ICNet Global: Infrastructure and Climate Networks of Networks

Climate change is already impacting the performance and integrity of transportation infrastructure around the world and is anticipated to have serious ramifications for infrastructure safety, environmental sustainability, economic vitality, mobility and system reliability. These impacts will disproportionately affect vulnerable populations and urban locations as well as compromising the resilience of the larger interconnected physical, cyber, and social infrastructure networks. For this reason, increasing the resilience of transportation infrastructure to current and future weather and climate extremes is a global priority.The complexity of this challenge requires a convergence approach to foster collaboration and innovation among technically and socially diverse researchers and practitioners. The multi-institutional ICNet Global Network of Networks unites domestic and international research and practice networks to facilitate integrated engineering, climate science, and policy research to advance the development of resilient transportation infrastructure and systems. ICNet Globalcollaborators represent networks based in Korea, Europe, United Kingdom, and the United States and link researchers at the forefront of scientific, engineering, and policy research frontiers, drawing expertise from many disciplines and nations to share and enhance best practices for transportation resilience.ICNet Global&#8217;s long-term mission is to prepare the world&#8217;s existing and future transportation infrastructure for a changing climate. To that end, we are working to: (1) build a network of existing research networks who are tackling the challenges climate change poses to transportation infrastructure; (2) establish a common base-level knowledge, capacity, and vision to support the convergence of novel and diverse ideas, approaches, and technologies for creating climate resilient transportation infrastructure; and (3) grow the next generation of critical and diverse thinkers with the expertise to address and solve climate-related infrastructure challenges. Although just one year into our work, and dispite challenges represented by COVID-19, we have surveyed over 100 potential members worldwide to learn about fields of interest and held five productive virtual workshops to discuss current research, how to encorporate climate change information into engineering education, and how practitioners are currently including climate information into planning and design. In this presentation we highlight our goals and recent accomplishments while laying out future plans and inviting interested researchers and practitioners to join us.

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Effects of TV and Cable News Viewing on Climate Change Opinion, Knowledge, and Behavior

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Climate Science ◽

10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.013.367 ◽

2016 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Lauren Feldman

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Public Opinion ◽

Television News ◽

News Coverage ◽

Climate Science ◽

The United States ◽

Public Understanding ◽

Science And Policy ◽

Cable News ◽

Fox News

For the general public, the news media are an important source of information about climate change. They have significant potential to influence public understanding and perceptions of the issue. Television news, because of its visual immediacy and authoritative presentation, is likely to be particularly influential. Numerous studies have shown that television news can affect public opinion directly and indirectly through processes such as agenda setting and framing. Moreover, even in a fragmented media environment largely dominated by online communication, television remains a prominent medium through which citizens follow news about science issues. Given this, scholars over the last several decades have endeavored to map the content of television news reporting on climate change and its effects on public opinion and knowledge. Results from this research suggest that journalists’ adherence to professional norms such as balance, novelty, dramatization, and personalization, along with economic pressures and sociopolitical influences, have produced inaccuracies and distortions in television news coverage of climate change. For example, content analyses have found that U.S. network television news stories tend to over-emphasize dramatic impacts and imagery, conflicts between political groups and personalities, and the uncertainty surrounding climate science and policy. At the same time, those skeptical of climate change have been able to exploit journalists’ norms of balance and objectivity to amplify their voices in television coverage of climate change. In particular, the increasingly opinionated 24-hour cable news networks have become a megaphone for ideological viewpoints on climate change. In the United States, a coordinated climate denial movement has used Fox News to effectively spread its message discrediting climate science. Coverage on Fox News is overwhelmingly dismissive of climate change and disparaging toward climate science and scientists. Coverage on CNN and MSNBC is more accepting of climate change; however, while MSNBC tends to vilify the conservative opposition to climate science and policy, and occasionally exaggerates the impacts of climate change, CNN sends more mixed signals. Survey and experimental analyses indicate that these trends in television news coverage of climate change have important effects on public opinion and may, in particular, fuel confusion and apathy among the general U.S. public and foster opinion extremity among strong partisans.

