Proposal for a
Climate Affairs Program
and Center
DRAFT
1 March 2004
Michael H. Glantz
Climate Affairs LLC
3840 N. 26th Street
Boulder, CO 80304
303-497-8119 (voice)
303-497-8125 (fax)
Table of Contents
Preface
Mission Statement:
Executive Summary
DRAFT 1 March 2004
I. Introduction
Objectives
Specific Objectives of a Feasibility Study is as follows:
II. Defining Climate Affairs
Climate Affairs Program Focus: Why Now?
What Constitutes the Notion of Climate Affairs?
Climate-related: a definition
Climate Science
Climate Impacts on Ecosystems and Societies
Terrestrial
Marine
Climate Policy & Law
Climate Politics
Climate Economics
Climate Ethics
Climate and Weather Aspects of International Security
Center
Program
Types of Master's Programs
Climate Affairs at the Undergraduate Level
Undergraduate-graduate linkage
Center Description
Functions
Structure
Staff and location
Advisors
Website Concerns
Networking from Local to Global
International Interest in Climate Affairs
What Needs to be Done First?
Administrative Action
Academic Action
Outreach Action
How I Might Launch a Climate Affairs Program
Retailing and Wholesaling Climate Affairs on Campus
Potential Obstacles to Setting Up a Climate Affairs Program and Center
Obstacles to Marine Affairs Programs:
Water Affairs?
IV. Rationale for Developing a Climate Affairs Program and Center
Why is Climate Affairs Important?
Prior Questions
V. Background
Aspects of Climate
Societal Concern about Climate Issues
1. Droughts
2. Floods
3. Tropical Storms
4. Ice Storms & Frosts
5.Fires
6. El Niño & La Niña
7. Infectious Diseases
8. Plant Pathogens (where the bugs are)
9. Global Warming
10. Sea Level Rise
11. Urban Areas
12. Population Movement at the Margins
13. Recreational Activities
Other Societal Areas of Concern
Climate Anomalies and the Continents
North America
Europe
Latin America
Australia
Africa
Asia
Antarctica
VI. Climate Affairs Courses
Some Ideas for a Climate Affairs Introductory Course
Capstone Seminar
Course-Related Aspects of Climate Affairs
The Notion of Climate Cells
Objective of Climate Cells
Cell Dimensions (4X4X4)
Latin American Cell Prototype (climate, region, sector)
Climate science
Climate impacts (on ecosystems)
Climate impacts (on societies)
Climate ethics
Climate politics
Climate economics
Climate policy & law
Climate impact methods
CELL 2: Possible research topics for sub-Saharan climate and climate-related research
Sub-Saharan African Cell Prototype (climate, region, sector)
Climate science
Climate impacts (on ecosystems)
Climate impacts (on societies)
Climate ethics
Climate politics
Climate economics
Climate policy & law
Climate impact methods
Possible research topics for sub-Saharan Africa climate and climate-related research
References
Add biodiversity [after fires]
Add superstorms notion [after global warming section]
Add complex humanitarian crises (after the popul. Migration section)
Expand the undergraduate certificate program
Add a section on “hotspots”
Rightsizing—it is necessary to right-size the climate affairs activities to the specific needs, interests of the educational or training program at a university or center. At what level do you want to start the cxa program development and how far does the university want to take it?
Develop of SWAT-team-like approach for government agencies, corporations, beltway researchers as part of the Metro-reach
Design an introductory course for undergraduates and develop an integrative seminar as a capstone seminar
Describe the “affairs template” and how it is designed to foster multidisciplinarity
Add before potential obstacles section, a few paragraphs on regional wholesaling/retailing to create awareness in the region served by the educational center
1
Preface
During the preparation of this report, I realized that there was a major difference among the needs and interests of specific targeted audiences for a report on the development of a Climate Affairs Program (or activity) and Center at education or training center. As I see it, while the direct contact for setting up a climate affairs activity (i.e., a client) is an agency of government, an institute, or a university, each of these entities has its own types of clients that it must serve as well. In a university, for example, there are the administration and the faculty that must be convinced about the value of establishing and sustaining a climate affairs activity. In a government agency, heads of bureaucratic units must be convinced that climate affects in a significant way their areas of jurisdiction. the broader target audience (i.e., the end user) for the proposed program and center, however, is composed of the faculty, students, and potential non-university contributors to this activity; in other words, the beneficiaries. That broader audience also encompasses potential funding sources (foundations, agencies). So, by necessity this report contains some basic information about the climate system and about climate impacts around the globe for those readers who might be less familiar with the various ways that climate variability, climate fluctuations, climate change, extremes, and seasonality can and do impact a wide range of climate-sensitive human activities and ecological processes worldwide. Thus, a presentation tailored to meet the needs of a specific client would necessarily be different from a presentation to other potential target audiences. In any event, the ultimate target of a climate affairs activity at a university or educational training center (whether it is as a center, an academic program of some sort, or both) is the student body, which includes graduates and undergraduates whose career choices could be enhanced by participation in climate affairs educational activities, programs and centers. That target also includes young professionals whose jobs require them to have more understanding of climate-society-environment (e.g., climate affairs) interactions than they might have gained in their earlier educational experience.
