Tag Archives: Climate Change

We spend the hour looking at the environmental impact of the US military. How much does the US military pollute the environment? what is its role in climate change causing green house emissions? The military has taken some measures to reduce its impact on the environment and green gas emissions, but our guests say these measures do little to assuage the military’s bigger effects on climate change. What are these effects and what can be done about them? [ dur: 58mins. ]
For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

Benjamin Neimark is Senior Lecturer at the University of Lancaster, United Kingdom. He is the author of Speaking Power to ‘Post-Truth’: Critical Political Ecology and the New Authoritarianism and co-author of Hidden carbon costs of the “everywhere war” Logistics, geopolitical ecology, and the carbon boot‐print of the US military.
Oliver Belcher is an Assistant Professor in Human Geography at Durham University, United Kingdom. He is the author of Anatomy of a village razing: Counterinsurgency, violence, and securing the intimate in Afghanistan, and co-author of Hidden carbon costs of the “everywhere war” Logistics, geopolitical ecology, and the carbon boot‐print of the US military.
Neta C. Crawford is Professor of Political Science and Department Chair at Boston University. She is the author of the book Accountability for Killing: Moral Responsibility for Collateral Damage in America’s Post-9/11 Wars and the research paper Pentagon Fuel Use, Climate Change,and the Costs of War

Produced by the Scholars’ Circle team: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Anaïs Amin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle – US Rejoining the Paris Climate Accords and Vaccination as human right – January 24, 2021

January 23, 2021 host

The US has rejoined the Paris Climate Accords. What next steps should the US and the world take to mitigate the damage from the climate crisis? [ dur: 31mins. ]

Pamela Chasek is a Professor of Political Science at Manhattan College. Among many publications she is the co-author of Global Environmental Politics.
Shannon Gibson is Associate Professor of Political Science, International Relations, and Environmental Studies at the University of Southern California. She is the author of the forthcoming book Politics of Global Environment.
Larry Schweiger is a former president and CEO of National Wildlife Federation. He is the author of Last Chance: Preserving Life on Earth.

Vaccine distribution for the Covid virus has begun. What human rights issues are raised with the process of distributing the vaccine? How much do wealth and privilege determine who gets vaccinated? We take a global approach to vaccine nationalism and equitable distribution of the vaccine. [ dur: 26mins. ]

Heather Wipfli is an Associate Professor of Clinical Preventive Medicine and International Relations at the University of Southern California (USC). She is the author of Investigating global mental health: Contributions from political science and Network influences on policy implementation: Evidence from a global health treaty.
Joanne Lin is National Director of Advocacy and Government Affairs at Amnesty International, USA.

Amnesty’s report on this topic is Fair Shot: Ensuring Universal Access to Covid-19 Diagnostics, Treatments and Vaccines.
Amnesty’s report on Vaccine for Palestinians
Amnesty’s report on Human Rights Approach to Eradicating Covid-19.

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle – Wildfires indicate now is time for Adaptation and Mitigation to climate change – Sept 20, 2020

September 21, 2020 host

Western US is ablaze with intense and widespread fires. What role does climate change, forest management, overpopulation, and resource management play in the increasingly devastating fire seasons worldwide? How can climate mitigation and adaptation complicate forest management? [dur: 58mins. ]

George Perry is a Professor at the School of Environment at the University of Auckland. He studies the effects of humans on forest ecosystems. He is the co-author of many publications including, Positive Feedbacks to Fire-Driven Deforestation Following Human Colonization of the South Island of New Zealand, Pyrodiversity is the coupling of biodiversity and fire regimes in food webs, and Green firebreaks as a management tool for wildfires: Lessons from China.
Peter Ward is Professor of Biology and Professor of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of Washington. He is the co-author of the best-selling Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe, the author of many books including, Out of Thin Air: Dinosaurs, Birds, and Earth’s Ancient Atmosphere, Under a Green Sky: Global Warming, the Mass Extinctions of the Past and What They Can Tell Us About Our Future, and The Medea Hypothesis: Is Life on Earth Ultimately Self-Destructive? which was listed by the New York Times as one of the “100 most important ideas of 2009.”
Beverly Elizabeth Law is Emeritus Professor and was previously Professor of Global Change Biology and Terrestrial Systems Science in the Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society at Oregon State University. She is an American Geophysical Union Fellow and Aldo Leopold Fellow. She is an author or co-author of over 200 peer-reviewed publications including Drivers of Future Ecosystem Change in the US Pacific Northwest: The Role of Climate, Fire, and Nitrogen and Tree biomass mortality from fires, bark beetles, and timber harvest during a hot, dry decade in the western United States.
William Moomaw is Emeritus Professor of international environmental policy and founding director of the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy at The Fletcher School. He is the co-founder and current co-director of the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts. Professor Moomaw has been a lead author of five Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Reports. He is the author of Intact Forests in the United States: Proforestation Mitigates Climate Change and Serves the Greatest Good and Scientist Diplomats or Diplomat Scientists: Who Makes Science Diplomacy Effective?

