Media Advisory: Stanford climate researchers at Copenhagen talks available for comment

Ten Stanford University researchers, experts in a broad range of subject areas involving climate change, are scheduled to attend the 15th United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen, Denmark, this week and next. Most of them will be available for media inquiries during the convention 

The Meeting:

Among the 15,000 participants from 193 nations who will be attending COP15, the 15th United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), are 10 Stanford University researchers. Most of them will be available for media inquiries during the convention (see contact information below). 

Two press events are scheduled to include Stanford faculty as speakers. The first will be Thursday, Dec. 10, when Stephen Schneider, professor of biology, will launch his latest book, "Science as a Contact Sport: Inside the Battle to Save Earth's Climate," published by National Geographic Books. 

A recent review on Newsweek’s website said the book "… exposes the bare-knuckles infighting, bruising backroom brawls, and arm-twisting that characterize climate science, of which Schneider, now at Stanford University, has long been a leading light."

Schneider was a coordinating lead author in Working Group 2 of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The IPCC shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former vice president Al Gore. Working Group 2 focused on the vulnerability of socioeconomic and natural systems to climate change and options for adapting to it. He has been working on climate change issues since 1970, when he helped pioneer the discipline by co-authoring the first published climate modeling review paper. 

The second event will be on Monday, Dec. 14, when Stanford and Scripps Institute for Oceanography will hold a joint press conference titled “The Oceans and Climate Change: Perspectives from Science.” Rob Dunbar, professor of environmental Earth system science, and Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, director of the Global Change Institute at The University of Queensland (Australia) and co-director of the Stanford in Australia Program, are scheduled to speak.

Dunbar will be discussing his research on the Antarctic ice shelves, and Hoegh-Guldberg will discuss his work on the impact of climate change on tropical ecosystems. 

Also on Dec. 14, Dunbar and Hoegh-Guldberg will be speaking at two panels that are part of a series of events for "Oceans Day" at the European Environmental Agency in Copenhagen. The Center for Ocean Solutions, of which Stanford is one of three partners, is a co-sponsor of the day. 

In the evening of Dec. 14, the center will co-sponsor a reception for government officials. Meg Caldwell, executive director of the Center for Ocean Solutions and a senior lecturer at Stanford Law School, will introduce a video segment in which Stanford researchers from Stanford and Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute explain the importance of the ocean to climate and overall human survival. 

Caldwell is also affiliated with Stanford’s Woods Institute for the Environment, as are Dunbar, Schneider and many of the other Stanford attendees. 

The Center for Ocean Solutions is a collaboration of Stanford, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. 

Approximately 50 Stanford students are also scheduled to attend the convention. 

Contacts for reaching Stanford researchers at COP15:

Arlo Hemphill (communications specialist, Center for Ocean Solutions): cell phone (202) 746-3484, arlo@stanford.edu

Meg Caldwell (Center for Ocean Solutions): cell phone (408) 416-6542, megc@stanford.edu
Chris Field (Woods Institute for the Environment): cell phone 650-823-5326, cfield@ciw.edu
Stephen Schneider (Woods Institute for the Environment): shs@stanford.edu

Stanford researchers scheduled to attend COP15:

Juan Jose Alonso, associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics. Alonso’s research is focused on the development of high-fidelity techniques for the analysis and design of very advanced aircraft. He will be participating in a panel session on climate and U.S. aviation. 

Meg Caldwell, senior lecturer at the Stanford Law School and at the Woods Institute for the Environment. Caldwell's research focuses on coastal law and policy, land-use management, and developing private and public incentives for natural resource conservation. She is executive director of the Center for Ocean Solutions.

Brent Constantz, associate professor, consulting, of geological and environmental sciences. Constantz is developing a new process for the emissions-free manufacture of cement through the sequestration of CO2.

Lisa Curran, professor of anthropology and senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment. Curran studies the effects of land use change, climate, drought and fire on carbon dynamics and biodiversity; and impacts of governmental policies and industrial practices on ecosystems and rural livelihoods in Asian and Latin American tropical forests.

Rob Dunbar, professor of environmental Earth system science and senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment. Dunbar's research interests link climate dynamics, marine science and environmental policy and solutions. His research group works on topics related to global environmental change, with a focus on the hydrological cycle, air-sea interactions, tropical ecosystems and polar biogeochemistry.

Chris Field, professor of biology and of environmental Earth system science; senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment; director of the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology at Stanford. Field and his colleagues have developed diverse approaches to quantifying large-scale ecosystem processes using satellites, atmospheric data, models and census data. In 2008, he was elected co-chair of IPCC Working Group 2.

Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, professor and director of the Global Change Institute at The University of Queensland (Australia) and co-director of the Stanford in Australia Program. Hoegh-Guldberg focuses on understanding the basis of stress in reef-building corals, including the effects of nutrients, global warming and toxic chemicals.

Terry Root, senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and professor, by courtesy, of biology. Root works on large-scale ecological questions with a focus on impacts of global warming on biological communities and species. She was an author of the IPCC Third and Fourth Assessment Reports.

Stephen Schneider, professor of biology and senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment. A climate scientist, Schneider has been a coordinating lead author in IPCC Working Group 2 since 1997. His recent work has centered on the importance of risk management in climate policy decision making. He advises industry, government and the nonprofit sector on climate-related events.

Michael Wara, assistant professor of law and center fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment. Wara’s research focuses on climate policy and regulation with an emphasis on the emerging global market for greenhouse gases and mechanisms for reducing emissions, including cap-and-trade.

Details for press conferences and other events:

Both press conferences are to be held in the Asger Jorn room at the Bella Center at the COP15 conference.

The press conference for Steven Schneider is scheduled from 11:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m., Central European Time, Dec. 10, 2009.

The press conference, “The Oceans and Climate Change: Perspectives from Science,” is scheduled from 1:30 - 2:00 p.m., Central European Time, Dec. 14, 2009. 

"Oceans Day" will be held at the European Environmental Agency in Copenhagen.

For further information regarding any of these events, contact Arlo Hemphill, communications specialist, Center for Ocean Solutions: 202-746-3484, arlo@stanford.edu

Editor Note:

Video: http://www.centerforoceansolutions.org/copenhagen.html

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