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Estimating economic damage from climate change in the United States

Science ◽

10.1126/science.aal4369 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 356 (6345) ◽

pp. 1362-1369 ◽

Cited By ~ 258

Author(s):

Solomon Hsiang ◽

Robert Kopp ◽

Amir Jina ◽

James Rising ◽

Michael Delgado ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

United States ◽

Climate Science ◽

The United States ◽

Process Models ◽

Economic Damage ◽

Global Mean Temperature ◽

Flexible Architecture ◽

Econometric Analyses ◽

Business As Usual

Estimates of climate change damage are central to the design of climate policies. Here, we develop a flexible architecture for computing damages that integrates climate science, econometric analyses, and process models. We use this approach to construct spatially explicit, probabilistic, and empirically derived estimates of economic damage in the United States from climate change. The combined value of market and nonmarket damage across analyzed sectors—agriculture, crime, coastal storms, energy, human mortality, and labor—increases quadratically in global mean temperature, costing roughly 1.2% of gross domestic product per +1°C on average. Importantly, risk is distributed unequally across locations, generating a large transfer of value northward and westward that increases economic inequality. By the late 21st century, the poorest third of counties are projected to experience damages between 2 and 20% of county income (90% chance) under business-as-usual emissions (Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5).

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Effects of climate change on environmental sustainability

E3S Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/e3sconf/202125001005 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 250 ◽

pp. 01005

Author(s):

Manuela Tvaronavičienė

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Global Warming ◽

Natural Resources ◽

Carbon Footprint ◽

Environmental Sustainability ◽

Industrial Pollution ◽

Climatic Conditions ◽

Adaptation Strategies ◽

Viable Solution ◽

The World

Adaptation strategies to the climate change include measures that can be taken to take account of the new climatic conditions. This paper aims at assessing the effects of climate change on environmental sustainability. This sustainability constitutes a major problem in many countries and regions around the world that experience industrial pollution, degradation of land as well as natural disasters caused by the global warming. The paper shows that adaptation strategies are often parallel strategies that can be integrated simultaneously with the management of natural resources. They can make resources more efficient and resilient to climate change. The paper shows that reducing the carbon footprint by more than 50 percent by 2030 and eliminating it by 2050 might be a viable solution how to tackle the climate change and support the environmental sustainability.

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Community Forests Prepare for Climate Change

Eos ◽

10.1029/2021eo154456 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 102 ◽

Author(s):

Courtney Peterson ◽

Leslie Brandt ◽

Emile Elias ◽

Sarah Hurteau

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

United States ◽

Climate Science ◽

The United States ◽

Tree Planting ◽

Community Forests ◽

Urban Tree

Cities across the United States are feeling the heat as they struggle to integrate climate science into on-the-ground decisionmaking regarding urban tree planting and management.

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Indonesian Policy in Ratifying The 2015 Paris Agreement

Global Jurnal Politik Internasional ◽

10.7454/global.v21i1.353 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

pp. 70

Author(s):

Haekal - Siraj

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

United States ◽

Data Analysis ◽

Forest Degradation ◽

The United States ◽

Paris Agreement ◽

Financial Assistance ◽

Analysis Techniques ◽

Secondary Sources ◽

The World

The 2015 Paris Agreement requires all participating countries to reduce emisson level. Indonesia as Non-Annex I accepted the norms of the 2015 Paris Agreement by ratifying this agreement. Meanwhile, Indonesia's emissions level continues to increase due to the rate of deforestation and forest degradation in Indonesia which ranks highest in the world. This study aims to analyze Indonesian policy in ratifying the agreement by using the Constructivism Perspective in explaining the International Regime and the Concept of Norm Influence by Finnemore and Sikkink. The study uses qualitative methods with explanatory designs. Data collection techniques are sourced from secondary sources as well as data analysis techniques carried out by reduction, presentation, and drawing conclusions as well as verification. This study found that the United States as a hegemonic state acting as the norm entrepreneurs by granting climate change financial assistance of $500 million through the GCF for Indonesia as a developing country was a condition affecting Indonesia in ratifying the agreement. Keywords: Indonesia, ratify, 2015 Paris Agreement, norm, climate change.