This program is produced by the following team members: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle – Measuring Environmental impact of the US Military – April 5, 2020

April 4, 2020 host

We spend the hour looking at the environmental impact of the US military. How much does the US military pollute the environment? What is their role in climate change causing green house emissions? The military has taken some measures to reduce its impact on the environment and green gas emissions, but our guests say these measures do little to assuage the military’s bigger effects on climate change. What are these effects and what can be done about them?[ dur: 58mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

Benjamin Neimark is Senior Lecturer at the University of Lancaster, United Kingdom. He is the author of Speaking Power to ‘Post-Truth’: Critical Political Ecology and the New Authoritarianism and co-author of Hidden carbon costs of the “everywhere war” Logistics, geopolitical ecology, and the carbon boot‐print of the US military.
Oliver Belcher is an Assistant Professor in Human Geography at Durham University, United Kingdom. He is the author of Anatomy of a village razing: Counterinsurgency, violence, and securing the intimate in Afghanistan, and co-author of Hidden carbon costs of the “everywhere war” Logistics, geopolitical ecology, and the carbon boot‐print of the US military.
Neta C. Crawford is Professor of Political Science and Department Chair at Boston University. She is the author of the book Accountability for Killing: Moral Responsibility for Collateral Damage in America’s Post-9/11 Wars and the research paper Pentagon Fuel Use, Climate Change,and the Costs of War

Produced by the Scholars’ Circle team: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Anaïs Amin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle – Understanding Climate and Ecosystem Tipping Points – February 23, 2020

February 23, 2020 host

We spent the hour looking at the science of tippings and what they mean for our climate and our ecosystems on land and in water today. What causes these types of sudden changes? And how can society be better prepared for such events? We spoke with three scientists whose studies involve tipping points, how they happen and their effects.[ dur: 58mins. ]

Peter Ward is a Professor of Paleontology and Biology at the Earth and Space Sciences Department of the University of Washington, Seattle.He is the co-author of the best-selling Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe, the author of many books including, Out of Thin Air: Dinosaurs, Birds, and Earth’s Ancient Atmosphere, Under a Green Sky: Global Warming, the Mass Extinctions of the Past, and What They Can Tell Us About Our Future, and The Medea Hypothesis: Is Life on Earth Ultimately Self-Destructive? which was listed by the New York Times as one of the “100 most important ideas of 2009.”
Simon Thrush is Professor of Marine Science and Head of the Institute of Marine Science at the University of Auckalnd in New Zealand, He is the co-author of many publications including, Real world biodiversity-ecosystem functioning: A seafloor perspective, The up-scaling of ecosystem functions in a heterogeneous world, and Altered Sea Ice Thickness and Permanence Affects Benthic Ecosystem Functioning in Coastal Antarctica.
George Perry is a Professor at the School of Environment at the University of Auckland. He studies the effects of humans on forest ecosystems. He is the co-author of many publications including, Positive Feedbacks to Fire-Driven Deforestation Following Human Colonization of the South Island of New Zealand, Feedbacks and landscape-level vegetation dynamics, and Pyrodiversity is the coupling of biodiversity and fire regimes in food webs.

Produced by the Scholars’ Circle team: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle – Insight into Proxy wars and it’s consequence -/- Are Frequency of Volcanic eruptions affected by Climate Change? – February 2, 2020

February 1, 2020 host

First, why do states choose to use third parties to intervene in other nation’s civil wars and political conflicts? On today’s show we interview Andrew Mumford on the legality, efficacy, and implications of the waging of proxy warfare. Hosted by Doug Becker. [ dur: 21 mins. ]

Andrew Mumford is Associate Professor in Politics and International Relations at The University of Nottingham, UK. He is the author about Proxy Warfare Counterinsurgency Wars and the Anglo-American Alliance.

