United Nations University–Institute for Sustainability and Peace (UNU-ISP) is pleased to announce a new postgraduate course on renewable energy.  The University Network for Climate and Ecosystems Change Adaptation Research (UN-CECAR) – for which UNU-ISP acts as the Secretariat – is a university network of leading universities in the Asia Pacific that developed the course for students to understand renewable energy issues in the context of science, technology, economics, policy, and relate renewable energy to climate change and other global contemporary issues.

 

The intensive course will cover hard topics such as small hydropower, solar, geothermal, bio-, wind, marine, fuel cell and hydrogen energy and soft topics such as energy demand and supply, economics, security, and policy.  Students will also receive practical training with RETScreen clean energy project analysis software and HOMER energy modeling software.  It is a unique postgraduate course with contributions from leading universities in the Asia Pacific.

 

The course will be held from the 25th February 2013 to 23rd March 2013 at UNU-ISP, Tokyo, Japan.   A limited number of partial fellowships are available for deserving candidates from developing countries.  Priority will be given to students who are currently enrolled in a postgraduate programme.   However, researchers, faculty/staff of universities, government officials, international agencies, and professionals in relevant professions are invited to apply on-line by 15 January 2013 at

http://cecar.unu.edu/apply

 

For more information, please visit our website at

http://cecar.unu.edu/re-course

 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Ms. Soo Huey Teh () or Mr. Felino Lanuevo ()

 

Please feel free to forward this message to your colleagues, students, networks and community of practice.   Apologies for cross posting, if any.

 

Wishing you the very best for 2013 and happy holidays!

 

Sincerely,

 

Felino Lanuevo
Programme Associate
Climate and Ecosystems Change Adaptation Research (CECAR)
Institute for Sustainability and Peace (UNU-ISP)

United Nations University

5-53-70 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-8925, Japan
e-mail:  
CECAR:  cecar.unu.edu

 

Teaching Environmental Justice: Interdisciplinary Approaches
April 14-16, 2013, Carleton College, Northfield, MN
Application deadline: January 21, 2013 (workshop is open to 30 participants by application)

Equitable distribution of risks and resources, long a discussion of interest to economists, ethicists and others, now requires an understanding of geoscience topics from natural hazards to ground water hydrology to mineral and energy resources. This workshop will explore how we bring together concepts from humanities, social science, and geoscience to further students’ understanding of environmental justice and foster their ability to act.   Workshop participants will gain a broad perspective on ways in which environmental justice is taught across the undergraduate curriculum and new ideas for integrating geoscience and environmental justice together in their teaching.  The workshop is for undergraduate faculty from all disciplines who are interested in a stronger integration of geoscience and other perspectives in teaching environmental justice.

Please forward this announcement to interested colleagues.
Contact Cathy Manduca (cmanduca at carleton.edu) with questions.

https://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/workshops/envirojustice2013/index.html

UN Alliance to Support Climate Change Education, Training and Public Awareness Launched at COP 18

 

3 December 2012. More than 250 delegates participated in the launch of the United Nations Alliance on Climate Change Education, Training and Public Awareness at a side-event on 3 December 2012 organized in the margins of the 18th Conference of the Parties (COP 18) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The event took place just after Parties agreed on Saturday night on the new Doha Work Programme on Article 6 of the Convention which deals with education, training and public awareness. Founding members of the Alliance include: the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the UNFCCC Secretariat, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), with the UNFCCC Secretariat providing the Secretariat for the Alliance.

Climate Instruction 101: Essential Knowledge and Teaching Strategies

Cost: You may take the course for free for no credit or take the course for recertification credit or potentially for graduate Environmental Studies credit.  Colorado teachers can receive a subsidy for credit costs.

The ICEE Climate Instruction 101 online course focuses on the Essential Principles of Climate Science and provides experience with teaching strategies such as identifying and addressing misconceptions, minimizing controversy, and teaching so that students can engage positively.

The online course will run August 25-November 18 and will meet one hour per week in a webinar format. Commitments include participation in the weekly webinar, a small group project, and discussions online as well as completion of assignments. Small groups will be formed along similar teaching goals.

The target audience is secondary science teachers. However, if sufficient interest exists from informal educators, upper elementary educators, or interdisciplinary teams we will form a small group with that interest.

UCAR Spark (formerly UCAR Education & Outreach) will be presenting a webinar (online web-based seminar) in collaboration with NSTA on Monday, June 11th. The webinar runs from 4:30-6 PM Mountain Time (6:30-8 PM Eastern). It is free, but you must register to attend. Registration and more info are available at NSTA’s site at:

http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/symposia_seminars/UCAR/webseminar13.aspx

The webinar is titled “Teaching Climate with Models: Breathing of the Earth”. It is the first in a series of 4 webinars; the other three will be scheduled throughout the 2012-13 academic year.

