Past Events
October 09, 2007
This symposium, co-hosted by the Earth System Initiative and the Center for Global Change Science, will describe key moments in the history of Planet Earth. In the first part, key examples of revolutions early in the history of the Earth System such as the advent of oxygenic photosynthesis, the origin of Life and the Cambrian Explosion, will be presented to bring to light the ever evolving nature of the biosphere. In the second part, we will discuss the "Anthropocene", that is, the ways in which humans have fundamentally altered the chemical, physical and biological systems on this planet.
October 09, 2007
MIT World Video from the 2007 ESI/CGCS Symposium "Earth System Revolutions: Key Turning Points in the History of our Planet"If you'd asked Ronald Prinn a decade ago whether human activity played a significant part in global warming, he would have given you an "equivocal" answer. Today, he is no longer straddling the line, and indeed, has amassed forceful evidence that post-industrial society has brought about enormous change in earth systems, and may cause irreparable damage as this century progresses.
October 09, 2007
For agricultural interests the world over, climate change is not a dim threat, but a reality with diverse long and short-term impacts, believes Cynthia Rosenzweig.
June 20, 2007 - June 22, 2007
SESSIONS: The Scale and Timing of the Mitigation Change; Renewables at Large Scale; The Science of Geoengineering; International Institutions and Geoengineering; Anticipatory Adaptation; Climate Policy Developments in the U.S.
April 25, 2007
MIT Video of Stephen H. Schneider's presentation of the The Henry Kendall Memorial Lecture, April 25, 2007
December 13, 2006
Speaker: Dan Burns, MIT Earth Resources Lab. Natural gas is a growing part of the US energy mix and, because natural gas is also more environmentally friendly, the demand will continue to grow. The US currently has approximately 200 TCF of known conventional reserves, with annual domestic production (2004) of approximately 19 TCF. The US also has an enormous potential source of new natural gas reserves in unconventional reservoirs including tight gas sands, gas shales, ultradeep water reservoirs, and methane hydrates.