The variation of El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events from the mid-nineteenth century until the beginning of the twenty-first century is explored using an ocean reanalysis. Decadal variability and trends in the strength, frequency, duration, and propagation direction of ENSO events is investigated. The hypothesis that there are different types of ENSO and that the location of ENSO is shifting to the west Pacific is also studied. The study uses the latest version of an ocean reanalysis, called SODA 2.2.4 (Simple Ocean Data Assimilation), which covers the period from 1871 through 2008. The reanalysis uses an eddy-permitting resolution model of the ocean forced with boundary conditions available from an atmospheric reanalysis that covers the same period. SODA 2.2.4 assimilates all available hydrographic and surface marine observations of temperature and salinity to produce a "best estimate" of the ocean state in terms of temperature, current, salinity, and sea surface height. A new index based on the first moment of anomalous sea surface temperature over the equatorial Pacific is used to describe the location and strength of warm and cold events. The results show strong decadal variability in the strength of El Nino events but little trend during the period of 1871-2008. The strength of La Nina events has neither prominent decadal variation nor a trend. The index also documents changes in frequency, duration, and location of ENSO events. The study shows that the frequency of El Nino varies considerably over the record. Given the large variance in the period of ENSO it is difficult to reliably determine if there has been a change in the period of El Nino events. The location of warming during El Nino can be described by a normal distribution centered at about 140 degrees W. The strength and frequency of ENSO events have very little trend indicating negligible impact from global warming.

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Diss. (sammanfattning) Göteborg : Göteborgs universitet, 2010.

<p> Pacific Small Island States (PSIS) are in the precarious position as some of the first jurisdictions to grapple with the current and forecasted effects of climate change, such as forced migrations and loss of culture. Yet, islanders' viewpoints are neither often fully understood nor heeded by those at the international decision making levels. Therefore, how and to what extent are PSIS successfully preparing for climate change? </p><p> This completed study used a mixed methods approach that examines nissology &mdash; how islanders view and understand themselves &mdash; and its relationship with successful (discussed and defined within the study) adaptation planning. The study also used a mixed methods approach to juxtapose the findings of the nissological and success analyses with a second research question: an in-depth study and analysis of regional and global policymaking entities, and the degrees to which they may influence islanders' preparation for climate change. </p><p> The study examined 18 PSIS and their Climate Change Adaptation Plans (CCAPs) and then interviewed PSIS' representatives at their respective Missions to the United Nations in New York City to evaluate how PSIS view and foresee current and future policies regarding climate change at the global, regional, and local levels. Then, fieldwork was performed within the United States Territories in the Pacific: American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands to obtain on-the-ground information regarding implementation of plans, policies, and projects. </p><p> The study attempted to address two specific gaps in the literature via the triangulation of methods and data: the relationship between an island-centric viewpoint of CCAPs and successful climate change as well as how policymaking in the Pacific at the local, regional, and global levels either assisted or hindered successful climate change adaptation policy. </p><p> The results suggested answers to these two key questions as well as several unexpected or emergent findings. Regarding the two principal research questions, PSIS that crafted their CCAPs in a more nissological or island-centric manner were indicative of states that were foreseen to be more successful in adapting to current and future climate change effects. Next, PSIS that were part of AOSIS, the various regional associations, and those PSIS that had complete sovereignty (independent) were indicative of those PSIS expressing greater overall success at preparing for climate change than those PSIS not meeting these criteria. However, not all PSIS had the opportunity to become members of AOSIS or certain regional organizations for various reasons. </p><p> Finally, a policy document was created at the end of the study to illustrate some of the best practices based upon this study's findings. Immediately preceding the policy document are other emergent findings indicative of future areas of research and exploration within the realms of nissology, regional associations and partnerships, and successful climate change adaptation.</p>

Climate change has become a critical issue in port supply chains in recent decades, involving a variety of disciplines and posing substantial challenges to ports due to their high vulnerability. To date, there is insufficient research on how to minimize these uncertainties in terms of decision-making and port planning. Also, even for port operators who have taken countermeasures to minimize the impacts of climate change on their ports, some strategic and planning problems still remain. Based on the above issues, this thesis proposes that it is pivotal to enhance the awareness of the community’s consideration of the risks and uncertainties of climate change impacts on ports, and calls for adaptation strategies to cope with climate change impacts from the perspective of port supply chains. Through an extensive literature review, and a nation-wide survey, as well as in-depth interviews in case studies focused on a seaport, an inland port and railway (Port of Montreal, CentrePort Canada and Hudson Railway respectively), this thesis provides and overview of the risks and uncertainties posed by climate change to Canadian ports. Through both quantitative (SPSS in survey) and qualitative analyses (interviews in the case study), it is expected to fill the gaps of regional studies focused on Canada and the under-researched areas including dry ports, port supply chains and adaptation port planning by considering the risks and uncertainties posed by climate change. / October 2015

