The Climate Change Educational Partnership Climate Change, Engineered Systems, and Society: A Report of Three Workshops (2014) / Chapter Skim
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3 INTERVENTIONS: EXAMINING THE RANGE OF SOCIOTECHNICAL RESPONSES
3 INTERVENTIONS: EXAMINING THE RANGE OF SOCIOTECHNICAL RESPONSES
Pages 16-27
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From page 16... ...
The focus of his presentation, however, was policy and education options. His discussion of policy options drew heavily on a 2010 NRC report, Limiting the Magnitude of Future Climate Changes, for which he served on the authoring panel.
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From page 17... ...
Engineering Perspectives: Toward Structural Change Jackie Kepke, a consulting engineer working on public infrastructure projects and global technology leader of CH2M Hill's water management portfolio, looks at climate change risk assessment and 17
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From page 18... ...
Temperature increases, more extreme floods, droughts, and storms, rising sea levels, and ocean acidification all impact water infrastructure, the natural water system (source water, storm water, water treatment, waste water) , and agriculture.
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From page 19... ...
In 2009 CH2M Hill prepared a study to inform Congress on the investments needed from US waste water and water utilities to adapt to climate change by 2050 (the calculation did not include the $500 billion estimated shortfall for public water and waste water infrastructure investment) .11 The study sought to make the point that climate change legislation should consider not only how to mitigate climate change but also how to fund public infrastructure adaptation.
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From page 20... ...
Asked how common her thinking is in the engineering community, Kepke said that large companies typically have many different kinds of expertise available in-house, to achieve both competitive advantage and public welfare. For outreach and education, she suggested communicating with relevant professional societies such as the American Waterworks Association, the Water Environment Federation, and the International Water Association in the water management field.
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From page 21... ...
Probabilistic analysis involves combining histograms of the strengths of the concrete, steel, wind, and other loads to yield a probability of the circumstances where the loads exceed the strengths and the building collapses. But this more rational way to design is harder to communicate; it is much easier for engineers to say that something will or will not break, as opposed to providing a probabilistic analysis and communicating it in a way that people can understand.
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From page 22... ...
Different predictions of sea level rise pose a probabilistic problem that needs to be communicated well, he concluded, and expressed optimism about the ability of untenured and junior faculty to enter this field and gain tenure. Geoengineering Potentials and Myths Alan Robock, a distinguished professor of climatology in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Rutgers University, began by asking, What shall we do about climate change?
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From page 23... ...
But stratospheric winds would blow them around and numerous negative consequences are likely -- regional climate change (e.g., temperature and precipitation changes) ; rapid warming when the particle seeding stops; potential inability to stop the seeding rapidly, particularly in emergencies; continuing ocean acidification; ozone depletion and enhanced acid precipitation when the particles return to earth; whitening of the sky and less solar radiation for solar power; effects on plants of the diffused radiation; effects on cirrus clouds; and environmental impacts of aerosol injection.13 Using a state-of-the-art climate model from NASA, his research team modeled putting particles in the stratosphere over 20 years and then stopping for 20 years.
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From page 24... ...
So far the only reasonable perspectives and includes lessons from past efforts to modify approach is solar radiation management weather and climate. to temporarily reduce the most § "Development and analysis of policy options to promote dangerous aspects of climate change.
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From page 25... ...
The idea to return to 2°C above preindustrial levels, which was agreed on in Copenhagen, is arbitrary and is a distribution, not a number. A statement issued by the American Meteorological Society and the American Geophysical Union defines geoengineering as intentional control of the climate system.
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From page 26... ...
The American Meteorological Society committee that wrote the recommendations for undergraduate education recently added a requirement for the addition of climate change to the undergraduate meteorology curriculum to improve understanding among weather forecasters and other meteorologists. Examining Interventions In the capstone workshop, two speakers examined risk and adaptation strategies from engineering perspectives, a third presented a case study of adaptation to sea level rise, and the fourth focused on assisting climate decision making when facing scientific uncertainty.14 Armin Munevar, global water resources director, CH2M Hill, presented "An Engineering Perspective on Climate Adaptation, Risk, and Resiliency." He noted that climate change is leading firms to recognize that past, prediction-oriented approaches to reducing and managing uncertainty need to incorporate approaches that accept irreducible uncertainties and emphasize resiliency, robustness, and adaptive management, for instance through flexible design approaches.
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From page 27... ...
The workshop also included a panel on uses and plans for Colorado River water resources as they affect the southwest region of the United States. Carly Jerla, comanager of the Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study, US Bureau of Reclamation, reviewed the study results, including a variety of criteria for assessing options in the near and longer terms as well as next steps toward implementation.
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