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The Shack, the Aldo Leopold Foundation, and Other Leopold Initiatives

A Fierce Green Fire ◽

10.1093/oso/9780199965038.003.0023 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Marybeth Lorbiecki

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Catholic Church ◽

The United States ◽

Natural State ◽

United States Congress ◽

Aldo Leopold ◽

Black And White ◽

Religious Ecology ◽

The World ◽

Church Teaching

The framed black-and-white photograph on my wall is entitled “The Temptation of David.” It captures a young woman perched on a stump, hiking boots dangling, wet hair and flowered cotton shirt and khakis slightly damp, holding an apple with one bite missing. Standing next to her is the David in question. Behind them is the Leopold Shack, easily recognizable to any who have been there. My husband-to-be, David Mataya, and I had just snuck back to the Shack, after a quick, crazy, unguarded dip in the river. I was young, in love with David and in love with Leopold (of whom I was writing a biography for children), and completely entranced by this piece of land so lovingly restored to its natural state. I have returned numerous other times. I came the spring after Nina had died, when I was working on a religious ecology project. I was hoping, like Art Hawkins, that it would help wake up people about the Judeo-Christian call from Genesis to care for this earth and all its creatures—which God had called “good”—and to help heal this world of many ecological wounds. The project had completely stalled, and like a pilgrim, I needed to stop at the Shack. I ended up in the sand near the river, weeping. The birds in all tones and rhythms calling from tree to tree, the multitude of different trees and bushes, the flowing river, and even the small draba called forth hope. I see the draba, in its small perennial patience, has proved right. In 2014, Pope Francis issued an encyclical, or major Catholic Church teaching, not just to Catholics, but to the world, on the religious, spiritual, social, ethical, and economic reasons on why our must change its ways, just as Leopold once did, but from the perspective of faith. And he has followed this up with visits to the United States Congress and the United Nations to emphasize the need to deal immediately with climate change.

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Making behavioral science integral to climate science and action

Behavioural Public Policy ◽

10.1017/bpp.2020.38 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-15 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

BARUCH FISCHHOFF

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Public Discourse ◽

Behavioral Science ◽

Climate Science ◽

Behavioral Sciences ◽

Quarter Century ◽

Science And Policy ◽

Climate Research ◽

Quantitative Estimates

Abstract The behavioral sciences were there at the beginning of the systematic study of climate change. However, in the ensuing quarter century, they largely faded from view, during which time public discourse and policy evolved without them. That disengagement and the recent reengagement suggest lessons for the future role of the behavioral sciences in climate science and policy. Looking forward, the greatest promise lies in projects that make behavioral science integral to climate science by: (1) translating behavioral results into the quantitative estimates that climate analyses need; (2) making climate research more relevant to climate-related decisions; and (3) treating the analytical process as a behavioral enterprise, potentially subject to imperfection and improvement. Such collaborations could afford the behavioral sciences more central roles in setting climate-related policies, as well as implementing them. They require, and may motivate, changes in academic priorities.

