Smart Solutions to Climate Change

Smart Solutions to Climate Change
Author: Bjørn Lomborg
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages:
Release: 2010-09-09
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1139491040

The failure of the Copenhagen climate conference in December 2009 revealed major flaws in the way the world's policy makers have attempted to prevent dangerous levels of increases in global temperatures. The expert authors in this specially commissioned collection focus on the likely costs and benefits of a very wide range of policy options, including geo-engineering, mitigation of CO2, methane and 'black carbon', expanding forest, research and development of low-carbon energy and encouraging green technology transfer. For each policy, authors outline all of the costs, benefits and likely outcomes, in fully referenced, clearly presented chapters accompanied by shorter, critical alternative perspectives. To further stimulate debate, a panel of economists, including three Nobel laureates, evaluate and rank the attractiveness of the policies. This authoritative and thought-provoking book will challenge readers to form their own conclusions about the best ways to respond to global warming.

Smart Solutions to Climate Change

Smart Solutions to Climate Change
Author: Bjørn Lomborg
Publisher:
Total Pages: 437
Release: 2014-05-14
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9780511902154

Bjorn Lomborg challenges world-class economists to describe the costs and benefits of a range of policies to combat global warming.

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster
Author: Bill Gates
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 201
Release: 2021-02-16
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0385546149

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • In this urgent, authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical—and accessible—plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe. Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science, and finance, he has focused on what must be done in order to stop the planet's slide to certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only explains why we need to work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases, but also details what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal. He gives us a clear-eyed description of the challenges we face. Drawing on his understanding of innovation and what it takes to get new ideas into the market, he describes the areas in which technology is already helping to reduce emissions, where and how the current technology can be made to function more effectively, where breakthrough technologies are needed, and who is working on these essential innovations. Finally, he lays out a concrete, practical plan for achieving the goal of zero emissions—suggesting not only policies that governments should adopt, but what we as individuals can do to keep our government, our employers, and ourselves accountable in this crucial enterprise. As Bill Gates makes clear, achieving zero emissions will not be simple or easy to do, but if we follow the plan he sets out here, it is a goal firmly within our reach.

Drawdown

Drawdown
Author: Paul Hawken
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2017-04-18
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1524704652

• New York Times bestseller • The 100 most substantive solutions to reverse global warming, based on meticulous research by leading scientists and policymakers around the world “At this point in time, the Drawdown book is exactly what is needed; a credible, conservative solution-by-solution narrative that we can do it. Reading it is an effective inoculation against the widespread perception of doom that humanity cannot and will not solve the climate crisis. Reported by-effects include increased determination and a sense of grounded hope.” —Per Espen Stoknes, Author, What We Think About When We Try Not To Think About Global Warming “There’s been no real way for ordinary people to get an understanding of what they can do and what impact it can have. There remains no single, comprehensive, reliable compendium of carbon-reduction solutions across sectors. At least until now. . . . The public is hungry for this kind of practical wisdom.” —David Roberts, Vox “This is the ideal environmental sciences textbook—only it is too interesting and inspiring to be called a textbook.” —Peter Kareiva, Director of the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, UCLA In the face of widespread fear and apathy, an international coalition of researchers, professionals, and scientists have come together to offer a set of realistic and bold solutions to climate change. One hundred techniques and practices are described here—some are well known; some you may have never heard of. They range from clean energy to educating girls in lower-income countries to land use practices that pull carbon out of the air. The solutions exist, are economically viable, and communities throughout the world are currently enacting them with skill and determination. If deployed collectively on a global scale over the next thirty years, they represent a credible path forward, not just to slow the earth’s warming but to reach drawdown, that point in time when greenhouse gases in the atmosphere peak and begin to decline. These measures promise cascading benefits to human health, security, prosperity, and well-being—giving us every reason to see this planetary crisis as an opportunity to create a just and livable world.

Sustainable Solutions for Food Security

Sustainable Solutions for Food Security
Author: Atanu Sarkar
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 559
Release: 2019-01-18
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3319778781

This volume is the first centralized source of technological and policy solutions for sustainable agriculture and food systems resilience in the face of climate change. The editors have compiled a comprehensive collection of the latest tested, replicable green technologies and approaches for food security, including smart crops and new agricultural paradigms, sustainable natural resources management, and strategies for risk assessment and governance. Studies from resource-constrained countries with vulnerable populations are emphasized, with contributions on multisector partnership from development professionals. Debates concerning access to climate-smart technologies, intellectual property rights, and international negotiations on technology transfer are also included. The editors are, respectively, a public health physician, a development professional and an environmental scientist. They bring their varied perspectives together to curate a holistic volume that will be useful for policy makers, scientists, community-based organizations, international organizations and researchers across the world.