Randy Russell of UCAR Spark and Professor Scott Denning of Colorado State University will be presenting the webinar. Scott is a very dynamic and articulate speaker; if you haven’t had a chance to hear him present, we recommend you take advantage of this opportunity. The webinar covers aspects of the carbon cycle and modeling, with a special emphasis on changes to the carbon cycle caused by increased carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel burning and other human activities. The webinar includes several new animations created by Randy depicting the “carbon bathtub model”, a conceptual model that helps students understand how carbon flows into and out of the atmosphere and how carbon dioxide accumulates in the atmosphere.

The webinar will be archived; you can view it later if you are unable to attend the live presentation. However, we recommend the “live” showing if you can make it; there will be opportunities for you to ask questions of the presenters which are not afforded in the archived version.
More information is also available on Spark’s web site at:
https://spark.ucar.edu/events/webinar-cmmap-nsta-june-2012

The Exploring the Environment-Global Climate Change (ETE-GCC) project (ete.cet.edu/gcc) announces that five modules are ready for pilot testing: Global Temperatures, Ice Caps and Sea Levels, Human Health, Volcanoes, and Drought. We welcome the insights and recommendations from middle and high school teachers who agree to help us pilot test these problem-based learning activities. We hope pre-service teachers will also consider being part of this collaborative process as well.

The new ETE-GCC problem-based learning (PBL) modules present an updated theoretical approach to problem-based learning that builds on the legacy Exploring the Environment (Legacy ETE) problem-based learning modules (www.cotf.edu/ete).  Accompanying the modules are teacher pages that discuss improved pedagogical strategies for problem-based learning to address climate science topics and concepts. The ETE-GCC modules updates and expands existing ETE PBL modules with new material that focuses climate change indicators and data resources. Each module includes featured data that incorporate current NASA satellite images and data tools for studying global climate topics.

If you’d like to join the pilot testing process for the new modules, educators can sign up by sending an email to [email protected] or by requesting access to the site by selecting LOG IN on the ETE-GCC homepage: ete.cet.edu/gcc .

Invitation – No Charge Event

Climate Change Continuing Education Symposia

May 8, 2012

Integrating Games into Teaching: Responding to Climate Change

Presenters:  Stephanie Pfirman & Patrick Callahan, Barnard College

NCSE will provide a “digital badge” of participation to registered faculty members.

All webinars will be archived and posted on the CAMEL portal at www.CAMELclimatechange.org

Computer call in is preferred, however, you may use the following TOLL FREE phone numbers.

To receive a call back, provide your phone number, or call the number below and enter the access code.
Call-in toll-free number (US/Canada): 1-855-244-8681
Call-in toll number (US/Canada): 1-650-479-3207
Global call-in numbers: https://ncsemeetings.webex.com/ncsemeetings/globalcallin.php?serviceType=MC&ED=185020107&tollFree=1
Toll-free dialing restrictions: http://www.webex.com/pdf/tollfree_restrictions.pdf
Access code: 733 801 938

Upcoming CAMEL Climate Change Education Webinar Series (see attached for formatted, hyperlinked version)

The National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE), Council of Environmental Deans and Directors (CEDD) and the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) invite you to participate in two webinars that will be hosted by the CAMEL (Climate, Adaptation, Mitigation, E-Learning) project early next week – one on Monday and another on Tuesday. These webinars will introduce you to exciting resources for teaching about climate change science and solutions that are located on the CAMEL web portal (www.CAMELclimatechange.org  ).

Both webinars will feature faculty members discussing a teaching module or exercise they have developed and how to use it in teaching. The modules to be discussed are designed for undergraduate students, primarily at an introductory level.

You can find and watch a collection of past webinars here: http://www.camelclimatechange.org/articles/view/174555/

Bert Metz, co-chair of the Fourth Assessment report of the IPCC published an excellent book for Cambridge University Press in 2009 entitled Controlling Climate Change. Metz has also developed an accompanying website, which includes, inter alia, the following teaching resources:

1. Full text of all chapters of the book, which includes both an excellent scientific overview of climate change and a thorough discussion of mitigation options, including sectoral analysis;
2. An extensive teaching resources section, including Power Point slides to accompany each chapter in the book;
3. A news blog on contemporaneous climate issues (rather spare entries, however);
4. An extensive number of lectures and presentations by Dr. Metz, including several video lectures. While some of these presentations are now a bit dated, many still remain highly pertinent.