A live-streamed international conference on El Niño takes place on Nov. 17 and 18 at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society.

The third International Conference on Climate Services, organized by the Climate Services Partnership, will be held in Montego Bay, Jamaica, from Dec. 4-6. Just as weather services provides us with forecasts of short-term temperatures and rainfall, climate services provide users with timely information about a range of expected conditions that decision makers can use to help manage current climate risks and build resilience to future climate change

How can the full range of the social sciences be brought into research on climate change and the search for solutions? The roles of economics and political science seem crucial, since pricing mechanisms and policies are needed to promote mitigation and to support adaptation. Psychology explores the ways to make this problem, often seen as distant and uncertain, stand out more prominently in human thinking and motivation. Sociology studies the variety of organizations, such as urban governments and consumer groups, which address climate change. Anthropology, though, might seem too remote, and too focused on traditional cultures or ancient civilizations, to have much to offer.

On Thursday I’ll be attending Illuminating the Science: Art and Climate Change. The event’s project is surely ambitious.  It claims not only that climate data might be better communicated, or made more robust, through the arts, but that indeed “the landscape of numbers can be populated by dreams in the form of images, dance or music,… read more

A lot of hopes have been placed on the Fifteenth Conference of Parties (COP-15) which began earlier this week in Copenhagen.  Convened on December 7, the conference has been considered by many our best hope at keeping global temperature from rising to what many researchers consider potentially dangerous levels. The gathering of delegates from throughout… read more