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Utilizing the Dynamic Role of Objects to Enhance Cross-Cultural Climate Change Collaborations

Weather Climate and Society ◽

10.1175/wcas-d-17-0115.1 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 113-125 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Scott E. Kalafatis ◽

Julie C. Libarkin ◽

Kyle Powys Whyte ◽

Chris Caldwell

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Native American ◽

Common Ground ◽

Research Effort ◽

Climate Science ◽

The United States ◽

Cross Cultural ◽

Expert Elicitation ◽

Boundary Object ◽

Cultural Climate

Abstract Engagements between climate scientists and communities feature challenges but are also essential for successfully preparing for climate change. This is particularly true for indigenous peoples who are proactively responding to the threats that climate change poses by engaging in collaborations with climate decision-support organizations. The potential for risks and rewards associated with engagements like these makes developing tools for comprehensively, consistently, and equitably assessing cross-cultural climate collaborations a critical challenge. This paper describes a multicultural team’s efforts to develop a survey that can assess collaborations between Native American tribes in the United States and climate science organizations. In the process, the developing survey’s oscillations between acting as a boundary object and acting as an epistemic object in the project revealed common ground as well as existing differences across the cultural, disciplinary, and professional divides involved. Delphi expert elicitation was shown to be an effective approach for negotiating a cross-cultural research effort like this one because of its ability to establish consensus while delineating gaps. This experience highlights that assessing cross-cultural climate collaborations requires that both researchers and the tools that they use have the capacity to identify both common ground and distinctions between climate scientists and the communities with which they collaborate.

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Communication on Climate Change and Energy Alternatives in the United States

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Climate Science ◽

10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.013.439 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Toby Bolsen ◽

Matthew A. Shapiro

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Media Coverage ◽

News Coverage ◽

Climate Science ◽

The United States ◽

Political Information ◽

Forthcoming Article ◽

The Public ◽

Scientific Consensus ◽

The U.S

This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Climate Science. Please check back later for the full article. Most of what people think about politics comes from information acquired via exposure to mass media. Media thus serve a vital role in democracy as a fundamental conduit of political information. Scholars study the factors that drive news coverage about political issues, including the rise of discourse on climate change and shifts in media coverage over time. Climate change first received sustained attention in the U.S. press in the late 1980s and early 1990s. As scientific consensus emerged on the issue, interest groups and other actors emerged who accentuated the inherent uncertainty of climate science as a way to cast doubt on the existence of scientific consensus. The politicization of climate science has resulted in uncertainty among the public about its existence, anxiety about the effects of a fundamental transformation of U.S. energy systems, and support for the status quo in terms of the use of traditional energy sources. Media coverage often magnified the voices of contrarian scientists and skeptics because journalistic norms provided equal space to all sides, a semblance of false balance in news coverage that has persisted through the mid 2000s. By this time, the U.S. public had fractured along partisan lines due to rhetoric employed to generate support by elites. Media fragmentation and the rise of partisan news outlets further contributed to polarization, especially given the tendency of individuals to seek political information about climate change from trusted and credible sources. More recently, new media has come to play an increasingly significant role in communicating information on climate change to the public. Ultimately, there is a need for knowledge-based journalism in communicating climate change and energy alternatives to all segments of the U.S. public, but doing this effectively requires engagement with a broader audience in the debate over how best to address climate change. “Honest brokers” must be referenced in the media as they are best equipped to discuss the issue with citizens of different political identities and cultural worldviews. The success of collective efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change requires not only scientific consensus but the ability to communicate the science in a way that generates greater consensus among the public.

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Climate science and YouTube: deniers, memes, and Trojan horses

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-22696 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Simon Clarke

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Search Engine ◽

Science Communication ◽

Primary Source ◽

Climate Science ◽

Anthropogenic Climate Change ◽

Educational Video ◽

Video Content ◽

The Past ◽

The World

YouTube is the world's second largest search engine, and serves as a primary source of entertainment for billions of people around the world. Yet while science communication on the website is more popular than ever, discussion of climate science is dominated by - largely scientifically untrained - individuals who are skeptical of the overwhelming scientific consensus that anthropogenic climate change is real. Over the past ten years I have built up an extensive audience communicating science - and climate science in particular - on YouTube, attempting to place credible science in the forefront of the discussion. In this talk I will discuss my approach to making content for the website, dissect successful and less successful projects, review feedback from my audience, and break down my process of converting research into entertaining, educational video content.

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