In December unexpected volcanic eruption in White Island, NZ. killed 21 people, recent Taal volcano erupts in Philippines caused thousands of people to flee the area, from Ecuador warning of pending eruptions. With Climate Change will volcanic eruptions become more frequent? By looking at ice cores, chemistry, size of eruptions, volcanoes buried in glaciers we get insight into this question. Hosted by Maria Armoudian. [ dur: 35 mins. ]

Jihong Cole-Dai is Professor of Analytical Chemistry at South Dakota State University. He is the co-author of Evidence of Influence of Human Activities and Volcanic Eruptions on Environmental Perchlorate from a 300-Year Greenland Ice Core and Synchronous volcanic eruptions and abrupt climate change ∼17.7 ka plausibly linked by stratospheric ozone depletion
Charles B Connor is Professor in the School of Geosciences at the University of South Florida. He is the co-author of Climatic control on Icelandic volcanic activity during the mid-Holocene.
Ivan Savov is Lecturer in the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds, UK. He is co-author of Evaluating the relationship between climate change and volcanism.

Produced by the Scholars’ Circle team: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle – Current state of affairs in Iran, Iraq, Mideast, US after death of Iranian General Suleiman -/- Australian wild Fires and Mitigation – January 19, 2020

January 18, 2020 host

Following the US drone strike killing General Suleiman in Iraq, Iran shot down a Ukrainian passenger airliner. As tensions rose, international concerns over security as well as legality rose as well. And in Iran, protests against the government’s response to the attack on the airliner arose and have been intensifying. On today’s show, we will examine both the international and the local responses to the tensions and the military strikes that have led to this crisis. [ dur: 31 mins ]

Nader Hashemi is Director of the Center for Middle East Studies and Associate Professor in Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver, Colorado. He is the author of Islam, Secularism and Liberal Democracy: Toward a Democratic Theory for Muslim Societies and the co-editor of The People Reloaded: The Green Movement and Iran’s Struggle for Democracy.
Asli Ü. Bâli is Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law. She is the co-editor of Constitution Writing, Religion and Democracy and author of the research paper Negotiating Non-Proliferation: International Law and Delegation in the Iranian Nuclear Crisis.
Nayereh Tohidi is Director of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, and Professor and former Chair of the Department of Gender & Women Studies at California State University, Northridge. She is the co-editor and contributor to Globalization, Gender and Religion: The Politics of Women’s Rights in Catholic and Muslim Contexts and Women in Muslim Societies: Diversity within Unity.

What is the relationship between climate change and wildfires? The intensity and breadth of the wildfires in Australia has drawn attention to the effects of climate change and the need for a greater commitment to countering the globe’s increasing tensions. We explore the scientific and political linkages between these fires and climate change. [ dur: 27mins. ]

Wenju Cai is Director of the Centre for Southern Hemisphere Oceans Research (CSHOR) and a Chief Research Scientist and Office of the Chief Executive Science Leader at CSIRO. He is a contributor to The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change. He is the co-author of Granger causal predictors for maximum rainfall in Australia.
LeRoy Westerling is Co-Director of the Center for Climate Communication at the University of California, Merced. He is the co-author of Greater Temperature and Precipitation Extremes Intensify Western U.S. Droughts, Wildfire Severity, and Sierra Nevada Tree Mortality.

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle – Insight into Economic Systems in the age of Climate Change induced collapse – December 8 , 2019

December 7, 2019 host

Why do sustainable business initiatives so often fail? What fundamental changes we need from societies and the economic system to stem a climate change induced collapsed? What economic systems might work on a planet with a finite capacity to sustain life? [ dur: 58 mins.]

Christopher Wright is Professor of Organisational Studies, Discipline of Strategy, Innovation & Entrepreneurship at the University of Sydney Business School.
Daniel Nyberg is Professor of Management at Newcastle Business School and an Honorary Professor at the University of Sydney. Together they have co-authored Climate Change, Capitalism and Corporations: Processes of Creative Self-destruction.