Soil microbes influence the global carbon cycle via their role in the decomposition and formation of soil organic matter. Thus, rates of ecosystem processes such as primary production, soil respiration, and pedogenesis are sensitive to changes in the aggregate functional traits of the entire microbial community. To predict the magnitude and direction of microbial feedbacks on climate change, it is necessary to identify the physiological, ecological, and evolutionary mechanisms that underlie microbes’ responses to altered temperature and rainfall. Therefore, I examined microbial community composition and function in relation to manipulations of resource availability and precipitation in two contrasting ecosystems: a tropical rainforest at La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica, and a semi-arid grassland in central Texas. I conducted a leaf litter decomposition experiment at La Selva to identify the physiological constraints on microbial allocation to extracellular enzymes, which degrade organic matter. I found strong evidence that microbial enzyme production is decoupled from foliar stoichiometry, consistent with weak links between leaf litter nutrients and decomposition rates at the pan-tropical scale. Next, to examine whether ecological trade-offs within microbial communities may drive shifts in carbon cycling at local spatial scales, I quantified changes in soil fungal and bacterial community composition in response to an in situ precipitation exclusion experiment I established at La Selva. Although drought-induced shifts in community structure were small, large increases in biomass-specific respiration rates were observed under dry conditions. These findings suggest that physiological adjustments to drought may constitute an important feedback on climate change in wet tropical forests. Finally, I focused on microbial community responses to climate change within a meta-community framework, using a reciprocal transplant experiment to investigate how dispersal shapes bacterial community structure along a natural rainfall gradient in central Texas. I found that soils from the wet end of the precipitation gradient exhibited more plastic functional responses to altered water availability. However, soil bacterial community composition was resistant to changes in rainfall and dispersal, preventing functional acclimatization to precipitation regime. Together, the results of these experiments emphasize the potential for physiological plasticity or microevolutionary shifts within microbial populations to drive ecosystem carbon cycling under climate change. / text

<p> Climate change is a significant public health danger, with a disproportionate impact on low-income and communities of color that threatens to increase health inequities. Many important social determinants of health are at stake in California climate change policy-making and planning, and the distribution of these will further impact health inequities. Not only are these communities the most vulnerable to future health impacts due to the cumulative impacts of unequal environmental exposures and social stressors, they are also least likely to be represented in climate change decision-making processes. Therefore, it is imperative that public health and social equity advocates participate in climate change policy-making that protects and enhances the health and well-being of vulnerable communities. Regions have emerged as important policy-making arenas for both climate change and public health in California, because many drivers of climate change are also social determinants of health (e.g. land use, housing, and transportation planning); these play out regionally and are under regional governmental authority. However, the public health sector is not engaged adequately with climate change planning given the magnitude of risks and opportunities inherent for health. Examination of where public health and equity partners have engaged in regional climate change planning and policy-making may offer lessons for how to change the drivers of health inequities and climate change through this work. </p><p> This dissertation examines why the public health sector in California is not more engaged with climate change work and regional scale planning given current threats to and opportunities for health, and whether and how public health and social equity stakeholders&rsquo; participation in climate change solutions and regional scale planning can improve health and inequities outcomes and decision-making processes. The overarching goal of this research was to inform efforts to increase public health work on climate change and regional-scale planning, strengthen partnerships between public health, social equity, and climate change stakeholders, and formulate strategies that address climate change and health equity. </p><p> The first chapter of this dissertation was conducted in conjunction with a study at the Center for Climate Change and Health at the Public Health Institute, where we conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews (n=113) with public health and climate change professionals and advocates. I performed structured coding and conducted inductive-deductive thematic analysis within and across respondent groups. I found that individual-level barriers to public health engagement with climate change include perceptions that climate change is not urgent, immediate, or solvable, and insufficient understanding of public health impacts, connections, and roles. Institutional barriers include a lack of public health capacity, authority, and leadership due to risk aversion and politicization of climate change; a narrow framework for public health practice; and professional compartmentalization. Opportunities include integrating climate change into current public health practice; providing support for climate solutions with health co-benefits; and communicating, engaging and mobilizing impacted communities and public health professionals. </p><p> In the second chapter, I conducted two case studies of Sustainable Communities Strategies planning to achieve greenhouse gas reduction targets through integrated regional land use and transportation planning under California Senate Bill 375 (San Francisco Bay Area and Southern California). I used in-depth interviews (n=50) with SCS planning participants, public document review, and participant observation. I analyzed interviews using thematic analysis in an iterative inductive-deductive process. In both regions, climate change planning was a major lever for increasing the language, consideration, funding, and measurement of health impacts into the SCS plans. Public health&rsquo;s analytic skills and social determinants of health conceptual framework were valuable for both regional planning agencies and equity groups. Political context influenced the priority concerns, framing, and outcomes. Desire to improve public health was influential in both of these environments. In the Bay Area, a health equity frame promoted regional solutions that can improve health, equity, and climate change. In SCAG, a public health frame increased awareness, language, and future funding for active transportation. Public health was a less contested and commonly held value across diverse political jurisdictions that may be an entry point for future discussions of equity and climate change. In both regions, reform of regional governance processes was pursued to sustain institutionalization of health and equity concerns and improve regional democracy. I discuss implications and recommendations for engaging in multi-system integrated regional planning that can simultaneously improve climate change, health, and equity. </p><p> In the third chapter, I analyze the same data as a case for understanding regional-scale public health, social equity, and regional planning staff efforts to slow climate change and improve social determinants of health and social equity. In both regions multi-year SCS planning processes, public health and equity stakeholder engagement was instrumental in getting health goals, targets, and indicators into plans. In the Bay Area, advocacy efforts yielded health and equity language in policies and implementation funding guidelines and changes to the basic governance structure. In SCAG, advocacy efforts yielded significant future funding for active transportation and more metrics to monitor the health and equity impacts of planning. Participants in the SCS planning process described their motivations for engaging at the regional level, the barriers to effective regional planning, the achievements of their engagement, and recommendations for improving future efforts. In the interviews, three main themes emerged related to the opportunities and challenges of working at the regional scale: (1) Building regional identity as a foundation for advancing health and equity; (2) The importance of governance structures for health and equity, and the need for regional governance reform; (3) The prospects and barriers of building regional coalitions both within public health networks and with regional equity partners. I discuss implications and recommendations for public health&rsquo;s engagement with regional planning agencies, creation of coalitions, and reforming of regional governance structures to sustain better consideration of climate change, health, and equity.</p>

