This dissertation tests an original hybrid methodology to explore the rapid spread of the idea of human-made climate change that began in the 1950s after the idea had lain dormant for half a century. It describes the 1950s rhetorical events that triggered the idea’s diffusion, then traces how its rhetorical uses gradually gave root to the end-of-thecentury political impasse over how to respond to the societal implications of the idea. The research methodology rests on the simple logic that an idea can only spread by being used in human discourses. It combines traditions of rhetorical historiography with a philosophical view of intellectual history as the cumulative effect of a “natural selection” of ideas and their spread by human individuals over time and geography. It calls for sampling and analyzing rhetorical artifacts in light of the rhetorical situations in which they originate, focusing on how the idea of human-made climate change is used rhetorically in scientific and other discourses. The analyses form the basis of a narrative giving emphasis both to rhetorical continuities and to conversation-changing rhetorical events. They also show how these rhetorical dynamics involve interactions of human communities using or attacking the idea for their communal purposes. The results challenge science-focused understandings of the history of the idea itself and also suggest that the methodology may be more broadly useful. As to the history, the analyses highlight how changes in the rhetorical uses of the idea made possible its 1950s breakout in climate science, then led to uses that spread it into other sciences and into environmentalism in the 1960s, attached it to apocalyptic environmentalism in the 1970s, injected it into partisan politics in 1980s and shaped the political impasse during the 1990s. The data show that the methodology reveals elements of the discourses missed in histories emphasizing the “power of ideas,” suggesting that a focus on the usefulness of ideas may be more fruitful. A focus on rhetorical uses of ideas grounds the causation of intellectual change in human motivation and agency, expressed in material acts that multiply and disperse naturally through communities and populations. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

The concept of Intensity Duration Frequency (IDF) relationship curve presents crucial design contribution for several decades under the assumption of a stationary climate, the frequency and intensity of extreme rainfall nonetheless seemingly increase worldwide. Based on the research conducted in recent years, the greatest increases are likely to occur in short-duration storms lasting less than a day, potentially leading to an increase in the magnitude and frequency of flash floods. The trend analysis of the precipitation influencing the climate variability and extreme rainfall in the state of Florida is conducted in this study. Since these local changes are potentially or directly related to the surrounding oceanic-atmospheric oscillations, the following oscillations are analyzed or highlighted in this study: Atlantic Multi-Decadal Oscillation (AMO), El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and Pacific Decadal Oscillations (PDO). Collected throughout the state of Florida, the precipitation data from rainfall gages are grouped and analyzed based on type of duration such as short-term duration or minute, in hourly and in daily period. To assess statistical associations based on the ranks of the data, the non-parametric tests Kendall’s tau and Spearman’s rho correlation coefficient are used to determine the orientation of the trend and ultimately utilize the testing results to determine the statistical significance of the analyzed data. The outcome of the latter confirms with confidence whether there is an increasing or decreasing trend in precipitation depth in the State of Florida. The main emphasis is on the influence of rainfall extremes of short-term duration over a period of about 50 years. Results from both Spearman and Mann-Kendall tests show that the greatest percentage of increase occurs during the short rainfall duration period. The result highlights a tendency of increasing trends in three different regions, two of which are more into the central and peninsula region of Florida and one in the continental region. Given its topography and the nature of its water surface such as the everglades and the Lake Okeechobee, Florida experience a wide range of weather patterns resulting in frequent flooding during wet season and drought in the dry season. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Increasing sea levels have the potential to place important portions of the infrastructure we rely on every day at risk. The transportation infrastructure relies on roads, airports, and seaports to move people, services, and goods around in an ever connected global economy. Any disturbances of the transportation modes have reverberating effects throughout the entire economic spectrum. The effects include delays, alterations of routes, and possible changes in the origin and destinations of services and goods. The purpose of this project is to develop an improved methodology for a sea level rise scenario vulnerability assessment model. This new model uses the groundwater elevation as a limiting factor for soil storage capacity in determining previously underestimated areas of vulnerability. The hope is that early identification of vulnerability will allow planners and government officials an opportunity to identify and either remediate or create alternative solutions for vulnerable land areas before high consequence impacts are felt. / by Thomas Romah. / Thesis (M.S.C.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2012. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

