Recent Publications

The following represents a sample of the numerous publications authored by Center staff.  For a complete, searchable list, with online versions of most articles, visit our Publications page.

Dilling, L., Mitchell, R., Fairman, D., Lahsen, M., Moser, S., Patt, A., Potter, C., Rice, C., VanDeveer, S., 2007. How can we improve the Usefulness of Carbon Science for Decision Making? Chapter 5 in: The First State of the Carbon Cycle Report (SOCCR): The North American Carbon Budget and Implications for the Global Carbon Cycle., US Climate Change Science Program.

Excerpt:  Humans have been inadvertently altering the Earth's carbon cycle since the dawn of agriculture, and more rapidly since the industrial revolution. These influences have become large enough to cause significant climate change (IPCC, 2001). In response, environmental advocates, business executives, and policy-makers have increasingly recognized the need to manage the carbon cycle deliberately. Effective carbon management requires that the variety of people whose decisions affect carbon emissions and sinks have relevant, appropriate science. Yet, carbon cycle science is rarely organized or conducted to support decision making on managing carbon emissions, uptake and storage (sequestration), and impacts…read more.

Pielke, R.A., 2007. Technology Assessment and Globalization. Bridges, Vol. 16, December.

Excerpt:  Fresh sushi, it seems, can be found almost everywhere. Such casual observations of contemporary trends in the globalization of food are backed up by data. Our insatiable appetite for fresh fish has had a profound effect on world fish stocks. In 2006 a study published in Science estimated that 29 percent of all fished ocean species were being harvested unsustainably. As the world struggles to cope with the many challenges of globalization, which include protecting fish populations in the face of enormous demand, it is of particular importance to understand the role of technology in globalization and the role of technology assessment in our efforts to manage the effects of globalization…read more.

Pielke, Jr., R. A. 2007. The Case for a Sustainable Climate Policy: Why Costs and Benefits Must Be Temporally Balanced, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Vol. 155, June, pp. 1843-1857.

Excerpt:  The question of what actions on climate change make sense in the short term…remains largely unanswered. Until we better organize the climate science and technology enterprise to focus on policy options for the short term, the climate debate is likely to remain in its present gridlock. Policies that address climate change—including both mitigation and adaptation—have both long-term and short-term effects. To date, climate policy has focused primarily on the long term, and so too has the research intended to inform that policy. As a consequence, too little attention is paid to policy options and technological alternatives that might make sense in the short term. One reason for the short term being overlooked is the intellectual gerrymandering of the climate change issue at the international level, which has maintained a narrow focus on greenhouses gases (GHGs) and their effects. Billions of dollars of public investments in climate science and technology might be reoriented to better serve the needs of decision makers grappling with climate change, which will be a policy issue for decades to come, by focusing on policies that make sense in both the short and long terms… read more.