This PhD project explores the political influence of four sets of non-governmental actors upon the international politics of global warming. The forms of influence attributable to Working Group 1 of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (the body set up to advise governments on the science of climate change), the mass media's coverage of global warming, and the political involvement of both the fossil fuel lobbies and environmental groups in the policy debate on climate change, are understood via use of literatures on the dimensions of power appropriate to understanding the significance of non-state actors. The project stems from a widely acknowledged absence of a detailed understanding of the role of non-governmental organisations in international environmental politics, which extends to the international politics of global warming. The influence of each group of actors is conceptualised in different ways, so that the forms of power used to describe the various groups are not compared. Rather, the aim of the thesis is to assess what a less state-centred reading of the international politics of global warming, derived from a discussion of the role of the above actors, has to offer existing explanations. The analysis of these groups of actors sheds light on different aspects of the way the issue of climate change has been addressed at the international level. The conclusions drawn about the influence of these actors are used to critique the popular use of Regime accounts in international environmental politics that focus upon the process of institutional bargaining between states, which are argued to provide an inadequate basis for explanation of the global politics of climate change.

<p> For centuries Western sensibilities have been governed by an assumption that imagination is an exclusively human faculty, independent of the phenomenal world. This dissertation explores a view, long elaborated in mythologies and artistic traditions of pre-modern cultures, that phenomenal reality is the template of imagination, that terrestrial and celestial elemental forces are continuous with the mind, and that meaning in artistic practice is derived from a reciprocal exchange with the world in which we live.</p><p> This dissertation revives a traditional view of the heart as the seat of a continuous circulation of mind, imagination, and the world. In endeavoring to recover the eclipsed intelligence of the heart, this study argues that both the thought and perception of the heart are primarily metaphorical, which necessarily makes them essential in humanity&rsquo;s unceasing exchange with the greater community of beings.</p><p> This dissertation demonstrates that imagination and artistic practice are inseparable from the environment, and that a study of pre-modern artistic traditions broadens an ecological understanding of the web of relationships between living beings and the environment that sustains them. Three traditions of painting disclose varying human orientations within the world: Navajo sandpainting, Chinese landscape painting, and Western European painting since the fourteenth century. Navajo sandpaintings are made at times when disorder and sickness prevail in order to restore balance in the relationship between the human community and primordial forces embodied in the landscape. Chinese landscape painting is a visual contemplation of the interwoven place of humanity within the perpetual change and transformation of heaven, earth, and sentient beings. Western painters in the fourteenth century departed from pre-modern approaches to painting when linear perspective was introduced as a way to fix a perception of the phenomenal world that was primarily optical, rather than visionary. The perception promoted by this method, based on an orientation that is both dualistic and literal, eventually ran its course, giving way to the introduction of more interactive approaches to artistic practice and perception by twenty-first century artists.</p>

Revised; Originally Published: 2008 / 6 pp. / Climate change is affecting Arizona's Water Resources adversely and water use is linked to energy consumption. This publication discusses the effects of global warming on the environment and provides tips on how to conserve electricity at home.