From:  socci at ametsoc.org
Subject: AMS Seminar: Public Attitudes, Perceptions, and Concern about Global Warming, July 11th, Wash., DC

American Meteorological Society’s Environmental Science
Seminar Series

Public Attitudes, Perceptions, and Concern about Global Warming:
Evidence from a New Survey

Friday, July 11

NEW TIME 10:30am - 12:30pm

Russell Senate Office Building, Room 253

Public Invited

According to a February, 18, 2007, press release describing a survey on public perceptions of global warming, a majority of Americans agreed with most scientists that the Earth is getting warmer, but were divided over the seriousness of the problem, predicated on a belief that scientists themselves disagreed about global warming. What, if any, was the role of the news media in fueling that perception? Is that perception still prevalent? And where does the public stand today regarding amelioration strategies? Do people support the policy solutions that are most favored by the Presidential candidates? Is there a relation between what people know about global warming and how concerned they are about it? Is there a divide between Republicans and Democrats on these matters? If so, how might one explain these differences in perceptions about global warming?

Moderator:

Dr. Anthony Socci, Senior Science Fellow, American Meteorological Society

Speaker:

Dr. Jon A. Krosnick, Frederic O. Glover Professor in Humanities and Social Sciences and Professor of Communication, Political Science, and Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

Program Summary

With both major Presidential candidates endorsing cap and trade programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and Congress increasingly devoting effort to climate change legislation, the American public’s views of these matters will become more important in the coming months. Yet survey evidence suggests that cap-and-trade is one of the public’s least favorite ways to reduce emissions. Our speaker today, Professor Jon Krosnick, has conducted a new national survey to explore the reasons for this reluctance. Different respondents were randomly assigned to receive different descriptions of cap-and-trade, to see whether some framings increased the policy’s appeal. The results identify communication strategies that were and were not successful and thereby point to reasons for the public’s reluctance. The survey also experimentally tested the hypothesis that “balanced” news media coverage of climate change has caused the majority of Americans to believe that there is no consensus among scientific experts about the existence of climate change. The survey’s evidence highlights unintended consequences of “optimal” journalism and the power of the press.

Biography

For 25 years, Dr. Jon A. Krosnick has conducted research exploring how the American public’s political attitudes are formed, change, and shape thinking and action. He is co-principal investigator of the American National Election Study, the nation’s preeminent academic project exploring voter decision-making and political campaign effects. A world-renowned expert on questionnaire design and survey research methodology, he has conducted survey studies of Americans’ attitudes on environmental issues in collaboration with ABC News, the Washington Post, Time magazine, and New Scientist magazine.

Dr. Krosnick has authored six books and more than 120 peer-reviewed scientific articles. His books include the Handbook of Questionnaire Design (forthcoming), Attitude Strength, Thinking about Politics, and Introduction to Survey Research, Polling, and Data Analysis. Dr. Krosnick teaches courses on survey methodology around the world at universities, for corporations, and for government agencies, testifies regularly as an expert witness in courts in the U.S. and abroad, and has served as an on-air election-night television commentator and exit poll data analyst.

Dr. Krosnick earned an A.B. degree in Psychology (Magna Cum Laude) from Harvard University in 1980; an M.A. degree in Social Psychology (with Honors) from the University of Michigan in 1983, and a Ph.D. in Social Psychology from University of Michigan in 1986.

Please provide us with a business card if you would like to be on our mailing list. This seminar series is open to the public and does not require a reservation. To bypass the registration table on the day of the seminar, please use this NEW online form. This ensures you will receive future email notifications for our seminars.

This seminar series is open to the public and does not require a reservation.

The Next Seminar is tentatively scheduled for Mid-Late September, 2008 .
Topic: Ecosystem Health in a Rapidly Changing Climate

Please see our web site for seminar summaries, presentations and future events: http://www.ametsoc.org/seminar

For more information please contact:

Anthony D. Socci, Ph.D. Tel. (202) 737-9006, ext. 412

Or

Jan Wilkerson Tel. (202) 737-9006, ext. 436

Cleantech Forums® are the world’s premier cleantech investment platforms, providing unparalleled definition, analysis, networking, deal flow and thought-leadership for the rapidly emerging cleantech industry.

