%0 Book %A National Research Council %E Fenichel, Marilyn %E Schweingruber, Heidi A. %T Surrounded by Science: Learning Science in Informal Environments %@ 978-0-309-13674-7 %D 2010 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12614/surrounded-by-science-learning-science-in-informal-environments %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12614/surrounded-by-science-learning-science-in-informal-environments %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Education %P 240 %X Practitioners in informal science settings—museums, after-school programs, science and technology centers, media enterprises, libraries, aquariums, zoos, and botanical gardens—are interested in finding out what learning looks like, how to measure it, and what they can do to ensure that people of all ages, from different backgrounds and cultures, have a positive learning experience. Surrounded by Science: Learning Science in Informal Environments, is designed to make that task easier. Based on the National Research Council study, Learning Science in Informal Environments: People, Places, and Pursuits, this book is a tool that provides case studies, illustrative examples, and probing questions for practitioners. In short, this book makes valuable research accessible to those working in informal science: educators, museum professionals, university faculty, youth leaders, media specialists, publishers, broadcast journalists, and many others. %0 Book %A National Research Council %T Informing an Effective Response to Climate Change %@ 978-0-309-14594-7 %D 2010 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12784/informing-an-effective-response-to-climate-change %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12784/informing-an-effective-response-to-climate-change %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Environment and Environmental Studies %K Earth Sciences %P 346 %X Global climate change is one of America's most significant long-term policy challenges. Human activity—especially the use of fossil fuels, industrial processes, livestock production, waste disposal, and land use change—is affecting global average temperatures, snow and ice cover, sea-level, ocean acidity, growing seasons and precipitation patterns, ecosystems, and human health. Climate-related decisions are being carried out by almost every agency of the federal government, as well as many state and local government leaders and agencies, businesses and individual citizens. Decision makers must contend with the availability and quality of information, the efficacy of proposed solutions, the unanticipated consequences resulting from decisions, the challenge of implementing chosen actions, and must consider how to sustain the action over time and respond to new information. Informing an Effective Response to Climate Change, a volume in the America's Climate Choices series, describes and assesses different activities, products, strategies, and tools for informing decision makers about climate change and helping them plan and execute effective, integrated responses. It discusses who is making decisions (on the local, state, and national levels), who should be providing information to make decisions, and how that information should be provided. It covers all levels of decision making, including international, state, and individual decision making. While most existing research has focused on the physical aspect of climate change, Informing an Effective Response to Climate Change employs theory and case study to describe the efforts undertaken so far, and to guide the development of future decision-making resources. Informing an Effective Response to Climate Change offers much-needed guidance to those creating public policy and assists in implementing that policy. The information presented in this book will be invaluable to the research community, especially social scientists studying climate change; practitioners of decision-making assistance, including advocacy organizations, non-profits, and government agencies; and college-level teachers and students. %0 Book %A National Research Council %T Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change %@ 978-0-309-14591-6 %D 2010 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12783/adapting-to-the-impacts-of-climate-change %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12783/adapting-to-the-impacts-of-climate-change %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Earth Sciences %K Environment and Environmental Studies %P 292 %X Across the United States, impacts of climate change are already evident. Heat waves have become more frequent and intense, cold extremes have become less frequent, and patterns of rainfall are likely changing. The proportion of precipitation that falls as rain rather than snow has increased across the western United States and Arctic sea ice has been reduced significantly. Sea level has been rising faster than at any time in recent history, threatening the natural and built environments on the coasts. Even if emissions of greenhouse gases were substantially reduced now, climate change and its resulting impacts would continue for some time to come. To date, decisions related to the management and protection of the nation's people, resources, and infrastructure have been based on records in the recent past, when climate was relatively stable. Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change, part of the congressionally requested America's Climate Choices suite of studies, calls for a new paradigm-one that considers a range of possible future climate conditions and impacts that may be well outside the realm of past experience. Adaptation requires actions from many decision makers in federal, state, tribal, and local governments; the private sector; non-governmental organizations; and community groups. However, current efforts are hampered by a lack of solid information about the benefits, costs, and effectiveness of various adaptation options; climate information on regional and local scales; and a lack of coordination. Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change calls for a national adaptation strategy that provides needed technical and scientific resources, incentives to begin adaptation planning, guidance across jurisdictions, shared lessons learned, and support of scientific research to expand knowledge of impacts and adaptation. %0 Book %A National Research Council %T Understanding Climate's Influence on Human Evolution %@ 978-0-309-14838-2 %D 2010 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12825/understanding-climates-influence-on-human-evolution %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12825/understanding-climates-influence-on-human-evolution %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Biology and Life Sciences %K Earth Sciences %P 128 %X The hominin fossil record documents a history of critical evolutionary events that have ultimately shaped and defined what it means to be human, including the origins of bipedalism; the emergence of our genus Homo; the first use of stone tools; increases in brain size; and the emergence of Homo sapiens, tools, and culture. The Earth's geological record suggests that some evolutionary events were coincident with substantial changes in African and Eurasian climate, raising the possibility that critical junctures in human evolution and behavioral development may have been affected by the environmental characteristics of the areas where hominins evolved. Understanding Climate's Change on Human Evolution explores the opportunities of using scientific research to improve our understanding of how climate may have helped shape our species. Improved climate records for specific regions will be required before it is possible to evaluate how critical resources for hominins, especially water and vegetation, would have been distributed on the landscape during key intervals of hominin history. Existing records contain substantial temporal gaps. The book's initiatives are presented in two major research themes: first, determining the impacts of climate change and climate variability on human evolution and dispersal; and second, integrating climate modeling, environmental records, and biotic responses. Understanding Climate's Change on Human Evolution suggests a new scientific program for international climate and human evolution studies that involve an exploration initiative to locate new fossil sites and to broaden the geographic and temporal sampling of the fossil and archeological record; a comprehensive and integrative scientific drilling program in lakes, lake bed outcrops, and ocean basins surrounding the regions where hominins evolved and a major investment in climate modeling experiments for key time intervals and regions that are critical to understanding human evolution. %0 Book %A National Research Council %T Limiting the Magnitude of Future Climate Change %@ 978-0-309-14597-8 %D 2010 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12785/limiting-the-magnitude-of-future-climate-change %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12785/limiting-the-magnitude-of-future-climate-change %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Environment and Environmental Studies %K Earth Sciences %P 276 %X Climate change, driven by the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, poses serious, wide-ranging threats to human societies and natural ecosystems around the world. The largest overall source of greenhouse gas emissions is the burning of fossil fuels. The global atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, the dominant greenhouse gas of concern, is increasing by roughly two parts per million per year, and the United States is currently the second-largest contributor to global emissions behind China. Limiting the Magnitude of Future Climate Change, part of the congressionally requested America's Climate Choices suite of studies, focuses on the role of the United States in the global effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The book concludes that in order to ensure that all levels of government, the private sector, and millions of households and individuals are contributing to shared national goals, the United States should establish a "budget" that sets a limit on total domestic greenhouse emissions from 2010-2050. Meeting such a budget would require a major departure from business as usual in the way the nation produces and uses energy-and that the nation act now to aggressively deploy all available energy efficiencies and less carbon-intensive technologies and to develop new ones. With no financial incentives or regulatory pressure, the nation will continue to rely upon and "lock in" carbon-intensive technologies and systems unless a carbon pricing system is established-either cap-and-trade, a system of taxing emissions, or a combination of the two. Complementary policies are also needed to accelerate progress in key areas: developing more efficient, less carbon-intense energy sources in electricity and transportation; advancing full-scale development of new-generation nuclear power, carbon capture, and storage systems; and amending emissions-intensive