World Association of Young Scientists

I just watched a TED talk by Johan Rockström that nicely sums up the current situation of our species on our planet.

I really recommend watching the video in full, but since I know that some of you will hesitate to do this, here is a brief travel guide through the video (times in min): The Earth is a complex system (7:15), and it faces multiple pressures (3:46) that are driving it away from its current equilibrium state. Such complex systems have multiple states of equilibrium, and the transitions between them may be sudden (5:36-5:38). The human contributions are nicely symbolized at 4:02 and detailed between 4:35 and 4:55.

I am a trained Ecologist working with local communities to promote conservation of Ecosystems.

In Kenya deforestation is a serious problem resulting in environmental degradation, drought and famine. Over the years several national and international experts have discussed the issue extensively at various forums. Numerous studies have been made and countless papers produced but with no practical action.

It is worthy noting that deforestation and forest degradation produce about 20% of the worlds green house emissions while forest sector has a unique ability to reduce emissions by capturing and storing carbon and lessening the vulnerability of people and ecosystems to climate change. To achieve the above I work with grass-root communities to promote restoration of degraded forests and agroforestry as sustainable source of wood fuel, the problem is that I lack the basic equipments required for research and promoting conservation among schools and community groups.

Land-use planning is a fundamental concept, one that touches the core of the human existence. More importantly what we do on the land to a large extent determines our tomorrow. I like the phrase "Act Naturally" from this discussion thread. More so because of the way people have been devising so many innovative approaches for climate change, most of which do not give assurance that they can mitigate the process. Of cause there is the mere fact that the climate is changing that we cannot run away from. The political gathering in Copenhagen is on step towards making the change - the top-down approach towards change (hoping that there will be some type of agreement that the world leaders can agree on). To me however this is just one step toward any approach to combat climate change. There is the other side of the coin, the man on the ground, the person who is actually affected by the rise in sea level, by the fast changing climate and the impacts that it has on the person's livelihoods.

Established scientists who "hide" inconvenient data are on the same level as pseudoscientists, IMHO.

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DISCCRS V: Interdisciplinary Climate Change Research Symposium
http://disccrs.org/
http://disccrs.org/DISCCRSposter.pdf
13-20 March 2010, Saguaro Lake Ranch, AZ

APPLICATION DEADLINE: 31 August 2009
Participation limited to thirty-four early career scholars.
Airfare and on-site expenses supported by the National Science Foundation

The Dissertations Initiative for the Advancement of Climate Change Research (DISCCRS, pronounced discourse), connects natural and social scientists engaged in research related to climate change, impacts and solutions. The goal is to broaden perspectives and establish a collegial peer network to address climate challenges at the interface of science and society. A report and list of participants from the most recent symposium is available at http://disccrs.org/reports/DISCCRS_IV_Symposium_Report.pdf

International Symposium on Compatible with Climate Change

Dear Colleagues,

Shah Latif University Botanical Garden and Herbarium (SLUBGH) in Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur, Sindh, Pakistan is organizing International Symposium on Compatible with Climate Change in March 10-12, 2009.

Thematic approaches
• Plant species responses to climate change;

• Species Rescue Strategies (SRS) through botanical gardens includes; Education, Capacity Building, Communication Tools and Methods;

• Awareness in order to prepare masses to be Compatible with Climate Change;

• Formulate polices regarding minimization of threats to living beings due to impact of climate change.

This Symposium will provide a platform for researchers, policies and decision makers from different regions of the world to share their experiences and findings; so that the future strategies can be envisaged for safer world for living beings.

Please find Announcement and schedule on web: http://www.salu.edu.pk/media/ccc

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PAGES 1st Young Scientists Meeting and PAGES 3rd Open Science Meeting: "Retrospective Views on our Planet's Future" 6-7 and 8-11 July 2009, Corvallis, Oregon
Website: http://www.pages-osm.org/
The preliminary program for the meeting is online at:
http://www.pages-osm.org/ysm/program.html

Dear WAYS members,
I have looked around on the internet and found some interesting layers related to permafrost to display in Google Earth. I have listed them below. If you find some more interesting layers, please add them to this thread.
NSIDC-IPA Permafrost and Ground ice map
http://nsidc.org/data/virtual_globes/noaa/NSIDC_cryosphere.kml
Climate Change: Google monitors Permafrost Melting:
http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/download.php?Number=722766
The related web entry: http://www.geostrategis.com/p_mapm2.html
Permafrost Melting north of Lake Winnipeg:
http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showflat.php?Number=973498
Permafrost melting: Retrogressive thaw slump in the Yukon
http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/download.php?Number=1116622
Forum entry: http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showflat.php?Number=1116622
Methane Hydrate hot spots:
http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/download.php?Number=1178979
Permafrost and glaciers from Alaska (virtual trip):
http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/download.php?Number=1228514
Permafrost Lake Bank failure
http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/download.php?Number=1000232
Enjoy! Hugues

Deadline: Sep 1, 2008. For details, see
http://climatecongress.ku.dk/call-for-abstracts/ . See also
http://ways.org/en/events/un_conference_on_climate_change_cop15 .

Multiple approaches to measure the impact of research exist - the most common ones include citation metrics like the in-famous Journal Impact Factor or the relatively new Hirsch index, and the volume of research grants earned.

An initiative named Carbon Monitoring for Action (CARMA) has compiled a comprehensive list of power plants and their CO2 emissions around the globe. Easy to navigate, to search and to sort. Details at
http://carma.org/ .