Baum To Moderate Megadisasters Panel At AGU Science Policy Conference

Post Date June 05, 2013
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GCRI Executive Director Seth Baum has been invited to moderate a panel discussion Potential for Megadisasters at the 2013 American Geophysical Union Science Policy Conference, which will take place in Washington, DC.

Panelists will include Lindley Johnson, Executive of the NASA Near Earth Objects Observations Program; Lucile Jones, Science Advisor for Risk Reduction of the U.S. Geological Survey’s SAFRR Project (Science Application for Risk Reduction); Lawrence Zanetti, Physicist at the John Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab; and Eddie Bernard, Affiliate Professor at the University of Washington.

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Aladdin Diakun Gives Public Lecture On Geoengineering And IP Law

Post Date June 05, 2013
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Category emerging technologies, online lectures, uncertainty

On Thursday 16 May, GCRI hosted an online lecture by Aladdin Diakun entitled ‘Towards the Effective Governance of Geoengineering: What Role for Intellectual Property?’ Aladdin is an MA Candidate at the Balsillie School of International Affairs who is researching how IP law can serve as a form of de facto governance of geoengineering.

The UK Royal Society defines geoengineering as “the deliberate large-scale manipulation of the planetary environment to counteract anthropogenic climate change.” With the atmospheric concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere recently having reached 400ppm—higher than …

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May 2013 Newsletter

Post Date May 13, 2013
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Dear friends,

If there’s one thing we know from the study of risk, it’s that sudden, unexpected events can change the game. So it was for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the subject of a new paper by GCRI Deputy Director Grant Wilson. So too it is right now for GCRI and our parent organization Blue Marble Space, which recently lost its 501c3 tax status. For Deepwater Horizon, the result was several deaths plus massive environmental and economic damage. For GCRI, it means we have to …

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April 2013 Newsletter

Post Date April 08, 2013
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Dear friends,

Ongoing headline news discusses possible global catastrophes. In February, it was a close call with an asteroid. Now, there’s the threat of nuclear war with North Korea. What I’m most worried about is the H7N9 flu virus – see Laurie Garrett’s excellent article Is This a Pandemic Being Born? It can be a lot to keep track of, and so this month GCRI is announcing a new GCR news summary initiative.

We’re also announcing a new research paper focusing on the survivors of global catastrophe. …

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March 2013 Newsletter

Post Date March 07, 2013
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Dear friends,

A lot of the knowledge needed to address global catastrophic risk – and many other issues – is already out there somewhere in the world. But it’s spread across many different people. The challenge then is bringing people together to share and synthesize their knowledge. GCRI is dedicated to meeting this challenge. In this month’s newsletter, we announce three new initiatives on this front. First, we invite you to join us at the 2013 Society for Risk Analysis Annual Meeting, which will be December …

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February 2013 Newsletter

Post Date March 07, 2013
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Note from the editor: GCRI forgot to post the February 2013 Newsletter on our blog last month, so here it is. Enjoy!

Dear friends,

It is always a bittersweet moment when a close colleague moves on with his career. For the last nine months, Tim Maher has been working as a Research Assistant for GCRI through the Bard College M.S. program in Climate Science and Policy. Now Tim is transitioning back to Bard to finish his degree. His presence will be greatly missed. Everywhere you look within …

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New Conferences Directory Resource

Post Date February 27, 2013
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GCRI is pleased to announce the launch of its newest resource for the global catastrophic risk community, a conferences directory. The directory features 66 conferences across 6 continents (all but Antarctica), each with a brief description, conference dates, and location.

The conferences directory covers a wide variety of GCR topics. Most of the conferences involve specific GCR topics like climate change, emerging technologies, infectious disease, and nuclear war. Other conferences cover cross-cutting issues like astrobiology and uncertainty. A few conferences are about GCR specifically.

Here are a few …

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