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle – Portrait of Daniel Patrick Moynihan -/- What to do about Climate effects due to rising temps – November 3 , 2019

November 3, 2019 host

First, we speak with Steven Weisman, editor of the book “Daniel Patrick Moynihan: A Portrait in Letters of an American Visionary” which weaves compelling read of carefully selected from a 10,000 page collection of Senator Moynahan’s correspondence, housed at the Library of Congress. [ dur: 18 mins. ]

Steven Weisman is a vice president for publications and communications at Peterson Institute for International Economics and formerly served as chief international economics correspondent of the New York Times. He is the editor of the book Daniel Patrick Moynihan: A Portrait in Letters of an American Visionary.

As California burns, oceans rise, storms intensify, and Greenland’s glacier’s melts, we explore solutions to the climate change problem with Stanford Professor Mark Jacobson. He is the author of the just released study The health and climate impacts of carbon capture and direct air capture.

Mark Jacobson is Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Director of Atmosphere/Energy Program at Stanford University. He’s also the Co-Founder of The Solutions Project, 100.org, and the 100% Clean, Renewable Energy Movement. He is the author of A path to sustainable energy by 2030 (Scientific American, 2009); 100% clean and renewable wind, water, sunlight (WWS) all-sector energy roadmaps for the 50 United States (Energy & Environmental Sciences, 2015; 100% clean and renewable wind, water, and sunlight (WWS) all-sector energy roadmaps for 139 countries of the world (Joule, 2017); and 100% clean, and renewable wind, water, and sunlight (WWS) all-sector energy roadmaps for 53 towns and cities in North America (Sustainable Cities and Society, 2018)

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle – Evidence of Crop Failure and Bird Colony Collapse -/- Earth’s magnetic field and it’s effect on birds, bees, whales and turtles – September 8 , 2019

September 7, 2019 host

First, Bird Colony collapse and crop failures.

Josh Tewksbury is Research Professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder and Director of the Colorado Global Hub, Future Earth. He is also Executive Editor of Anthropocene magazine. He is the co-author of the studies Increase in crop losses to insect pests in a warming climate and De-faunation leads to interaction deficits, not interaction compensation, in an island seed dispersal network.
Curtis Deutsch is Associate Professor of Chemical Oceanography in the School of Oceanography at Washington University. He is the co-author of the studies Acceleration of oxygen decline in the tropical Pacific over the past decades by aerosol pollutants, Microbial functional diversity alters the structure and sensitivity of oxygen deficient zones, and Increase in crop losses to insect pests in a warming climate.
Steven R. Beissinger is Professor of Conservation Biology in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the co-author of the studies Mojave Desert Bird Populations Plummet as Region Warms and Dries and The push and pull of climate change causes heterogeneous shifts in avian elevation-al ranges.

Then, how do birds, bees, whales and turtles all use the earth’s magnetic field to guide their behavior? [ dur: 15mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ.

Andres Vidal Gadea is Professor of Molecular Neuroethology at Illinois State University. He is the co-author of Magnetosensitive neurons mediate geomagnetic orientation in Caenorhabditis elegans and Factors that influence magnetic orientation in C. elegans. JCPA.

This program is produced with contributions from the following volunteers: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Anaïs Amin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

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Tag Archives: Climate Change

Scholars’ Circle – How much does the US military pollute the environment? – May 16, 2021

Scholars’ Circle – US Rejoining the Paris Climate Accords and Vaccination as human right – January 24, 2021

Scholars’ Circle – Wildfires indicate now is time for Adaptation and Mitigation to climate change – Sept 20, 2020

Scholars’ Circle – Measuring Environmental impact of the US Military – April 5, 2020

Scholars’ Circle – Understanding Climate and Ecosystem Tipping Points – February 23, 2020

Scholars’ Circle – Insight into Proxy wars and it’s consequence -/- Are Frequency of Volcanic eruptions affected by Climate Change? – February 2, 2020

Scholars’ Circle – Current state of affairs in Iran, Iraq, Mideast, US after death of Iranian General Suleiman -/- Australian wild Fires and Mitigation – January 19, 2020

Scholars’ Circle – Insight into Economic Systems in the age of Climate Change induced collapse – December 8 , 2019

Scholars’ Circle – Portrait of Daniel Patrick Moynihan -/- What to do about Climate effects due to rising temps – November 3 , 2019

Scholars’ Circle – Evidence of Crop Failure and Bird Colony Collapse -/- Earth’s magnetic field and it’s effect on birds, bees, whales and turtles – September 8 , 2019

By Maria Armoudian