A presente dissertação de mestrado reflete o resultado da pesquisa realizada para testar a hipótese de que a alocação do ônus das ações para mitigação das mudanças climáticas entre as atividades econômicas deve considerar as respectivas emissões para efetivar os ditames constitucionais e os dispositivos da Lei Federal nº 12.187, de 29 de dezembro de 2009 (Política Nacional sobre Mudança do Clima). Confirmada a hipótese de pesquisa, esta dissertação apresenta os critérios para alocação de metas diferenciadas de redução de emissões de Gases de Efeito Estufa entre setores e fontes emissoras individuais, revelados pela doutrina e aplicados nas experiências internacionais de cap-and-trade. Por fim, verifica se os Planos Setoriais de Mitigação e de Adaptação às Mudanças Climáticas, publicados em suas versões preliminares e finais, adotam os critérios identificados pela pesquisa. / This essay presents the outcome of a research that sought to put in test the hypothesis that the allocation of the burden of climate change mitigation actions among business sectors shall take into consideration the respective associated emissions in order to comply with the Federal Constitution and the Federal Law N. 12, 187 passed on December 29, 2009 (National Policy on Climate Change). Once the hypothesis is confirmed, this essay presents the criteria for allocating differentiated Greenhouse Gases emissions reduction targets among business sectors and individual emissions sources, as they are revealed by the doctrine and applied by international experiences on cap-and-trade mechanisms. Finally, this essay verifies whether the Sectorial Plans on Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation, as published in their preliminary and definitive versions, adopt the criteria identified in the research.

This dissertation examines the intent and reality of a conservation project that aims to be participatory and to provide benefits to local landholders. I make a contribution to research about the social impacts of conservation projects as well as to scholarship that aims to improve conservation policy and practice. Using both ethnographic and ecological methods, I explored the multiple and contested values related to land use. Changing local land use practices, especially reducing swidden agriculture, is a major focus of conservation interventions in the region. The conservation project has framed this change as a technical problem, and has devised economic incentives to shift local people's land use. Because of the dissertation's interdisciplinary approach, and the sometimes contentious relations between conservation biologists and practitioners and social scientists, I begin with a review of the challenges to achieving interdisciplinary collaboration. In the second chapter, I seek to understand how a government policy that was meant to benefit forest-dwelling communities was instead experienced as disempowering and restrictive. Chapter 3 uses land-use scenarios to evaluate the multiple objectives of Makira Natural Park (i.e., biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation and sustainable livelihoods support) through the lens of ecosystem services, concluding that the best strategy to meet Makira's multiple objectives is to support a broad diversity of land use types rather than eliminating some and favoring others. In Chapter 4, I demonstrate how the conservation project's reliance on an economic model of human motivation to shift land use practices relies on a set of values that are not necessarily shared by local landholders, which explains in part their lack of traction to date. I conclude with a series of recommendations for how to transform conservation practice in Makira to make it more effective, culturally appropriate, and just.

China has been experiencing great economic development and fast urbanisation since its reforms and opening-up policy in 1978. However, these changes are reliant on consumption of primary energy, especially coal, characterised by high pollution and low efficiency. China’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, with carbon dioxide (CO2) being the most significant contributor, have also been increasing rapidly in the past three decades. Responding to both domestic challenges and international pressure regarding energy, climate change and environment, the Chinese government has made a point of addressing climate change since the early 2000s. This thesis provides a comprehensive analysis of China’s CO2 emissions and policy instruments for mitigating climate change. In the analysis, China’s CO2 emissions in recent decades were reviewed and the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis examined. Using the mostly frequently studied macroeconomic factors and time-series data for the period of 1980-2008, the existence of an EKC relationship between CO2 per capita and GDP per capita was verified. However, China’s CO2 emissions will continue to grow over coming decades and the turning point in overall CO2 emissions will appear in 2078 according to a crude projection. More importantly, CO2 emissions will not spontaneously decrease if China continues to develop its economy without mitigating climate change. On the other hand, CO2 emissions could start to decrease if substantial efforts are made. China’s present mitigation target, i.e. to reduce CO2 emissions per unit of GDP by 40-45% by 2020 compared with the 2005 level, was then evaluated. Three business-as-usual (BAU) scenarios were developed and compared with the level of emissions according to the mitigation target. The calculations indicated that decreasing the CO2 intensity of GDP by 40-45% by 2020 is a challenging but hopeful target. To study the policy instruments for climate change mitigation in China, domestic measures and parts of international cooperation adopted by the Chinese government were reviewed and analysed. Domestic measures consist of administration, regulatory and economic instruments, while China’s participation in international agreements on mitigating climate change is mainly by supplying certified emission reductions (CERs) to industrialised countries under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The most well-known instruments, i.e. taxes and emissions trading, are both at a critical stage of discussion before final implementation. Given the necessity for hybrid policies, it is important to optimise the combination of different policy instruments used in a given situation. The Durban Climate Change Conference in 2011 made a breakthrough decision that the second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol would begin on 1 January 2013 and emissions limitation or reduction objectives for industrialised countries in the second period were quantified. China was also required to make more substantial commitments on limiting its emissions. The Chinese government announced at the Durban Conference that China will focus on the current mitigation target regarding CO2 intensity of GDP by 2020 and will conditionally accept a world-wide legal agreement on climate change thereafter. However, there will be no easy way ahead for China. / QC 20120424

No description available.

