Earth faces unprecedented environmental challenges. Heading the list of threats is climate change, with its promise of drastic climate and environmental harm planet-wide. Unchecked, climate change, also known as global warming, threatens entire species and ecosystems, as well as large population centers, industries and economies. Other environmental priorities include the persistent problems of air and water pollution, toxic wastes, and the protection of natural resources and wildlife.
Read more >>The disaster of Hurricane Katrina was made worse by bad policy decisions long before the storm and a miserable response in the immediate aftermath. Similarly, the Massey Mine Disaster and the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico were the product of failed policy. CPR Member Scholars have written extensively about these "unnatural disasters."
Will the Clean Power Plan, President Obama's most ambitious climate change initiative, have the teeth it needs to take a bit out of greenhouse gas emissions? Read The Clean Power Plan: Issues to Watch, by a distinguished group of 11 CPR Member Scholars.
Man-made climate change poses a severe threat to the future health of the planet and all that live on it. The good news is that we know what causes it, and know how to slow it down, and even stop it. The bad news is that we have made far too little progress.
Learn about CPR Member Scholars' work on protecting wildlife and ecosystems from sustained assault, including a unique project aimed at protecting "ecosystem services" in the Pacific Northwest.
CPR Member Scholars work to protect the environment through research and scholarship focuses on the critical policy choices confronting us today, and on devising the environmental policy approaches of tomorrow.
Also read about CPR's 2006 Next Generation Environmental Initiative.
And check out recent CPRBlog posts on the environment.