Cleantech currently hosts four forums annually - two in North America and one in Europe and one in China. The Cleantech Forums® are the leading “must attend” capital raising events for investors therefore they are an extremely successful method for cleantech companies to raise capital through our Network. You will have access to several hundred experienced, motivated and active cleantech investors at one time. Forums offer the following:

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Participation and involvement of senior level directors from the leading investment firms active in cleantech globally. These include venture capitalists, private equity, hedge funds, investment banks, pensions, endowments, family offices, angels and corporations
Strong media representation at each forum with major outlets represented such as the New York Times, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Time, Newsweek, Business Week, Bloomberg, etc.
Leading edge information and research on the investment opportunities from the experts in clean technology innovation and trends worldwide.
The Cleantech Forums® are the only capital forums that are designed exclusively to facilitate the finance of companies commercializing clean technologies by bringing together clean technology entrepreneurs and check writers thus providing them with a venue in which deals and relationships can originate and incubate. Our forums are where deals get done.

Cleantech’s commitment is to ensure that these forums remain the industry standard for all pursuing activities related to clean technology ventures. It is this commitment that makes Cleantech Forums® a “must attend” event for most active investors in the clean technology venture space.

With each consecutive Forum we build on the success of the prior event and consistently command the largest gathering of investors interested in clean technology investment opportunities. We hope to see those interested in this compelling new category at one of our upcoming events.

Cleantech Forum® XVIII
September 15-17, 2008
Washington, DC

Cleantech Forum® XIX
October 7-9, 2008
Mumbai, India

Cleantech Forum® XX
December 3-5, 2008
Shanghai, China

Cleantech Forum® XXI
February 23-25, 2009
San Francisco

From:    jeh1 at columbia.edu
Subject: Dear Prime Minister Fukuda
Letter sent to Prime Minister Fukuda before the G8 meeting is at http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2…

makes some very interesting points about relative parts of coal, oil, and gas in 2007 emissions and their historic part in the present composition of the air, and the various sources of these emissions.

He makes suggestions and asks for Fukuda’s leadership. Please open the above link in order to read Jim Hansen’s intervention to the G8.

ALDE Conference “Religiosity and Secularism vis-à-vis fundamentalist violence”

This event is organised by ALDE MEPs: Marco Cappato, Sophie in’t Veld and
Marco Pannella with the support of the Nonviolent Radical Party

27/08/2008, 15:30 - 18:30, 28/08/2008, 9:00 - 18:30, 29/08/2008,
9:00-12.30, ASP 3G3, European Parliament, Brussels

To register please contact  marco.pannella at europarl.europa.eu and visit our
website http://www.alde.eu/index.php?id=96

If Africa Will Agree To Stop Shooting at Itself, and if the Donor Countries Can Agree To Do Something Positive in the Follo-up To A World-Agreement on a new Climate Change agreement, Africa Should be Indeed a Major Part of a Carbon Trading Mechanism.

In Anticipation of the Above, Some Tough Minded People Want To Try To Have Propsals On The Table For Real Plans Of Action. We Wish Them, And Ourselves - the Best of Luck.

Subject: Solicitation of African Carbon Offset Projects & Travel Sponsorship Opportunity
Reply-To: “Lars Rosendahl Appelquist” <lars.rosendahl@risoe.dk>

July 2, 2008

At COP‐13 in Bali, the UNFCCC Secretariat announced its intent to convene the first Africa Carbon Forum, in partnership with the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) and the multilateral agencies supporting the Nairobi Framework, including UNEP, UNDP, UNIDO, UNECA, and the World Bank. The Nairobi Framework aims to assist developing countries, especially those in sub‐Saharan Africa, to enhance their participation in the CDM. This groundbreaking high‐profile event will combine a carbon investment trade fair, a policy forum for African DNAs and climate change officials, as well as targeted capacity building for the CDM.

