Forum on Science & Implications for Climate Change Policies

Thursday, February 9th 4:00pm, Blue Express Cafe

Interested in the junction between scientists and policymakers? You have a unique opportunity to see the process in action! On Thursday, Feb 9th at 4:00pm in the Blue Express Cafe, some of the leading experts in climate change science and policy will host a forum for students about how policymakers interpret new science. The forum is sponsored by the Nicholas Institute of Environmental Policy Solutions, and it will focus specifically on two recent papers: Jackson et al in Science (Dec 2005) is about the water trade-off as a result of afforestation. Keppler et al in Nature (Jan 2006) is about a potential newly discovered large source of terrestrial methane. Links to the papers are below.

The scientists and policy-makers joining us for the forum include:

• William H. Schlesinger - Dean of the Nicholas School
• Alex Guenther - Senior Scientist, Section Head and Leader at NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research)
• Pat Megonigal - Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
• Dina Kruger - Director of the Climate Change Division within the Office of Atmospheric Programs, USEPA
• Bill Hohenstein - Director of the Global Change Program Office for USDA

This is a unique opportunity to get a peek at how science and policy interacts. I encourage you to take a look at the papers and participate in this forum.

You can access the papers using the following links:

http://www.biology.duke.edu/jackson/science05.pdf
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v439/n7073/pdf/nature04420.pdf