The Atmospheric Science-Climate Policy Frontier

The Yale Climate and Energy Congress (YCEC) presents the 4th annual Spring Symposium on February 7th and 8th, 2013. The 2013 symposium will investigate the intersections of air quality, climate change and health.

The symposium will feature two keynote speakers, three panel discussions, and student poster presentations. Three key aspects of air quality and climate change will be addressed over the course of the event: 1) How land use change and urbanization influences climate through changes in radiative forcing and atmospheric chemistry; 2) how air pollution measurements can be used to inform policy and decision making; and 3) what co-benefits arise when air quality policies and climate change are linked.

Register to attend the symposium here.

Call for student posters—deadline Tuesday, January 22. Please see PDF below for more information.

A tentative schedule is below; please check back for updates.

Day 1- Thursday 2/7

4:00-4:10pm: Welcome & introduction of keynote speaker

• Denina Hospodsky and Nadine Unger

4:10-5:00pm: Scientific Keynote

• Mark Jacobson, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Director of Atmosphere and Energy Program at Stanford University

5:00-6:15: Panel 1: Primary and secondary effects of land use change on regional and global climates 

• Karen Seto, Professor of the Urban Environment, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University
• Xuhui Lee, Professor of Meteorology, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University
• Mark Jacobson, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Director of Atmosphere and Energy Program at Stanford University
• Nadine Unger, Assistant Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University
• Moderator: Dan Lashof, Director of Climate and Clean Air Program at the Natural Resource Defense Council

Day 2- Friday 2/8

8:30-9:00: Breakfast

•Catered by Koffee (zero landfill)

9:00-9:05: Introduction of keynote speaker

•Josh Galperin Associate Director of the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy (YCELP)

9:05-10:15: Policy Keynote

• Daniel C. Esty, Commissioner, Department of Energy and Environment, State of CT; Hillhouse Professor of Environmental Law and Policy, Yale University

10:15-12:00: Panel 2: Understanding and overcoming gaps in measurement, modeling, and regulation to implement meaningful climate policy

• Trude Storelvmo, Assistant Professor in Geology and Geophysics at Yale University
•Cliff I. Davidson, Thomas C. and Colleen L. Wilmot Professor at the College of Engineering and Computer Sciences at Syracuse University
•Dan Lashof, Director of Climate and Clean Air Program at the Natural Resource Defense Council
•Moderator: Josh Galperin, Associate Director of the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy (YCELP)

As a primer, please refer to the following report: http://www.nrdc.org/air/pollution-standards/

12:00-1:15: Student poster session

•Catered by Miya’s Sushi (sutainably farmed)

1:15-2:00: Lunch talk: “Climate change communication challenges and successes”

•Gavin Schmidt, climatologist and climate science communicator at NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS)

2:00-3:30: Panel 3: Economic and health co-benefits when linking air quality policies and climate change

• Robert O. Mendelssohn, Edwin Weyerhaeuser Davis Professor of Forest Policy; Professor of Economics, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University
• Michelle L. Bell, Professor of Environmental Health, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University
• Jordan Peccia, Associate Professor in Chemical and Environmental Engineering at Yale University

3:30-3:45: Closing remarks

•Mark Pagani, Director, YCEI