Global Crises, Global Solutions

Global Crises, Global Solutions
Author: Bjørn Lomborg
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 711
Release: 2009-07-09
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0521517214

In this book leading economists evaluate how the world can best spend money to combat the world's biggest problems.

Designing Climate Solutions

Designing Climate Solutions
Author: Hal Harvey
Publisher: Island Press
Total Pages: 374
Release: 2018-11-01
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1610919564

With the effects of climate change already upon us, the need to cut global greenhouse gas emissions is nothing less than urgent. It’s a daunting challenge, but the technologies and strategies to meet it exist today. A small set of energy policies, designed and implemented well, can put us on the path to a low carbon future. Energy systems are large and complex, so energy policy must be focused and cost-effective. One-size-fits-all approaches simply won’t get the job done. Policymakers need a clear, comprehensive resource that outlines the energy policies that will have the biggest impact on our climate future, and describes how to design these policies well. Designing Climate Solutions: A Policy Guide for Low-Carbon Energy is the first such guide, bringing together the latest research and analysis around low carbon energy solutions. Written by Hal Harvey, CEO of the policy firm Energy Innovation, with Robbie Orvis and Jeffrey Rissman of Energy Innovation, Designing Climate Solutions is an accessible resource on lowering carbon emissions for policymakers, activists, philanthropists, and others in the climate and energy community. In Part I, the authors deliver a roadmap for understanding which countries, sectors, and sources produce the greatest amount of greenhouse gas emissions, and give readers the tools to select and design efficient policies for each of these sectors. In Part II, they break down each type of policy, from renewable portfolio standards to carbon pricing, offering key design principles and case studies where each policy has been implemented successfully. We don’t need to wait for new technologies or strategies to create a low carbon future—and we can’t afford to. Designing Climate Solutions gives professionals the tools they need to select, design, and implement the policies that can put us on the path to a livable climate future.

Climate-Smart Food

Climate-Smart Food
Author: Dave Reay
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2019-07-01
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 3030182061

This open access book asks just how climate-smart our food really is. It follows an average day's worth of food and drink to see where it comes from, how far it travels, and the carbon price we all pay for it. From our breakfast tea and toast, through breaktime chocolate bar, to take-away supper, Dave Reay explores the weather extremes the world’s farmers are already dealing with, and what new threats climate change will bring. Readers will encounter heat waves and hurricanes, wildfires and deadly toxins, as well as some truly climate-smart solutions. In every case there are responses that could cut emissions while boosting resilience and livelihoods. Ultimately we are all in this together, our decisions on what food we buy and how we consume it send life-changing ripples right through the global web that is our food supply. As we face a future of 10 billion mouths to feed in a rapidly changing climate, it’s time to get to know our farmers and herders, our vintners and fisherfolk, a whole lot better.

Smart Energy Strategies

Smart Energy Strategies
Author:
Publisher: vdf Hochschulverlag AG
Total Pages: 151
Release: 2008
Genre: Climatic changes
ISBN: 3728132187

The enormous challenge of creating a longterm sustainable energy system calls for the participation of engineers, natural and social scientists. They can contribute both through their research and by helping to craft strategies that steer the future development of the system. A sustainable energy system cannot be developed by technical fixes alone; action is required on a broad front, including institutional and regulatory changes. There is an abundance of scientific evidence on which to base decisions on how to proceed. Still, research has a crucial role to play as well.Smart Energy Strategies highlights smart solutions: advances in technical and social-science energy research, particularly advances related to new information technology (e.g. control and communication); and experience with targeted applications of information technology in the supply and consumption of energy. The conference has focused on smart strategies taking into account current technical and institutional systems, with their inertia and shortcomings; future energy-related challenges: energy security; the growing energy needs of the disadvantaged; and unintended consequences of energy systems, particularly climate change but also uncontrolled money flows; smart technical, institutional, and regulatory mechanisms for meeting these challenges.

A business case for engaging the private sector in climate-smart solutions for smallholder farmers

A business case for engaging the private sector in climate-smart solutions for smallholder farmers
Author: Mutamba, M.
Publisher: CTA
Total Pages: 40
Release: 2018-09-26
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9290816317

Large and growing numbers of poor rural households depend on climate-sensitive agriculture and operate on the margins of the mainstream economy. This combined with a broken public extension service and faltering international development efforts places millions of smallholder farmers at disproportionately high risk from a changing climate. Acknowledging the magnitude of the challenge and the required pace and scale of response, coupled with honest introspection on past performance, has prompted the need to look beyond the public sector for delivering climate-smart solutions. Harnessing the financial, technological and intellectual capital in the private sector to complement public sector-driven climate responses is a new dimension in delivery of sustainable climate-smart solutions at scale.