Climate change is a human development challenge. Its negative impacts have the potential to reverse the human development gains made in Africa. South Africa, just like many other countries in the Global South, is being negatively affected by climate change. The country`s economy is largely dependent on agriculture, extractive industries and manufacturing, all of which are vulnerable to climate change in different ways. This vulnerability means different public and private stakeholders must institute sustainable climate change mitigation and adaptation measures so as to ameliorate climate change impacts. Gradually transforming to an environmentally friendly ‘green economy’ and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions are some of South Africa’s climate change mitigation priorities. Just like the public sector, the private sector has a major role to play in this transition to a low carbon economy through minimising its carbon emissions in their operations. Against this background, this qualitative research examines the role played by four major supermarkets (Shoprite, Spar, Pick n Pay and Woolworths), in climate change mitigation and resilience building. It does so through an appraisal of their mitigation and resilience programs. The four supermarkets were purposively selected in East London, Eastern Cape. Data collection combined heavy reliance on desktop discourse analysis with field interviews in the form of purposively sampled key informant interviews. The results show that the four major supermarkets are implementing a variety of climate change mitigation and resilience strategies. These include reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, prioritisation of renewable energy, recycling and environmentally friendly packaging, promotion of sustainable ways of farming and improved fuel efficiency in their transport systems. In terms of policy improvement, the study recommends that there is need for supermarkets to learn from each other’s’ climate change mitigation initiatives so as to advance South Africa’s ‘green economy’ agenda.

A presente dissertação de mestrado reflete o resultado da pesquisa realizada para testar a hipótese de que a alocação do ônus das ações para mitigação das mudanças climáticas entre as atividades econômicas deve considerar as respectivas emissões para efetivar os ditames constitucionais e os dispositivos da Lei Federal nº 12.187, de 29 de dezembro de 2009 (Política Nacional sobre Mudança do Clima). Confirmada a hipótese de pesquisa, esta dissertação apresenta os critérios para alocação de metas diferenciadas de redução de emissões de Gases de Efeito Estufa entre setores e fontes emissoras individuais, revelados pela doutrina e aplicados nas experiências internacionais de cap-and-trade. Por fim, verifica se os Planos Setoriais de Mitigação e de Adaptação às Mudanças Climáticas, publicados em suas versões preliminares e finais, adotam os critérios identificados pela pesquisa. / This essay presents the outcome of a research that sought to put in test the hypothesis that the allocation of the burden of climate change mitigation actions among business sectors shall take into consideration the respective associated emissions in order to comply with the Federal Constitution and the Federal Law N. 12, 187 passed on December 29, 2009 (National Policy on Climate Change). Once the hypothesis is confirmed, this essay presents the criteria for allocating differentiated Greenhouse Gases emissions reduction targets among business sectors and individual emissions sources, as they are revealed by the doctrine and applied by international experiences on cap-and-trade mechanisms. Finally, this essay verifies whether the Sectorial Plans on Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation, as published in their preliminary and definitive versions, adopt the criteria identified in the research.

Responsible for one in eight tonnes of national CO₂ emissions, the passenger car sector is pivotal to delivering on UK climate change commitments to avoiding warming of more than 2°C. This thesis provides a clear and quantitative framing of emissions reduction at the sectoral level, by disaggregating global cumulative emissions budgets and pathways associated with a range of probabilities of exceeding 2°C. The relatively low level of abatement currently planned for the UK car sector, it is argued, needs to be significantly increased for the following reasons: (i) a scientific basis in cumulative emissions for sectoral mitigation makes carbon budgets, rather than end point targets (e.g. 2050), of the first importance; (ii) the currently high probability (63%) of exceeding 2°C underpinning the current UK carbon budgets is inconsistent with the UK government’s commitment to avoiding ‘dangerous climate change’; (iii) short-term emissions growth in industrialising countries considerably reduces remaining emissions space for industrialised countries; (iv) very limited scope exists for any large sector to cut emissions by less than the national mean rate of decarbonisation at higher rates of mitigation (around 10% p.a. by the 2020s). The consequences for emissions space in other sectors if international aviation and shipping mitigate less than the mean are quantified. For UK car sector emissions to remain consistent with a low probability of exceeding 2°C while observing these limitations, this analysis finds that planned sectoral mitigation over the coming decade needs to be increased fourfold. Means to address this expected abatement shortfall using readily available technology are investigated using a fleet emissions model to compare the effect on cumulative emissions of changes in a range of fleet parameters (including mean new car bulk emissions factors, vehicle age-proportionate annual distance travelled, and rates of fleet growth and turnover). Pushing existing car technology to the limit of expected short term efficiency gains is found to be insufficient to deliver a pathway with better than 56% probability of exceeding 2°C. Without reduction in aggregate demand for vehicle kilometres in the short term, lower probabilities of 2°C are placed beyond reach. The possibility of rapid step changes in levels of per capita car use is explored in qualitative interviews using narrative storyline scenarios. A range of coercive and voluntary interventions is considered in relation to their potential to overcome the structural and behavioural constraints to rapid transformation of personal travel.