Decisions
The Environmental Decision Making Cluster of the ESIP Federation
Chair: Ana Prados aprados@umbc.edu
Vice Chair: Chuck Hutchinson chuck@ag.arizona.edu
Telecons
The Decisions Cluster has regular telecons on the fourth Wednesday of every Month at 3 PM EST
- Next telecon: Wednesday, January 26th 2011, 3pm EST
- Dial: 800-508-7631 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 800-508-7631 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
- Access Code: *1297219*
Agenda:
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- GEO request for advisors to join Decision Support teams
- Update. Here are the present Decision-making categories that one can register as their expertise. We can expand these, as needed:
- Decision Models
-Economic Analysis -Optimization -Multi-Criteria Analysis -Risk Assessment
- Decision Processes
-Assessment -Conservation Process Workflow -Landscape Change Model -NEPA -Policy -Public Comment
- End Use Applications
-Air Quality Planning -Energy Planning -Environmental Conservation -Regional Planning -Urban Planning -Water Planning
- Minutes of past telecons/meetings:
Cluster E-mail List
Summer 2010 ESIP Meeting (July 20-23, Knoxville, TN)
Tuesday
Wednesday
Session Title: Local Level Climate Change and Energy Decision Making Process and Assessment:
Earth Science data has a unique yet complex role in policy making. This session will explore how Chicago, the Southwestern U.S, other countries and industry are planning and designing climate and energy projects to help governments adapt to our changing world, mitigate climate change, and implement renewable energy projects. The session will also describe the technical, economic and other social aspects of these projects and decision making activities.
- 1:15 - 1:20 Session Goals and objectives (Ana Prados, UMBC and NASA/GSFC)
- 1:20 - 1:50 Ask the Climate Question: Adapting to Climate Change Impacts in Urban Regions (Josh Foster, Center for Clean Air Policy)
- 1:50 - 2:30 The Chicago Climate Action Plan (Peter Mulvaney, City of Chicago)
- 2:30 - 2:45 Interactive Discussion
- 2:45 - 3:15 Break
- 3:15 - 4:00 The RetScreen Clean Energy Project Decision-Support System (Gregory Leng, Natural Resources Canada)
- 4:00 - 4:45 Improving Climate Services in the West: evaluation lessons from CLIMAS (Zack Guido, University of Arizona/RISA )
- 5:00 - 7:00 Poster session and reception
Thursday
From the Lab to the Locals: From the Lab to the Locals:How Your Research Can More Easily Reach the Public
9 AM to 10:30 AM
- Why bother?
- Working with the media…Is it worth it?
- Does it make a difference?
- What’s the most effective way to reach the public?
- Who is doing the reporting?
- Using local media resources can work to your advantage.
- Trust in media versus trust in scientists.
- The media wants an open dialogue.
- Thinking visually helps the media.
11 AM to Noon
- Breaking Down Jargon
- Science panels – an interactive exercise
1:00 PM to 2:30 PM
- Science Panel playback
- Scheduling Interviews
- What does the media want to know?
- When the reporter arrives…
- After the interview
- Giving feedback on the article/news story
- 2nd Round of Science Panels
3:00 PM to 4:00 PM
- Social Media & New Media…Using it to get your research noticed
- Writing a press release.
- How do I get a hold of the media?
- Newsroom heiarchy: who gets the information?
- Why doesn’t the media just come to us all the time?
- Technology making interviews easy!
Resources
Upcoming Meetings
Past Meetings
- Summer 2010 ESIP Meeting
- Winter 2010 ESIP Meeting
- Fall 2009 AGU Environmental Decision Making session -
- Summer 2009 ESIP Environmental Decision Making Workshop
- Symposium on Scientific Data for Evidence Based Policy and Decision Making, Sept 24
End Users and Decision Makers
- EPA
- Regional (state and local) regulators
- Environmental Justice Community
- World Bank
- Homeland Security
Use Cases and Success Stories
- coming soon
Decision Support Tools:
- coming soon
Funding Opportunities (current):
Funding Awards (past):
Web sites:
- NCAR Societal Impacts Program
- NOAA Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (RISA)
- NOAA Economics Web Site
- CIRUN (Climate Information Responding to Users Needs - U. Maryland)
- IPCC
- Spatial Decision Support Knowledge Portal
Articles, Books, reports:
- The Emerging Science of Environmental Applications (Dozier and Gail)
- Uses and limitations of observations and data in decision support for selected sectors and regions
- Unscientific America - a quick and interesting read about barriers to communicating and using science information
About the Cluster
An important end use for Earth observational data is to support better informed decisions and policies in the commercial and public sectors. Observations (both real-time and historical) play an important role in reducing the uncertainty inherent in environmental-related decisions. Scientific models provide further value in predicting future states and scenarios, such as those associated with increased greenhouse gas emissions. This Cluster addresses topics such as:
- the economic value of Earth science data in decision settings;
- data requirements for environmental decisions, policies, and IPCC;
- decision making under deep environmental uncertainty;
- collaborative environments for assessing scenarios and consequences of decisions involving multiple stakeholders;
- case studies in environmental decision-making;
- integrated physical-economic models;
- perceptions of long-term climatic uncertainty;
- tools, services, models, and associated standards for data-driven decision support.
Chair- Ana Prados Vice-Chair- Chuck Hutchinson