energy infrastructure. Research and development of new technologies that could help reduce emissions more cost effectively than current options is also strongly recommended. %0 Book %A National Research Council %T The Impact of Genetically Engineered Crops on Farm Sustainability in the United States %@ 978-0-309-14708-8 %D 2010 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12804/the-impact-of-genetically-engineered-crops-on-farm-sustainability-in-the-united-states %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12804/the-impact-of-genetically-engineered-crops-on-farm-sustainability-in-the-united-states %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Agriculture %P 270 %X Since genetically engineered (GE) crops were introduced in 1996, their use in the United States has grown rapidly, accounting for 80-90 percent of soybean, corn, and cotton acreage in 2009. To date, crops with traits that provide resistance to some herbicides and to specific insect pests have benefited adopting farmers by reducing crop losses to insect damage, by increasing flexibility in time management, and by facilitating the use of more environmentally friendly pesticides and tillage practices. However, excessive reliance on a single technology combined with a lack of diverse farming practices could undermine the economic and environmental gains from these GE crops. Other challenges could hinder the application of the technology to a broader spectrum of crops and uses. Several reports from the National Research Council have addressed the effects of GE crops on the environment and on human health. However, The Impact of Genetically Engineered Crops on Farm Sustainability in the United States is the first comprehensive assessment of the environmental, economic, and social impacts of the GE-crop revolution on U.S. farms. It addresses how GE crops have affected U.S. farmers, both adopters and nonadopters of the technology, their incomes, agronomic practices, production decisions, environmental resources, and personal well-being. The book offers several new findings and four recommendations that could be useful to farmers, industry, science organizations, policy makers, and others in government agencies. %0 Book %A National Research Council %T Understanding the Changing Planet: Strategic Directions for the Geographical Sciences %@ 978-0-309-15075-0 %D 2010 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12860/understanding-the-changing-planet-strategic-directions-for-the-geographical-sciences %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12860/understanding-the-changing-planet-strategic-directions-for-the-geographical-sciences %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Earth Sciences %K Education %P 172 %X From the oceans to continental heartlands, human activities have altered the physical characteristics of Earth's surface. With Earth's population projected to peak at 8 to 12 billion people by 2050 and the additional stress of climate change, it is more important than ever to understand how and where these changes are happening. Innovation in the geographical sciences has the potential to advance knowledge of place-based environmental change, sustainability, and the impacts of a rapidly changing economy and society. Understanding the Changing Planet outlines eleven strategic directions to focus research and leverage new technologies to harness the potential that the geographical sciences offer. %0 Book %A National Research Council %T Advancing the Science of Climate Change %@ 978-0-309-14588-6 %D 2010 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12782/advancing-the-science-of-climate-change %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12782/advancing-the-science-of-climate-change %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Environment and Environmental Studies %K Earth Sciences %P 526 %X Climate change is occurring, is caused largely by human activities, and poses significant risks for—and in many cases is already affecting—a broad range of human and natural systems. The compelling case for these conclusions is provided in Advancing the Science of Climate Change, part of a congressionally requested suite of studies known as America's Climate Choices. While noting that there is always more to learn and that the scientific process is never closed, the book shows that hypotheses about climate change are supported by multiple lines of evidence and have stood firm in the face of serious debate and careful evaluation of alternative explanations. As decision makers respond to these risks, the nation's scientific enterprise can contribute through research that improves understanding of the causes and consequences of climate change and also is useful to decision makers at the local, regional, national, and international levels. The book identifies decisions being made in 12 sectors, ranging from agriculture to transportation, to identify decisions being made in response to climate change. Advancing the Science of Climate Change calls for a single federal entity or program to coordinate a national, multidisciplinary research effort aimed at improving both understanding and responses to climate change. Seven cross-cutting research themes are identified to support this scientific enterprise. In addition, leaders of federal climate research should redouble efforts to deploy a comprehensive climate observing system, improve climate models and other analytical tools, invest in human capital, and improve linkages between research and decisions by forming partnerships with action-oriented programs.