Mission Statement:
Societies worldwide have increasingly come to realize the extent to which their activities (e.g., industrialization processes and land-use practices) can affect the chemical composition and workings of the atmosphere, from the local to the global level. As a result, an increasing number of government, individual, community, and corporate decisions are being made for which an improved knowledge of climate affairs would be advantageous. Consequently, there is a growing awareness among educators, researchers and young professionals in a variety of fields of the need for a better understanding of just how climate variability and change (on a variety of time scales from seasons to centuries) affect ecosystems and the affairs of people, culture and nations.
While individual and societal interests in, and concern about, weather and climate are not new, the notion of climate affairs is. The notion is designed to meet the growing educational interests and needs associated with climate and climate-related decision making. Climate-related issues include but are not limited to food, water, energy, health, and public safety. The notion of Climate Affairs encompasses the following components: climate science, climate impacts on ecosystems and societies, climate policy and law, climate politics, climate economics, climate ethics, and climate assessment methods. These components are briefly described within the report as separate areas of concern. However, there is considerable interrelatedness from one aspect to another, supporting Barry Commoner’s Law of Ecology, which states that “you can’t do just one thing.” For example, climate science research receives government support to the extent that the government deems it valuable to address societal needs. So, science clearly has a political aspect, as well as other aspects.
The most ambitious goal of a climate affairs activity would be the establishing of a Climate Affairs Master’s Program (CAMP).This would enable students to concentrate their graduate educational training at the master’s level in an area of research, impact assessment, application of research findings, and policy implications that center on climate and climate-related issues. Nevertheless, whether students attain this training by way of an undergraduate certificate program, an undergraduate course concentration, a minor, or as part of a professional one year or multiyear university Master’s program, those who focus on climate affairs will better prepare students to understand how climate affects societies and, conversely, how societies and ecosystems affect climate.
Students of a climate affairs activity at any level (undergrad, professional or graduate) will be better prepared than those without such education or training to work in various disciplinary areas (e.g., economics, politics, anthropology, history, sociology, climate and ocean research and forecasting, economic development), in various economic sectors (e.g., industry, commodities, agriculture, fisheries, mining, insurance, education, health, civil defense, government agencies, disaster prevention and relief), and in various local, state, national, international and non-US government agencies as well as in multidisciplinary settings.
Executive Summary
Faculty interest in climate affairs activities at the university level does exist. So too does faculty opposition to change, any kind of change. One can represent the faculty graphically by using a diamond shaped figure, such as the following:
Section A represents that portion of the faculty that already is aware of or includes climate aspects of their educational and research activities. Section B represents that part of the faculty that for one reason or another has little to no interest in the climate-society-environment connections. They know what they want to focus on and climate has to their minds no role to play. Section C represents that portion of the faculty that is neutral about (or unaware of) the role of climate in its work (educational activities or research). They are neither for or against including climate aspects in their work but are open to doing so if it is shown to make sense by enhancing what they teach or what they research.
A constant effort would be needed for a couple of years to reinforce (e.g., backstop)the initial interest in and awareness of climate affairs and how it can enhance the activities of those potentially interested in climate affairs. This period enables us to continue to assist others in demonstrating how their research and teaching might benefit from including climate and climate-related issues in their activities. This constant attention in the first couple of years after an introduction of the notion also helps to minimize “backsliding” (i.e., loss of interest over time in climate issues in the absence of constant reinforcement in the early stages of awareness).
- Climate Affairs activities can add value to education and research.
- It can engage student interest because of the growing contemporary concern about a wide range of climate-related socio-economic, geophysicial, biological and ethical issues.
- It serves to catalyze multidisciplinary interactions within the university system, as well as elsewhere, on a range of climate-related aspects of common concern.
- It provides researchers in various departments, centers, and programs with the expertise to operate and maintain a Climate Affairs Program.
- It can serve as a theme for the development of a network of universities worldwide that have a growing interest in climate-related education in a wide range of disciplines.
- It is as applicable to undergraduate education and training as it is to graduates and professionals.
- The creation of a focal point on campus, within an organization or region for climate affairs, a Climate Affairs Center,is of primary importance: to oversee the Climate Affairs Program development; to foster awareness of climate and climate-related issues among university students, administrators and faculty; to encourage multidisciplinary interactions (teaching, research) on climate and climate-related issues; to develop and maintain a proactive website.
- The Center would serve as a potential catalyst and a hub to the creation of other such programs on a regional and global basis, given the interest expressed thus far by educators, students and researchers from around the world.
- Resources at levelsappropriate to achieve the long-termgoalswould need to be made available.
- A mix would be developed of new, existing and modified existing educational and research resources.
DRAFT 1 March 2004
Michael H. Glantz
Climate Affairs LLC
3840 N. 26th St.
Boulder, Colorado 80304
It is my impression that no one really likes the new. We are afraid of it. It is not only as Dostoevsky put it that ‘taking a new step, uttering a new word is what people fear most.’ Even in slight things the experience of the new is rarely without some stirring of foreboding.
