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December 22, 2008
| Author: | Joshua W. Busby |
|---|
This module features teaching notes for Climate Change and National Security: An Agenda for Action by author Joshua Busby, along with other resources to supplement the text. This Council Special Report proposes a portfolio of feasible and affordable policy options to reduce the vulnerability of the United States and other countries to the predictable effects of climate change.
What is a CFR Academic Module?
Academic Modules—featuring teaching notes by the authors of CFR publications—are designed to assist educators in creating or supplementing a course syllabus. The modules are customized packages built around a primary CFR text, such as a book or report, and include teaching notes; additional readings; video, audio, and transcripts of CFR meetings; Foreign Affairs articles; and other online resources. Use of these modules is free of charge. They may be used in part or in their entirety.
November 2007
Council Special Report No. 32
Connections between climate change and national security are receiving unprecedented attention from policymakers and analysts. Joshua W. Busby moves the discussion from broad assessments of the links between climate and security to a plan for action. This report is also available in Chinese.
CFR.org Interactives are graphics and multimedia explainers on the foreign policy, national security, and international financial issues of the day.
October 16, 2008
An in-depth, multimedia look at climate change, its global impact, and efforts to combat it.
CFR.org Backgrounders are succinct explanations of current political and economic issues.
August 11, 2008
The scramble for energy alternatives has brought new focus on nuclear power in the United States but its revival faces political and practical obstacles.
Updated: July 7, 2009
President Barack Obama says he will seek vigorous climate-change policy. Efforts to curb greenhouse gases pose considerable economic pitfalls, as well as opportunities.
Updated: January 25, 2008
G8 members offer a mixed picture on meeting Kyoto Protocol targets. The United States continues to refuse ratification.
Updated January 7, 2008
Loss of forests is a major contributor to greenhouse-gas emissions. Plans to devise a policy tool for using trees for carbon dioxide sequestration are now under way.
Updated, April 3, 2007
Despite foot-dragging on climate change, the United States has a strong history of environmental legislation, which could provide models for future greenhouse gas reduction efforts.
Updated: July 7, 2009
Greenhouse-gas trading is now a multibillion dollar international business but there are doubts about how much positive impact it is having on the environment.
September 14, 2006
Although it seems clear the United States will not change its current position and sign onto the Kyoto treaty, some U.S. companies are starting to push for mandatory federal regulations on greenhouse gas emissions.
June 2008
Task Force Report No. 61
Against the backdrop of increasing attention to climate change in the presidential campaigns, debate of the Lieberman-Warner climate bill in the Senate, and preparations for this summer’s G8 summit, this report recommends an overhaul of U.S. domestic and foreign policy to confront the challenges of climate change.
April 2007
Council Special Report No. 28
This report examines the contributions that an expanded use of nuclear energy can make to improving energy security and reducing global warming while balancing these benefits against the risks and lingering questions over nuclear energy’s safety and security.
October 2006
Task Force Report No. 58
This report argues that the lack of sustained attention to energy issues is undercutting U.S. foreign policy and national security.
September/October 2008
Summary
The United States can curb its own emissions and encourage energy effeciency and the development of clean-energy technology worldwide by rethinking carbon regimes.
March/April 2008
Summary
Wake up, Henry Hudson: Thanks to global warming, the Northwest Passage will soon be open for business.
March/April 2008
Summary
Terrorism and other disasters demand calmness and preparation, not panic and demagoguery.
July/August 2007
Summary
After Iraq, we may be tempted to turn inward. That would be a mistake. The American moment is not over, but it must be seized anew. We must bring the war to a responsible end and then renew our leadership -- military, diplomatic, moral -- to confront new threats and capitalize on new opportunities. America cannot meet this century's challenges alone; the world cannot meet them without America.
November 20, 2008
CFR Senior Fellow Michael Levi writes that the financial crisis will affect U.S. near-term efforts to deal with energy security and climate change.
October 2008
Daniel S. Hall, Michael A. Levi, William A. Pizer, and Takahiro Ueno look at policy options for encouraging cooperation between the developed and developing world on combating climate change.
October 15, 2008
Scott Borgerson visually explores the changing Arctic using an interactive map.
September 24, 2007
The odds are high that humans will warm Earth’s climate to worrisome levels during the coming century. Policy makers in the United States, which historically has produced more CO2 emissions than any other nation while doing relatively little to tame the flow, can in particular learn much about creating viable carbon-cutting markets by studying Europe’s recent experience. In this Scientific American article, David Victor and Danny Cullenward offer several concrete suggestions on how the U.S. should go about constructing an effective national climate policy.
October 8, 2008
The UN special envoy on climate change for Papua New Guinea discusses the implications the financial crisis has for international efforts on climate change.
June 13, 2008
Michael A. Levi, who directed CFR's Independent Task Force on global climate change, says the United States needs to demonstrate how reducing carbon emissions can be balanced with economic growth.
June 13, 2008
Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, discusses the 2008 presidential candidates' pledge to put climate change on their policy agendas and his thoughts on U.S. policy proposals.
November 30, 2007
Joshua Busby, an expert on climate change politics, discusses what can be expected out of the Bali conference on climate change.
October 30, 2007
Former EPA chief Christine Todd Whitman says the next president needs to focus on providing environmental leadership, and must include a new focus on climate change and water infrastructure.
