It is increasingly evident that the national security responsibilities embodied within the missions of the U.S. armed forces are now directly impacted by the observed, and emerging, impacts of changing climates, both domestically and internationally. The complex, and often contentious, societal debates concerning the significance of changing climates take a more urgent tone when viewed through the lens of national security.
The Institute on Science for Global Policy (ISGP) and the U.S. Army War College (USAWC) are cooperating to address these issues by co-hosting an invitation-only conference entitled “Climate Impact on National Security (CINS)” to be convened on the AWC campus in Carlisle, PA, on November 28 – December 1, 2016.
The CINS conference agenda will follow the unusual, if not unique, debate/caucus format pioneered by the ISGP to critically examine credible scientific and technological information, review existing decisions and priorities, and focus on broadly supported decisions derived from credible scientific and technological understanding.
Specifically, six position papers prepared by internationally recognized subject-matter experts each will be debated for 90-minutes by 45–60 representatives from the U.S. armed forces leadership writ large, U.S. governmental agencies and departments, and representatives from the U.S. and international scientific and technological communities. Subsequently, extended small-group and plenary caucuses will be convened to identify areas of consensus and actionable next steps. All proceedings will be conducted under the Chatham House Rule (not for attribution). As a not-for-profit organization, the ISGP expresses no opinions nor does it lobby on any issue (www.scienceforglobalpolicy.org).
More about the Climate Impact on National Security conference is available by contacting Jennifer Boice ([email protected] or 520.343.8181).
The Institute on Science for Global Policy (ISGP), in partnership with Western Connecticut State University, announces a new ISGP Academic Partnership conference focused on linking scientifically credible information to the formulation and implementation of effective policies governing sustainable agriculture.The critical debates and small-group caucuses at the conference are open to the public and press, and have been organized in conjunction with Western Connecticut students and faculty. Although the conference is free, participation is by invitation only and attendance is required on both days.
Socioeconomic Contexts of Sustainable Agriculture provides a forum in which the scientific and technological issues facing societies worldwide can be viewed through the personal life choices and community-wide decisions facing the Danbury area. For more on the highly interactive debate-and-caucus format of the conference, see the conference announcement. To register for the conference.
The three experts who will debate their policy position papers are:
Laura Lengnick, Ph.D., Owner and Lead Scientist, Cultivating Resilience, LLC. Lead author of USDA report, Climate Change and Agriculture in the United States (2012), contributor to the 3rd National Climate Assessment, and advisor to the USDA Climate Science Learning Network, NC ADAPT, and the North American Climate Smart Agriculture Alliance and others. Author of “Resilient Agriculture: Cultivating Food Systems for a Changing Climate” (New Society Publishers, 2015).
Henry Talmage, Executive Director of Connecticut Farm Bureau Association, The Voice of Connecticut Agriculture, a 4,500-member organization dedicated to farming and the future of Connecticut agriculture. He serves as Vice Chairman of the Governor’s Council for Agricultural Development and is on the Farmland Preservation Advisory Board, the Working Lands Alliance steering committee and numerous other agricultural boards, councils and committees.
Cristina Tirado-von der Pahlen, DMV, Ph.D., moderator of the UN Standing Committee of Nutrition Working Group on Climate Change and chair of the International Union of Nutritional Sciences Task Force for Climate and Nutrition. She works with the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and other UN governments, NGOs and universities worldwide on issues of climate change, food, health, gender and sustainable development.
Registration begins at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 14, and will adjourn at 4 p.m. It should also be noted, there will be a fundraising dinner in support of the Jane Goodall Center Permaculture Garden from 5 – 7 p.m. in the Westside Student Center. Click here for the Dinner in a Bite information. Register here.
We will reconvene for caucus assignments at around 8 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 15, and the plenary session will adjourn at around 5 p.m.
Organized in partnership with Simon Fraser University, “Equitable, Sustainable, and Healthy Food Environments” was convened May 1–4, 2016, in Vancouver, British Columbia.
As part of an FSSD series on “Nutrition, Sustainable Agriculture, and Human Health,” the Vancouver conference focused on modifying the food environment to improve access to nutritious foods, especially for those in rural and remote areas. Ongoing research has revealed the importance of nutrition in genetic and phenotypic variations in populations worldwide. The dramatic prevalence of diabetes in North American Indigenous populations is one such example in which nutrition and healthy food environments can play a critical role in improving human health.