The Forum will take place from 3 ‐ 5 September 2008 at Le Meridien Hotel, Pointe Des Almadies, in Dakar, Senegal.

Further details and a draft agenda can be downloaded from the IETA website: http://www.ieta.org/ieta/www/pages/index…

Despite the fast growth of the global carbon market and the urgent need to boost energy and infrastructure investment in Africa, local actors are only just beginning to tap into this market. The Africa Carbon Forum will strengthen links between CDM project developers and the region’s investment community, and facilitate knowledge sharing and transactions between project sponsors and global carbon offset credit buyers. Specifically, matchmaking and deal facilitation sessions will enable potential CDM project participants and developers to showcase their projects to interested parties, including investors and carbon buyers.

The organizers therefore invite all interested parties to attend and to submit their carbon offset project concepts for consideration.

As co‐organizers of the Forum, UNEP and UNDP have pledged to provide travel sponsorships for CDM project champions from across the African continent to attend the event, based on a competitive selection.

See attached document for additional details on the sponsorship procedures and requirements.

 http://www.ieta.org/ieta/www/pages/index…

————-

BACKGROUND

At COP13 in Bali, the UNFCCC Secretariat announced its intent to convene the 1st Africa Carbon Forum, in collaboration with the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) and the partner agencies of the Nairobi Framework, including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), The World Bank and the African Development Bank. The Nairobi Framework was initiated with the specific target of helping developing countries, especially those in sub-Saharan Africa, to improve their level of participation in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

OBJECTIVE

This event will bring together representatives from designated national authorities (DNA), national focal points (NFP), representatives from several UN agencies, governments and the private sector.

The Africa Carbon Forum is a platform that will strengthen links between CDM project developers and the region’s investment community, provide opportunities for DNA representatives to exchange views and share their experiences relating to the CDM, while facilitating knowledge sharing and transactions between project sponsors and global carbon offset credit buyers.

The Forum will take place from 3-5 September 2008 in Dakar, Senegal, at Le Méridien Hotel, located in the Pointe Des Almadies area.
The event will combine a carbon investment Trade Fair, a Conference and policy forum for African DNAs and climate change officials, as well as targeted capacity building on the CDM. Specifically, matchmaking and deal facilitation sessions will enable potential CDM project participants and developers to showcase their projects to interested parties, including investors and carbon buyers.

The complete schedule of this three-day event will be available shortly.

The Africa Carbon Forum provides a platform for companies to Present, Showcase, Meet and Interact. The exhibitor section will be open to the following types of entities:
• Service providers in the carbon market (Designated Operational Entities, Applicant Entities, methodology developers etc);
• Technology providers for new technologies to reduce GHGs (sector-based, technology based, other);
• Solution providers;
• Individual industrial organizations showcasing their solutions and achievements;
• Project developers;
• Funds that will purchase emissions reductions;
• CDM Host country governments and DNAs;
• Bilateral and multilateral aid agencies and foundations; and NGOs

——————-

Also from Denmark:

Based on the unequal geographical distribution of CDM activities where the Least Developed Countries (LDC) are largely under represented and the increasing microfinance activities in these countries, the Executive Board to the CDM launched the idea to explore the possibilities for combining CDM development with microfinance mechanisms. The COP endorsed the concept and the Government of Denmark decided to finance the project.

The purpose of the project is to identify possible synergies between the CDM, especially CDM Programme of Activities (PoA), and microfinance mechanisms. The objective is to enhance CDM activities in LDCs, in particularly sub-Saharan Africa, by exploring ways to improve the financial feasibility of mitigation projects that are pertinent to LDCs.

DANIDA has appointed the Danish consulting engineering company NIRAS A/S to execute the study for which we have engaged the services of the internationally recognised experts Ms. Christiana Figueres and Mr. Hans Jürgen Stehr to enhance our in house capacity.

We would like to report to the EB on the advance of PoAs worldwide. Thus, if you are developing a PoA we would like to know the country(ies), the sector, and the foreseeable CPAs. We are particularly interested in PoAs in LDCs and Africa, but would be happy to receive information on PoAs in other regions.

