The National Council for Science and the Environment invites you to participate in the 8th National Conference on Science, Policy, and the Environment to develop and advance science-based solutions to climate change.
Join us in the dialogue with leading scientists, policy makers, industry leaders, educators, and other solutions-oriented innovators to develop comprehensive strategies for protecting people and the planet against the threat of climate change.
The three-day conference will be held January 16-18, 2008, at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, DC. An interactive agenda features skill-building workshops, targeted breakout sessions, plenary sessions, and symposia to provide participants with an expansive understanding of climate change solutions—and how we can achieve them.
Agenda
Wednesday January 16, 2008
8:00 am Registration
9:30 am – 12:00 pm Pre-conference Skill-building Workshops (registration required)
~ 20 Workshops led by partners grouped under the following themes:
- Campus-based/ University Inititiatives
- Government and Policy Solutions
- Community Initiatives
- Climate Change Education: Formal and Informal
- Monitoring and Assessment Tools
- Communicating Climate Change
12:00 pm Showcase of Solutions– Exhibition and Scientific Poster presentations open
1:00 pm Keynote Address: Climate Change: Science to Solutions – What do we know? How do we act in time and in appropriate scale?
2:00 pm Plenary Presentation: Summarizing Global Change Science and the Likely Implications of Global Climate Change.
Moderator and IPCC Overview: Mohan Munasinghe, Vice Chair, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Chairman, Munasinghe Institute for Development (MIND)
- The Atmosphere and the Cryosphere- Michael MacCracken, Chief Scientist for Climate Change Programs, The Climate Institute
- Biodiversity and Ecological Impacts – Tom Lovejoy, President, The H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics, and the Environment
- Human (Health and Well Being) Impacts- Sarah James, Alaskan Gwitch’in Steering Committee and Goldman Environmental prize-winner
- National Security Impacts- Sherri Goodman, General Counsel, The CNA Corporation
3:30 pm Plenary Presentation: Tackling Global Change: Key Social and Ecological Issues for Mitigation and Adaptation
Moderator: Arden Bement, Director, National Science Foundation
- Forest Management Response to Climate Change – Abigail Kimbell, Chief, US Forest Service
- Oceans – Carbon Sink or Sinking Ecosystems – Margaret Leinen, Chief Scientific Officer, Climos
- Ecosystem and Health Challenges – Mary C. Pearl, President, Wildlife Trust
- People- The Solution- Thomas Dietz, Director of the Environmental Science and Policy Program, Michigan State University
4:30 pm Plenary Roundtable: Tackling Global Change: Key Energy and Technology Issues for Stabilization
Moderator: Mark Myers , Director, US Geological Survey
- Global Energy and Technology Strategy- Jae Edmonds, Laboratory Fellow and Chief Scientist, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
- Healthy Solutions for a Low Carbon Economy- Paul Epstein, Associate Director, Center for Health and the Global Environment, Harvard Medical School
- Role of Technology in Mitigating Global Climate Change- Frank Princiotta, Director, Air Pollution Prevention and Control Division, US EPA ORD
- A Post Bali Framework for Climate Technology Innovation- Lewis Milford, President, Clean Energy Group
- Commentary on Energy and Technological Challenges- David Rodgers, Deputy Assistant Secretary, United States Department of Energy
5:30 – 6:30 pm Reception: Showcase of Solutions– Exhibition and Scientific Poster presentations
6:30 – 8:00 pm Perspectives of the Next Generation of Climate Change Leaders
Moderator: Philippe Cousteau, Co-Founder, EarthEcho
Opening remarks by Douglas Cohen, US Partnership, National Youth Initiatives and Session Co-Organizer
- The Envirolution: Alex Gamboa, Timothy Polmateer, Antuan Cannon
- Scott Beall, DoRight Enterprises
- Jessy Tolkan, Energy Action Coalition
Thursday, January 17, 2008
8:00 am Registration and Continental Breakfast
9:00 am Keynote Address: Climate Change: Science to Solutions – The Case for Business Leadership
James E. Rogers, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Duke Energy Corporation
10:00 am Plenary Roundtable: Solutions: Engaging Communities Large and Small
Moderator: Peter Senge, Founding Chairperson, Society for Organizational Learning
- Energizing the Faithful – Rev. Richard Cizek, Vice-President, National Association of Evangelicals
- Engaging the Campuses – Michael Crow, President, Arizona State University
- Engaging the Populace – Bill McKibben, Author, Scholar-in-residence in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College
- Bringing Together Jobs, Justice, Environment and Community- Jerome Ringo, President, Apollo Alliance
11:00 am Plenary Roundtable: Solutions: Science and Policy on a Global Scale
Moderator and Opening Remarks: Global Leadership for Climate Action – Report from Bali – Mohamed El-Ashry, Senior Fellow, The UN Foundation and Former CEO and Chair, Global Environment Facility
- Post-Kyoto International Agreements – Amb. Richard Benedick, President, National Council for Science and the Environment
- IPCC: Future Role beyond the 4th Assessment- Stephen Schneider, Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University