The conference provided opportunities to candidly question and debate a distinguished international group of seven subject-matter experts on the major policy and societal issues associated with healthy food environments, followed by moderated caucus group discussions among all participants.
Click to read the conference announcement.
“Water and Fire” brought together three internationally recognized scientists, public and private-sector policy makers, students, and area residents to both debate and seek consensus on science-based policies related to climate change in the Sacramento area. These debates clarified scientific and technological understanding for nonspecialists who often are responsible for making or directly influencing, local, regional, national, and global policy decisions regarding many issues, including ecology (e.g., preserving native fish populations), forest fires, and water policy.
The presenters were:
- Dr. Roger Bales, Director of the University of California Water Security and Sustainability Research Initiative, and the Sierra Nevada Research Institute
- Dr. Jon E. Keeley, Senior Scientist, U.S. Geological Survey
- Dr. Christina Swanson, Director of the Science Center, Natural Resources Council
Click for more information about the expert presenters and speaker, and for the Water and Fire Conference Announcement (pdf).
To visit the California State University-Sacramento conference page, visit waterandfire2016.com.
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“Communicating Science for Policy,” a free, invitation-only workshop organized by the ISGP in cooperation with Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society, featured critical debates with three nationally recognized science communication experts centered on the role of science communication in developing public policy. The debates were followed by individual caucus sessions and a plenary session to develop areas of consensus and actionable next steps.
The three distinguished science communication experts were William Hallman, Arthur Lupia, and Elizabeth Neeley. Their policy position papers can be found below.“Living with Less Water,” a conference focused on linking scientifically credible information to the formulation and implementation of sound, effective local policies, was convened in Tucson, AZ, by ISGP and the volunteer Tucson Working Group on Feb. 20 to 21, 2015. This conference, which was free and open to the public and press by invitation, was the first to be convened in the ISGP Climate Change Arctic Program (ICCAP) conference series. Living with Less Water engaged some 120 participants from Tucson and Southern Arizona communities in debates and caucus discussions concerning the water needs of regional communities in the face of the Southwest drought, with a focus on ways that individuals and their communities might mitigate and adapt in response to these concerns.
This one-day ISGP conference, organized in coordination with a local committee of concerned volunteers, The Whittier Working Group, focused on exploring the personal, economic, and community-wide significance of climate issues relevant to the Whittier, CA area. The full conference report, including areas of consensus reached by participants and summaries of the debates, is available at the bottom of the page.
Presenters
“Balancing Efficient Use With Sustainable Generation”Neil Fromer, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Resnick Sustainability Institute at Caltech, Pasadena, CA, USA
“Coping With Drought to Ensure Societal Stability and Food Security: California Encapsulates Many Global Issues”
Jerry R. Schubel, Ph.D
President and CEO, Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach, California, USA
Bill Patzert, Ph.D
Climatologist, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, USA
“When Subsidies Work and When They Don’t: Food vs. Power”
Christopher Thornberg, Ph.D.
Founding Partner, Beacon Economics, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Dustin Schrader, M.P.P.
Public Policy Manager, Beacon Economics, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Organized by ISGP in coordination cooperation with several local partners, including the Barnegat Bay Partnership and the Barnegat Bay Foundation with financial support provided by the Jay and Linda Grunin Foundation, this free, invitation-only two-day conference focused on exploring the personal, economic, and community-wide significance of climate issues relevant to the Toms River, NJ area.
Conference announcement (pdf)
Three nationally recognized experts debated their respective policy position papers, which expressed their views of current realities, scientific opportunities and challenges, and policy related to extreme weather and sea-level rise in the Toms River area:
- Thomas R. Knutson, Ph.D., Research Meteorologist, Climate Dynamics and Prediction Group, Geophysical Fluids Dynamics Lab, NOAA, Princeton, NJ
- Karen O’Neill, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Human Ecology, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
- Harold Wanless, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of the Department of Geological Sciences, University of Miami, FL
at St. Petersburg College and The St. Petersburg/Pinellas County Working Group, this ISGP conference focused on exploring the personal, economic, and community-wide significance of climate issues relevant to the St. Petersburg/Pinellas County area.