, Kate; Johnson, Bethany; White, Linda; Bowles, GregIn winter 2005, Resource Innovations initiated a project designed to identify the most effective means to communicate with local populations about climate change. The project is intended to identify speakers and messages that will resonate with Lane County residents as well as business, civic, and government leaders to help them understand what climate change is, what the impacts may be, and what can be done about it. Specifically, the project aims to identify effective language and communication styles as well as who should carry them. Resource Innovations contracted with Community Planning Workshop (CPW) at the University of Oregon to conduct four focus groups in Lane County, Oregon as part of the first phase of this project. Focus group populations included: residents of South Eugene, residents of Cottage Grove, business leaders from Eugene, and business leaders from Springfield and rural Lane County. The focus group discussions centered on four communication issues related to climate change: (1) Issue Framing; (2) Communications Channels; (3) Motivation and Behavior Modification; and (4) Local Government Roles. Focus groups were held in a casual environment, and participants were encouraged to speak their minds openly on the various issues and questions presented.Item Open Access Climate Change Preparedness of Oregon Municipal Water Providers in Snow-Transient Basins(Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2007-11-30) Climate Leadership Initiative; Bartleson, Becca; Doppelt, BobIn summer of 2007 the Climate Leadership Initiative (CLI) at the University of Oregon surveyed municipal water providers serving populations of over 4,500 people located within snow-transient basins in Oregon about their preparedness for the potential effects of climate change. Prior to the survey, maps were produced for CLI identifying low elevation watersheds in the state where slight temperature increases were likely to turn snow into rain, thus reducing snowpack and causing earlier snowmelt.1 Municipal water supplies in these "snow-transient basins" could experience changes to their water supply regimes if storage systems were not situated in locations capable of capturing rain runoff or if snowmelt occurring earlier in the year. The goals of the CLI survey were threefold: 1) to determine which water supply systems could potentially be at risk; 2) to determine the extent to which local providers were aware of the potential risks to their systems posed by rising temperatures; and 3) to ascertain how many providers had developed climate preparation plans or policies.Item Open Access Climate Communications and Behavior Change: A Guide for Practitioners(2010) Climate Leadership Initiative; Pike, Cara; Doppelt, Bob; Herr, MeredithAddressing global warming calls for changes in beliefs, assumptions and thinking about the environment, economy and our well-being. If you close your eyes and think about global warming, it is hard to picture. We can’t see carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases building up in the atmosphere. Carbon comes from endless sources, not just the obvious places that come to mind when we think about pollution such as smoke stacks. We hear the term global warming yet there are freak snowstorms and record low temperatures in places not expected. How can we get our head around a problem that we can’t see, touch or feel yet involves major risks to life on Earth as we know it?Item Open Access Climate Master Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Help People Curb Their Household Climate Impact(2009) Climate Leadership InitiativeGlobal warming is the most pressing issue facing the world today. The latest report from the largest group of scientists ever to study an issue, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), states that greenhouse-gas emissions must peak by 2015 and decrease by 80 percent or more by 2050 in order to avoid dramatic temperature increases and the severe economic, social, and environmental impact that would accompany such increases. According to the IPCC, making this shift requires action within the next two to three years at all levels of society.Item Open Access Economic Impacts Of Climate Change On Forest Resources in Oregon A Preliminary Analysis(Resource Innovations, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2007-05) Climate Leadership Initiative; Bauman, YoramThis report offers a preliminary assessment of the economic effects of global climate change on Oregon’s forest resources during the first half of the twenty-first century.Item Open Access Leading By Example : Emission Reductions in Public Health Agencies(2010-05) Climate Leadership Initiative; Oregon Coalition of Local Health OfficialsClimate change poses a significant and emerging threat to public health.1 Drought, heat waves, flooding, and disease are all exacerbated by climate change. Across the globe, hundreds of thousands of deaths annually have been directly linked to a changing climate, while also indirectly affecting the health of a comparable number of people each year. In 1995, for example, a six-day heat wave in Chicago resulted in 525 heat-related fatalities, 208 deaths from health problems further complicated by heat exposure, and thousands of hospitalizations from heat-related symptoms.2 Public health agencies and organizations can play a vital role in helping to prepare the public for these kinds of impacts, as well as reducing emissions that lead to further changes in our global climate. They are particularly well equipped to serve the most vulnerable populations in our communities such as low-income families who face disproportionate impacts of climate change, while having fewer resources to respond to these changes. In addition to the physical changes that will result from a changing climate, climate change and rising energy prices also have the potential to exacerbate social and health inequities. This manual is a response to those concerns. It provides guidance on how to prioritize and implement the operational changes that allow public agencies to shrink their climate impact, and it also provides guidance about how to demonstrate a commitment to a healthy future.Item Open Access Q & A For Climate Skeptics: Answers to the Most Frequently Stated Concerns(Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2006) Climate Leadership InitiativeItem Open Access SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT Responses To Common Challenges To Climate Science(2009-01) Climate Leadership InitiativeA good deal of misinformation has appeared in recent months challenging the reality, causes and trajectory of human-induced climate change. This document provides scientifically credible responses to some of the most commonly heard challenges.