Ever wonder how thousands of scientists come together to author the world’s most authoritative report on climate change? A lead author brings us inside one working group.

The Earth Institute is offering undergraduate, graduate and PhD students with opportunities to intern in various departments and research centers in a variety of administration, communications and research roles. Interns work on a variety of sustainability-focused projects across The Earth Institute. These projects provide interns with hands-on workplace experience, allowing them to grow professionally while The Earth Institute centers benefit from their meaningful contributions.

As part of the Fall 2014 Haiti Dialogue Series organized by the Earth Institute’s Haiti Research and Policy Program, a group of faculty, researchers, students and policymakers gathered to discuss the latest research linking climate change, natural hazards, development and fragility in Haiti.

New research from the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions sheds light on how best to present information on U.S. fuel economy labels. Consumers choose fuel-efficient vehicles more frequently when fuel economy is expressed in terms of the cost of gas on a long term, 100,000-mile scale. The scale currently used on the U.S. fuel economy label (15,000 miles per year) produced the weakest preference for fuel-efficient vehicles in this study.

Despite their differences, both humanitarian crises and environmental issues are faced with an unending struggle to engage the public. A recent study reveals a new psychological mechanism confronting conservation efforts, and points the way to overcoming obstacles related to inaction.

Researchers from the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions will participate in a poster session featuring the work of each center funded under the National Science Foundation’s “Decision Making Under Uncertainty” grant. Nada Petrovic and Lisa Zaval will present the poster “What’s in a frame when it comes to fossil fuels: Does health matter more than climate change?” and Matt Sisco will present the poster “Why do people care about sea lions? A fishing game to study the value of endangered species.”

Actions by individuals and households to reduce carbon-based energy consumption have the potential to change the picture of U.S. energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions in the near term by integrating insights from the behavioral and social sciences.

Researchers from the Earth Institute’s Center for Research on Environmental Decisions will present their work at the 2012 American Geophysical Union Conference in San Francisco this week. Psychology doctoral candidate Katherine Thompson will present a poster entitled “The Psychology of Hazard Risk Perception”; and visiting research scholar Diana Reckien will present a poster entitled “Realities of Weather Extremes on Daily Life in Urban India—How Quantified Impacts Infer Sensible Adaptation Options.”

Warnings of potentially cataclysmic climate change have reached nearly every newspaper front page and legislative chamber around the globe since the 1990s. So why has the human response been so limited?