We will collate the information received and make it available to users of Climate L, as well as include it in the report to the EB. We recognise the sensitivity of particular information during the project development process due to competition issues and will thus make sure that no confidential information is distributed and that the information will be collected without attribution to who is developing the PoA if requested.

Ms. Hanne Holm-Jørgensen

NIRAS
Sortemosevej 2
DK-3450 Alleroed
Denmark

email:  hhj at niras.dk
phone: +45 4810 4766

From: “Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce, Inc.” <conference@brazilcham.com>
Date: July 2, 2008

Subject: 2008 Brazil Economic Conference in Washington DC, October 13, 2008
Reply-To: conference@brazilcham.com

“…Brazil, the B in the BRIC economies – Brazil, Russia, India and China – today’s version of economic tigers… is projecting a period of sustained growth, with the gross domestic product increasing 5 percent a year, from now to 2010, and about 3 to 4 percent annually for the decade after.” (The New York Times, July 2, 2008)

2008 Brazil Economic Conference
The Exciting B in BRICs: Growth and Opportunities in a Post Investment Grade World

October 13, 2008

The Mayflower Hotel, Washington, D.C.

Please click here to download the registration form or click here to register online.

For sponsorship information, please contact the Chamber Executive Director, Sueli Bonaparte, at (212) 751-4691 or e-mail:  Sueli at brazilcham.com

Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce, Inc.
509 Madison Avenue, Suite 304
New York, NY 10022
Tel: 212-751-4691
Fax: 212-751-7692
Visit our new website! www.brazilcham.com

G8 climate change failure could hurt U.N.-led talks.
Jul 1, 2008, Reuters, By Linda Sieg from Tokyo.

G8 leaders have a 50-50 chance of agreeing next week on a global goal of halving greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century, a Japanese foreign ministry official said, adding that failure could hurt U.N.-led climate talks.

Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda hopes to build momentum for talks on a framework for after the Kyoto Protocol’s first phase ends in 2012 when the leaders meet for the July 7-9 Group of Eight summit in Hokkaido, northern Japan.
Fukuda also needs a diplomatic success to bolster his weak ratings at home, where speculation persists that his party might try to replace him before an election due by next year.

G8 leaders agreed last year in Heiligendamm, Germany to seriously consider a global goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2050. Climate campaigners say this year’s summit should go further by endorsing that goal and linking it to bold shorter-term targets for developed countries. But divisions among the United States, Europe and Japan have raised doubts about how much the leaders can achieve next week.

“You need the leaders to exert a robust political message to the world which will be driving progress in the U.N. negotiations,” Koji Tsuruoka, director general for global issues at Japan’s foreign ministry, told Reuters in an interview. Tsuruoka said a G8 failure to act would unintentionally send a negative message to the U.N. negotiations.

“The stakes are very high,” he said, adding that the chances of agreement were 50-50.

“Of course, the G8 will act responsibly by trying to move beyond the G8 understanding at Heiligendamm,” he said. “Whether that’s achievable or not depends on how the leaders will conduct discussions in Hokkaido.”

Europe wants the G8 to commit to a long-term goal of cutting the emissions that cause global warming by 50 percent from 1990 levels by mid-century. Japan is urging that the leaders agree to a common vision of halving emissions by mid-century, without specifying a base year, Tsuruoka said.

But the United States says it will only commit to targets if emerging economies such as China and India are on board.

“The U.S. position is very firm. A global issue requires a global response,” Tsuruoka said. “Its a very simple, clear position, and it is very difficult to disagree with that.” But he added that he had not given up hope of a positive outcome.
“There is no need for us to be pessimistic because we have a common understanding that climate change is a very serious, global issues that the leaders will have to discuss,” he said.

Fukuda’s heart for G8 leadership.

By KEVIN RAFFERTY
Special to The Japan Times, July 1, 2008.
This fragile earth of about 6.5 billion souls faces grave and unprecedented challenges: soaring prices of oil and basic commodities that fuel daily life; price increases that make staple foods like rice and wheat too expensive for millions of poor people; a savage profusion of natural and man-made disasters killing hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people from China to Myanmar, North Korea and Zimbabwe; the threat of stagflation that will cost millions of jobs and hopes and dreams.

