Sumposium on Global Warming and the Greening of California's Energy Resources

By now everyone has heard the dire predictions of increased global
warming and rising sea levels. What’s the science behind these predictions? What can
Bay Area residents do about it? And if the warming trend is not reversed, what can
we expect to happen locally – and when will it happen?
The science of predicting the impacts of global warming – especially the “when and
where” questions - will be addressed by scientists and mathematicians affiliated with
the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI), which is sponsoring the evening
symposium on global warming entitled “From Global Predictions to Local Action.”
“Most of the predictions heard to date are based on long-term global models that
address what may happen in the next 100 to 1,000 years,” said MSRI Director David
Eisenbud. “We need to translate those global models into local, shorter-term
predictions that government and business can take action on now.”
The “greening of California’s energy” and the role that alternative fuels and
technology will play in reducing carbons in the atmosphere is of particular
importance to Congressman Jerry McNerney, who will be participating in the panel and
was recently named by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the Select Committee on Energy
Independence and Global Warming.
McNerney, who is a wind energy expert, will address the role that new energy
technologies will play in helping to clean our environment and improve our air
quality. “The future of our planet is in the balance. The United States needs to
take steps today to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. We can move toward a clean
energy economy which will create jobs, yield positive benefits for our environment
and create a safer world for our children and grandchildren.”
The symposium’s format is designed to encourage public participation and will include
a short presentation of the basic science of global warming followed by in-depth
discussions on what can be done locally, statewide, nationally and even
internationally. There will be ample opportunity for questions from the public. The
panel of leading experts in energy, science and the economy will include in addition
to Rep. McNerney, Michael R. Peevey, President of the California Public Utilities
Commission; Dr. Inez Fung and Dr. Daniel Kammen, Co-Directors of the UC Berkeley
Institute for the Environment; and Severin Borenstein, Director of the UC Energy
Institute, and a professor at the Haas School of Business.
PUC President Michael R. Peevey recognizes that global warming is the most serious
environmental threat of our time and that immediate action is needed to prevent truly
calamitous outcomes worldwide. “Cleaner electricity production is an essential factor
in solving climate change issues. The PUC plays an important role in reducing the
greenhouse gas emissions of our regulated utilities by setting policies that
prioritize acquisition of low- or no-carbon resources and providing incentives for
utilities to account for emissions as they obtain new energy resources. In addition,
the state set groundbreaking renewable power goals, and the PUC created the most
ambitious energy efficiency and conservation campaign in the history of the utility
industry in the U.S.”
Haas Business School Professor Severin Borenstein said "Global warming poses major
risks to California. Addressing it will be a great challenge to California and the
nation."
Dr. Inez Fung, a co-author of the recent IPCC report delivered at the United Nations,
expects the symposium to address major challenges in climate prediction. “Our charge
is to formulate new climate change models to aid policy decision making. At the
symposium and subsequent workshops, we will develop new classes of models that
integrate global climate predictions with risk and economic analysis on a local
scale.”
The Wednesday evening symposium will be followed by a two-day workshop for
mathematical scientists at MSRI on April 12 and 13. The plan is to engage the
mathematical sciences community in addressing the issues involved in translating
global, long-term predictions of climate change into local forecasts relevant for
public and private-sector policy. “Mathematics is at the center of climate
predictions as well as the center of the analysis that informs decision making,” said
Eisenbud. Interested members of the scientific community may register for the
workshops at http://www.msri.org/
MSRI, a non-profit 501(c)3 corporation (ID #0924830), is supported by the National
Science Foundation, the National Security Agency, more than 85 departments from the
mathematical sciences in the US and abroad, including UC Berkeley and the Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory, and many other public and private sources. It is
located on the UC Berkeley campus. For more information on the Institute, please
visit http://www.msri.org/. The MSRI Symposium on Climate Change was made possible by
the generous support of the Sea Change Foundation.
# # #