In a recent article published in the Guardian, Michelle Kilfoyle and Hayley Birch discuss the widespread use of citizen science initiatives. They recently produced a report (pdf) for the Science for Environment Policy news service, in which the authors review a number of citizen science case studies, and explore the potential benefits of citizen science for both science and society, especially given the advent of new mobile technologies that enable remote participation. They also ask interesting questions about who really benefits the most from these developments: the amateurs or the professionals?
- How could new and developing technologies help citizen science projects feed into environmental policy processes?
- Is environmental data produced by citizen scientists as accurate as environmental data produced by professional scientists?
- How can citizen science benefit environmental monitoring and policymaking?
An interesting position piece on the appropriate uses of big data for climate resilience. The author, Amy Luers, points out three opportunities and three risks.
She sums up:
"The big data revolution is upon us. How this will contribute to the resilience of human and natural systems remains to be seen. Ultimately, it will depend on what trade-offs we are willing to make. For example, are we willing to compromise some individual privacy for increased community resilience, or the ecological systems on which they depend?—If so, how much, and under what circumstances?"
Read more from this interesting article here.
Dominated by emissions from cars, trucks and other forms of transportation, suburbs account for about 50 percent of all household emissions – largely carbon dioxide – in the United States.
The study uses local census, weather and other data – 37 variables in total – to approximate greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the energy, transportation, food, goods and services consumed by U.S. households, so-called household carbon footprints.
A key finding of the UC Berkeley study is that suburbs account for half of all household greenhouse gas emissions, even though they account for less than half the U.S. population. The average carbon footprint of households living in the center of large, population-dense urban cities is about 50 percent below average, while households in distant suburbs are up to twice the average.
Interactive carbon footprint maps for more than 31,000 U.S. zip codes in all 50 states are available online at http://coolclimate.berkeley.edu/maps.
A link to their paper in Environmental Science & Technology is here: Spatial distribution of U.S. household carbon footprints reveals suburbanization undermines greenhouse gas benefits of urban population density (ES&T, 2014)
The UC Berkeley Graduate Certificate in Geographic Information Science and Technology (GIST) has been approved. This certificate will provide an academic structure for an interdisciplinary exchange of ideas around geospatial information and analysis.
Requirements include at least three courses, or a total of 90 hours of instruction, and earn a minimum grade of , and participate in a GIST Roundtable (such as the geolunch series from the GIF). More details to be posted in the spring at GIS@Berkeley.edu.
- Author: Shane Feirer
Have you ever wondered what are the crucial habitats and corridors for Sage Grouse, Black Bear, and other wildlife species? Seventeen westerns states have collaborated through the Western Governors’ Wildlife Council to create the Western Wildlife Crucial Habitat Assessment Tool (CHAT) for public release in December, 2013. The CHAT aims to bring greater certainty and predictability to planning efforts by establishing a common starting point for discussing the intersection of development and wildlife. CHAT will be an easily accessible online system of maps displaying crucial wildlife habitat and corridors across the West. For more information visit http://www.westgov.org/initiatives/wildlife.