That’s the immediate daily toll. Above and beyond are serious short- and medium-term threats, including Islamic terrorism that seeks mass murder and economic mayhem in the name of a supposedly merciful God, and a global economic structure that lets a billion people go to bed hungry every night.

Now, conveniently on the eve of the annual global summit of world leaders, comes fresh proof of the threat to mankind’s very existence with evidence that the world is suffocating itself to death by dependence on fossil fuels. The Group of Eight leaders will meet in the cool of Hokkaido with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda in the chair, offering Japan the opportunity to show leadership for which the world now and in generations to come would be truly thankful.

Sadly, there are no signs that Fukuda knows what leadership is.

U.S. data in mid-June warned that the Arctic summer ice cap is melting far more rapidly than imagined, and could be gone as soon as 2013. Previously, it had been assumed that the summer ice would hold fast until 2080.

James Hansen, a leading scientist at NASA, warned the U.S. Congress in June, “We’re toast if we don’t get on a different path.” If something is not done to reduce carbon dioxide levels to 1988 levels by urgent drastic action, he forecast, expect dramatic rises in sea levels, ecosystem collapse and mass extinction.

The response of world leaders has been pathetic. A hastily called summit in Saudi Arabia saw leaders of the industrialized world pleading with the oil kingdom to increase production. The Saudis did so, but only by 200,000 barrels, which was not enough to push prices down. Oil jumped above $140 a barrel amid growing talk of $200 oil, or $250, due to China and India’s thirst for it.

The G8 thus underlined its uselessness by showing that it doesn’t know what is going on and they have no plan.

Meanwhile, representatives of the top 16 carbon-emitting countries, including China and the U.S., have been talking in Japan, Korea and other places to try to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2050 — which may be at least 25 years too late if the latest research is correct. They failed, and the statement to be adopted on the sidelines of the Hokkaido summit will call only for “serious consideration” of recommendations of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. There was no reference to the proposed 50 percent reduction target.

Of course, poor Fukuda and poor Japan are playing hosts to the wrong kind of gathering. The G8 has long passed its sell-by date as a body that pretends to world leadership, and without China and India at the top table, it is a shameful sham. It is also taking place at the wrong time, since the world is waiting for U.S. President George W. Bush’s exit in the hope that a new president may understand what it is to be part of the world.

The G8 is really the G-9, with the ninth seat for the European Union. How can anyone justify giving the EU president his own place, as well as chairs for France, Germany, Italy and the Britain, while excluding China and India.

China and India do get invited to the various “outreach” meetings along with, this year, Brazil, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, South Africa, Algeria, Australia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Tanzania. Thus what started as fireside chats between a handful of leaders in Rambouillet in 1975 have become unwieldy G-9 meetings with unwieldier outreach meetings guaranteed to minimize progress.

If Fukuda is a leader, he should propose the immediate admission of China and India to the G8. Give the Europeans the choice of letting the EU represent them, or living with a G8 consisting of the eight biggest global economies — in which case the EU president should be sent packing along with Canada, probably Italy and possibly even Russia.

Japan should be aware that time is not on its side as it dithers while China grows and grows. Fred Bergsten, director of the influential Peterson Institute for International Economics, in an article in Foreign Affairs expresses unhappiness with China’s failure to accept the international obligations of its economic strength. He suggests a G-2 (U.S. and China) or a G3 (U.S., China and EU).

If Fukuda really wants to show guts, he should extend the summit by three days, tell the leaders to select two assistants each — one for expert advice and the other to take notes — and shoo the rest of the ministers, Sherpas, footsoldiers, press and myriad hangers-on away to enjoy the delights of Hokkaido.

Fukuda should contemplate the empty glory of a useless summit before he becomes toast as yet another unlamented former prime minister. The G8 is toast and soon we will all be toast. Is that Fukuda’s preferred legacy?

Kevin Rafferty was managing editor at the World Bank

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