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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 4, NUMBER 1, JANUARY 1991

REPORTS

Item #d91jan96

Negotiating a Regime to Control Global Warming (G-90-10), J.K. Sebenius, 48 pp., Oct. 1990. Environ. & Natural Resour. Prog., Kennedy Sch. Govt., Harvard Univ., 79 JFK St., Cambridge MA 02138 (617-495-1350); $20 + shipping.

Analyzes the process of negotiating a climate treaty (rather than the merits of various policy options), based on the author's experience with Law of the Sea negotiations and on the history of the Montreal Protocol. Discusses the likely success of single issue protocols versus comprehensive packages, and the possible mobilization of blocking coalitions in the First, Second and Third Worlds. Suggests several approaches for overcoming such opposition.

Item #d91jan97

Building an Advanced Climate Model: Program Plan for the CHAMMP Climate Modeling Project (DOE/ER-0479T), U.S. Dept. Energy, 70 pp., Dec. 1990. Available from Off. Health & Environ. Res., Atmos. Clim. Res. Div., ER-76, U.S. DOE, Washington DC 20545 (301-353-4375).

The goal of the program is to develop, verify and apply a new generation of climate models, using the best scientific and numerical approaches to representing processes, fully utilizing hardware and software capabilities to address greenhouse climatic change. Computational ability is expected to increase by a factor of 104 over the 1990s. This program plan includes useful appendices on the prospects for large-scale computing, supercomputing in the DOE, and discussion of data storage and visualization. (See News, this Global Climate Change Digest issue--Jan. 1991.)

Item #d91jan98

Global Warming: The Greenpeace Report, J. Leggett, Ed., 554 pp., 1990. Publ. by Oxford Univ. Press; £19.95 hbk./£5.95 pbk.

A collection of 19 essays concerning the science, impacts and policy responses related to global warming, written by a group of experts sometimes referred to as the "shadow IPCC" that was organized by the environmental group Greenpeace. Argues that the IPCC failed to recommend stringent measures to counter global warming. (See review by D. Victor in Nature, pp. 361-362, Nov. 22.)

Item #d91jan99

Global Warming: Emission Reductions Possible as Scientific Uncertainties Are Resolved (GAO/RCED-90-58), 72 pp., Sep. 1990. U.S. General Accounting Office (POB 6015, Gaithersburg MD 20877; 202-275-6241). Up to five copies free.

Examines federal research on global warming, identifies areas of uncertainty and proposes policy options (both adaptive and control strategies) for government and industry. A review of one British and four U.S. climate models finds they are insufficient for reliably assessing effects of warming. Research should stress better understanding of biological, chemical and geophysical processes related to greenhouse gas levels, and better observational data bases.

Item #d91jan100

Science and the Public: Global Warming Caused by the Greenhouse Effect, J. Doble et al., approx. 200 pp., Dec. 1990. Public Agenda Foundation, 6 E. 39th St., New York NY 10016 (212-686-6610); $25.

In one of three similar studies sponsored by the Kettering Foundation on science and the public, over 400 U.S. citizens were surveyed on global warming and then surveyed again after being exposed to information on scientific uncertainty and views of scientists on policy options. Opinion moved closer to that of trained scientists after only about an hour's worth of education. Eighty-two percent favor the U.S. taking unilateral action; 70% favored such action even if Americans would have to sacrifice more than citizens of other countries, as did 70% of the scientists. However, Americans were unwilling to make substantial changes in driving habits.

Item #d91jan101

Climate Variability, Climate Change and Fisheries, M.H. Glantz, L.E. Feingold, Eds., 139 pp., Sep. 1990. Available from Environ. & Soc. Impacts Grp., NCAR, POB 3000, Boulder CO 80307.

Participants in workshops cosponsored by the U.S. EPA and the National Marine Fisheries Service developed 15 case studies involving commercially important fish species around the world. These were used to estimate regional societal consequences of global warming impacts on fisheries using the approach of forecasting by analogy, in which societies' abilities to respond to future change are estimated by their responses to past changes in the abundance or availability of marine resources.

Item #d91jan102

The Arctic and Global Change Research: Gaps Identified at the Symposium, 1990. Available from Climate Institute, 316 Penn. Ave. SE, S. 403, Washington DC 20003 (202-547-0104); $3.

This short discussion paper, based on the October 1989 meeting organized by the Institute in Ottawa, identifies research areas requiring priority attention in the future, and outlines 23 specific issues on physical, biological, environmental, economic and social topics. (A complete proceedings is forthcoming.)

Item #d91jan103

Driving Up the Heat: A Buyer's Guide to Automobiles, Fuel Efficiency and Global Warming, 42 pp., Apr. 1990. Public Citizen--Critical Mass Energy Project, 215 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington DC 20003 (202-546-4996); $5.

Assesses the potential for future improvements in fuel efficiency, and consequent reductions in CO₂ emissions, based on data from federal agencies and other sources. Calls for a federal fuel efficiency standard of 45 miles per gallon by the year 2000. Includes an analysis of fuel efficiency and CO₂ output of all 1990 U.S. car models.