Confronting Dangerous Climate Change

From the endangered Arctic to the nation’s capital, the challenges posed by human-caused climate change have been front and center at the Belfer Center’s Environment and Natural Resources Program (ENRP).

ENRP sponsored a delegation of 12 HKS students and Belfer Center research fellows to attend the 2014 Arctic Circle Assembly, held in Reykjavik, Iceland from October 29 to November 2. The Assembly convened delegations from 40 nations as well as senior industry and NGO leaders to discuss national security and energy as well as environmental issues facing the region.

ENRP organized a plenary session on “The Arctic, Climate Change, and the Role of Renewable Energy,” where Energy Technology Innovation Policy fellow Zhu Liu presented his research on China’s carbon footprint and the implications for global climate mitigation. ENRP co-sponsored a pre-assembly workshop on renewable energy with Reykjavik University,  titled “The Energy Industry: Global Challenges and Future Opportunities.” Presenters included Liu and Belfer Center STPP/ETIP fellow Claudia Doblinger. HKS PhD candidate Trisha Shrum also presented at the Assembly.

The President of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, welcomed the HKS delegation and announced the establishment of an Arctic network for young researchers. Since their return, the students and fellows have explored ways to bring the Assembly issues to the wider HKS community. ENRP director Henry Lee and assistant director Amanda Sardonis organized the Iceland trip as part of an ongoing program focus on the Arctic.

“The Arctic is the last frontier. It is both a barometer of the looming threat of climate change and the source of enormous economic potential,” said Lee. “While student participation in the Iceland conference was very impressive, we want to continue to bring climate-related events to HKS as well.”

An ENRP fall environmental film series on campus, co-sponsored by the Energy & Environment Professional Interest Council, focused on climate concerns. A November 19 screening of the 2014 documentary, Extreme Realities: The Link Between Severe Weather, Climate Change, and Our National Security, included a panel discussion with speakers familiar with the melting Arctic. They included Lt. Katie Burkhart, a U.S. Navy reserve HKS student, Capt. Michael A. Mullen, U.S. Coast Guard and National Security Program fellow formerly stationed in Alaska, and Harvard climate scientist James J. McCarthy, board chair of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

An earlier screening of A Fierce Green Fire, which looks at a 50-year span of the environmental movement, provided a historical backdrop for discussing activism at Harvard and beyond.  Harvard College senior Chloe Maxmin, co-founder of Divest Harvard, told the audience that environmental issues are important to today’s youth “because our generation is seeing the worst [of the] impacts … it affects our generation the hardest.”

“The reason why things are the way they are is because someone benefits….That’s why activism is important,” said HKS student Mick Power, a lawyer and environmental campaigner from Australia.

Recently, Boston’s extreme snowfall—and the HKS February 10 shutdown—derailed a public talk by New York Times energy and environment reporter Coral Davenport. ENRP hopes to reschedule the talk.

The film & lecture series are part of an ongoing ENRP “Media, Energy and Environment” series organized by Cristine Russell and Amanda Sardonis with help from HKS student Amanda Dominguez and ENRP’s Natalie Rios.

Students Giovana Girardi, Anneli Tostar, and Will Toraason present points made by New York Times’ Coral Davenport (on poster) in an informal discussion on covering climate and energy in Washington, D.C. Davenport's official presentation was postponed by snow.

Vice President Al Gore responds to the Belfer Center panel discussion on climate change denialism: “Crossing the 2014 Climate Divide: Scientists, Skeptics and the Media.”

Global warming denial is political, not scientific. 97% of climate scientists agree that the crisis is real & manmade http://t.co/CynaGyzzpL

— Al Gore (@algore) February 20, 2014