- Global Energy Assessment- Bob Corell, Global Change Director, The H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics, and the Environment
- European or Chinese perspective TBD
1:30 – 5:00 pm Breakout Sessions: Developing a Blueprint for the Low Carbon Economy (concurrent)
~40 Sessions grouped under the following themes:
- Strategies for Stabilization, Minimization, Mitigation and Adaptation
- Stabilization/Mitigation
- End-use Technologies
- Economics and Policy
- Population and Consumption
- Adaptation
- Stabilization/Mitigation
- Guiding and Fostering Multi-disciplinary Research
- Expanding Understanding: Information, Education and Communication
- Communicating Science to Decisionmakers and the Public
- Managing Global Change Science Information
- Integrating Global Change into Education at All Levels and Across the Curriculum
5:30 pm Lifetime Achievement Award
6:00 pm 8th John H. Chafee Memorial Lecture on Science and the Environment
“Meeting the Climate-Change Challenge” given by
John P. Holdren, President and Director, The Woods Hole Research Center
7:00 pm Reception
Friday, January 18, 2008
8:00 am Continental Breakfast
8:45 am American Perspective on Climate Change – Jon Krosnick, Professor of Communication, Political Science, and Psychology, Stanford University
9:00 am Plenary Roundtable
Developing Political Solutions to Climate Change (discussion with political leaders from Administration, Congress, state, local and other national governments)
Moderator: Ray Suarez , Senior Correspondent, The News Hour
10:30 am Symposia – Concurrent
- Beyond Kyoto – Elements of a 20202 International Agreement– Moderator: Mohamed El-Ashry, Senior Fellow, The UN Foundation and Former CEO and Chair, Global Environment Facility; Dilip Ahuja, National Institute of Advanced Studies; Scott Barrett, Professor and Director, International Policy Program, Johns Hopkins University
- Climate Change and International Development – Moderator: Mohan Munasinghe, Vice Chair, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Chairman, Munasinghe Institute for Development (MIND); Thomas Schelling, University of Maryland; Adrian Vazquez, Commission for Environmental Cooperation; Ralph Cicerone, President, National Academy of Sciences
- Role of Philanthropic Foundations: Promoting Strategic Initiatives on Climate Change – Moderator: Sharon Alpert, Program Officer of the Environmental Program, Surdna Foundation ; Andrew Bowman, Director of the Climate Change Initiative, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation; Kathleen Welch, Deputy Director of the Environmental Program, the Pew Charitable Trusts; Eric Heitz, President, the Energy Foundation; Elizabeth Chadri, Program Officer for Conservation and Sustainable Development, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
- Business and Finance: Opportunities and Challenges from Climate Change – Moderator: Jeffrey Leonard , CEO, Global Environment Fund; Bruce Schlein, Vice President Environmental Affairs, Citi; Mindy Lubber, President, CERES; Bruce Mundiel, Swiss Re; Mark Tercek, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs’ Center for Environmental Markets
- Forging Alliances Between Business and Society – US Climate Action Partnership; Tim Mealey, Senior Partner, Meridian Institute; DuPont; Exelon Corporation; Environmental Defense; The Nature Conservancy; Pew Center on Global Climate Change; Shell
- Legislative Agenda for Addressing the Carbon Problem –L. Jeremy Richardson, 2007-2008 AAAS Roger Revelle Fellow in Global Stewardship; Margaret Turnbull , Space Telescope Science Institute; Ken Colburn, Center for Climate Strategies; Lexi Shultz, Representative for Climate Policy, the Union of Concerned Scientists
- Engaging State and Local Government: Developing and Implementing Climate Action Plans- Dan Kammen, University of California- Berkeley
- Climate Scientists and Decisionmakers: the Communication Interface – Moderator:Rebecca J. Romsdahl, Department of Earth Systems Science and Policy, University of North Dakota;Stacy Rosenberg, Assistant Professor, Department of Politics & Environmental Studies, SUNY Potsdam; Deborah Cowman, Assistant Research Scientist, Institute for Science, Technology and Public Policy, Texas A&M University; Chris Pyke, Constructive Technologies Group, Inc.; Kit Batten, Director of Environmental Policy, Center for American Progress; David Bookbinder, Senior Attorney, Sierra Club; Roger Pulwarty, National Drought Information System, NOAA, Boulder, CO
- Communicating Climate Science to the Public Through the Media – Moderator: Deborah Potter, NewsLab; David Malakoff, Editor/Correspondent, NPR Science Desk; Stephen Schneider, Melvin and Joan Lane Professor for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies, Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University; Joe Witte, Meteorologist, WJLA-TV; Doyle Rice, USA Today Weather Editor; Sara Espinoza, National Environmental Education Foundation
- Science for Carbon Management – Eric Sundquist, Research Geologist, US Geological Society
12:30 pm Buffet Lunch (with youth mentoring tables)
2:00 pm Presidential Candidates Forum: What Will the Next President do to Manage Climate Change?
Each Candidate is invited to attend or send a representative. Opening statements and moderated discussion.
Moderator: Vijay Vaitheeswaran , Global Correspondent, The Economist, using information from the Presidential Climate Action Plan led by former Senator Gary Hart and from other sources