Back in 1936 I spent a good part of the year picking peas. I started out early in January in the Imperial Valley and drifted northward, picking peas as they ripened, until I picked the last peas of the season, in June, around Tracy. Then I shifted all the way to Lake County, where for the first time I was going to pick string beans. And I still remember how hesitant I was that first morning as I was about to address myself to the string beans vines. Would I be able to pick string beans? Even the change from peas to string beans had in it elements of fear.
In case of drastic change the uneasiness is of course deeper and more lasting.
(Eric Hoffer, Ordeal of Change, 1952, p.3)
I. Introduction
The overarching task of this paper is to prepare a feasibility study and develop a proposal for the development at a university or training center of a program and center for Climate Affairs. My approach has been to develop generic guidelines for developing a multidisciplinary Climate Affairs Program or course concentration, which can then be modified to meet the specific interests and expertise of the various faculty members, departments, institutes, centers, students, and schools and colleges of a university that might wish to help to develop and to be involved in such an activity. The range of courses encompassed by the notion of climate affairs includes the physical, biological and social sciences, and the humanities. This plan can easily be modified to meet the needs, goals, and requirements of undergraduate education.
Objectives
The general objectives behind the establishment of a Climate Affairs program and center are the following:
- Encourage and foster education and research on climate-related issues.
- Develop a climate affairs educational hub at a university.
- Understand how climate, environment and human activities interact.
- Make climate information “usable” to decision makers from the local to the national level.
- (P2) Develop a network of climate affairs education and training centers and programs.
Specific Objectives of a Feasibility Study is as follows:
- (P2) To determine to the extent possible in a preliminary activity the degree of on-campus faculty, center, and institute interest (actual and potential) in broadening faculty and student involvement in teaching and research on climate and climate-related issues. Climate Affairs has two aspects: (1) courses for which the threat of climate runs through it from end to end; and (2) courses in which climate issues are noted for a number of weeks or only in a number (not all) of topics. Make this distinction: this means that for (2) we would have to contact professors/ institutions about the possibility of talking about climate in their courses.
- To suggest the type(s) of academic program(s) that might be developed at a university or training facility for a climate affairs activity (a Master’s program, a one-year professional Master’s, a course concentration, a certificate program a minor, etc.).
- To develop a multi-year plan for a Climate Affairs center and for a Climate Affairs program.
- To assist interested and potentially interested faculty in identifying materials, contacts, activities, and topics in the climate-related area of education – teaching, professional development, and research.
- To develop a prototype introductory course on climate affairs.
- (P2) To develop a prototype capstone seminar on climate affairs.
- To prepare a mission statement for a Climate Affairs Center and Program.
- (P2) To identify an on-campus, an off-campus (national as well as international), and a New York metropolitan network of individuals, groups, and organizations presently and potentially interested in networking with Columbia on climate and climate-related issues.
- To suggest and provide, when possible, linkages for faculty to make contact with international and other counterparts interested in climate and climate-related issues.
- (P2) To assist faculty and institutes in the identification of potential funding sources for climate-related research proposals and climate-related activities such as workshops and conferences.
To design a prototype website for a Climate Affairs Center and Program.
Separate out Phase 2 (P2) actions and expand Phase 2.
II. Defining Climate Affairs
Climate Affairs Program Focus: Why Now?
Climate and climate-related issues such as food security, water resources, energy production and consumption, public health and public safety have become increasingly important to governments, corporations, individuals and the general public in the 1990s. One could surmise that this sharp increase in interest in climate issues and weather has been, at least in part, a result of the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s. In the same time period various weather and climate anomalies have been labeled as the “storm of the century”, the “worst” hurricane, the “most costly” drought, the “longest El Niño,” the deadliest flood in history, and so forth. Some observers have linked this spate of weather and climate episodes to human-induced global warming of the atmosphere, while others have argued that these are random extreme occurrences under normal global climate conditions. The perception about the global climate regime is that climate anomalies have become more frequent, more costly and more deadly. Since the late 1980s scientific and government interest in global warming has increased steadily and to new heights, leading up to serious international negotiations to control the production of greenhouse gases. The potential for adverse impacts on food, water, energy, ecological and human health and public safety of a human-induced global warming appears to be quite high for the 21st century. Meanwhile, poor and often disenfranchised communities and countries remain chronically vulnerable to the vagaries of the climate system. Assessing climate-society-environment interactions and acting on those assessments can reduce societal vulnerability while enhancing societal resilience to climate-related hazards.
What Constitutes the Notion of Climate Affairs?
For more than a hundred years, climate has been described as “average weather,” but in reality it is much more than that. In fact, one could argue that because people see climate and weather as different, they respond to them differently. For our purposes, climate encompasses the following: variability from season to season and from year to year, fluctuations on the order of decades, change on the order of centuries and beyond, extrememeteorological events, and seasonality. By including all five aspects of climate in a climate affairs program, a realistic balance in teaching and research of climate on various time scales can be developed. (See pp. 43–47 of this report for more information on these aspects of climate.)