Updated: September 30, 2008
Experts debate the degree to which opening more federal lands and waters to drilling will improve U.S. energy security.
Updated: November 9, 2007
Michael Mariotte of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service and Steven Kerekes at the Nuclear Energy Institute debate the role of nuclear power in climate change policy.
Updated: June 29, 2007
William A. Pizer, senior fellow at Resources for the Future, and Kenneth P. Green, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, debate how the United States should regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
June 25, 2008
Testimony
April 18, 2007
CFR President Richard N. Haass testifies before the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming about the implications of oil dependence and climate change.
July 18, 2006
The debate over the India nuclear deal has been too one-dimensional. Nearly all commentary has focused on whether this proposal would undermine efforts to contain the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Dissent along these lines has been based on a series of largely overblown claims. And the singular focus on proliferation has allowed the debate to lose sight of other ways that this deal is in the interests of the United States and India alike.
November 2008
Report
July 9, 2008
Statement
July 2008
Report
June 4, 2008
A report from the Center for Naval Analyses examines the national security consequences of climate change.
May 1, 2008
In this book, Dr. Carolyn Pumphrey collects the proceedings of a 2007 colloquium held by the Strategic Studies Institute and the Triangle Institute for Security Studies on "Global Climate Change: National Security Implications." Focusing on U.S. security, the speakers discussed the science and effects of climate change and possible solutions to conflicts exacerbated by global warming.
December 7, 2007
The transcript of a meeting on protecting U.S. security interests from climate change.
Confronting Climate Change: A Strategy for U.S. Policy
| Chairs: | George E. Pataki, Counsel, Chadbourne & Parke LLP |
|---|---|
| Thomas J. Vilsack, Of Counsel, Dorsey & Whitney LLP | |
| Speaker: | Michael A. Levi, David M. Rubenstein Senior Fellow for Energy and Environment, Council on Foreign Relations |
| Presider: | Terry Moran, Anchor, Nightline, ABC News |
With increasing attention to climate change in the presidential campaigns, as Congress tackles the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security bill, and as the world’s largest economies prepare to meet this summer to address global warming, a new CFR-sponsored Independent Task Force explains what the United States must do to confront the challenge. The report, Confronting Climate Change: A Strategy for U.S. Foreign Policy, argues that the United States must creatively leverage ambitious action at home to advance an effective foreign policy. It proposes a U.S. negotiating strategy for a global UN climate agreement, while also promoting a new and less formal Partnership for Climate Cooperation that would focus the world’s largest emitters on implementing aggressive emissions reductions. The report also provides recommendations on a host of controversial issues, including cap-and-trade legislation, international offsets, trade sanctions, biofuels, nuclear power, and assistance with adapting to climate change.
Transcript: Confronting Climate Change: A Strategy for U.S. Foreign Policy [Rush Transcript; Federal News Service]
This meeting is on the record.
Energy Scenarios to 2050: Implications for U.S. Energy Security
| Speaker: | Jeroen van der Veer, Chief Executive, Royal Dutch Shell Petroleum |
|---|
Transcript: Energy Scenarios to 2050: Implications for U.S. Energy Security [Rush Transcript; Federal News Service]
Audio: Energy Scenarios to 2050: Implications for U.S. Energy Security (Audio)
Video: Energy Scenarios to 2050: Implications for U.S. Energy Security (Video)
Climate Change and National Security
| Speaker: | Joshua W. Busby, Assistant Professor, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin; Author, Climate Change and National Security: An Agenda for Action |
|---|---|
| Presider: | Irina A. Faskianos, Vice President, National Program & Outreach, Council on Foreign Relations |
12:00 to 1:00 p.m. (ET)
Audio: Academic Conference Call: Climate Change and National Security (Audio)
National Security and the Threat of Climate Change
Related Project: Nexus of Science, Technology, and Foreign Policy
| Speakers: | General Gordon R. Sullivan USA (Ret.), Former Chief of Staff, U.S. Army |
|---|---|
| General Paul J. Kern USA (Ret.), Former Commanding General, U.S. Army Materiel Command | |
| Admiral T. Joseph Lopez USN (Ret.), Former Commander in Chief, U.S. Naval Forces Europe and of Allied Forces, Southern Europe | |
| Presider: | Steve Inskeep, Host, "Morning Edition," National Public Radio |
Transcript: National Security and The Threat Of Climate Change [Rush Transcript; Federal News Service, Inc.]
This meeting is on the record.
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Start-Up Nation addresses the trillion-dollar question: How is it that Israel—a country of 7.1 million, only sixty years old, surrounded by enemies— produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada, and the UK? With the insights of geopolitical experts and investors, the authors examine this nation’s adversity-driven culture to answer this question and offer prescriptions for a global economy on the rebound.
In Forces of Fortune, Vali Nasr presents a paradigm-changing revelation that will transform the understanding of the Muslim world at large. He reveals that there is a vital but unseen rising force in the Islamic world—a new business-minded middle class—that is building a vibrant new Muslim world economy and that holds the key to winning the cold war against Iran and extremists.
In Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know, Julia E. Sweig presents a remarkably accessible portrait of Cuba's unique place on the world stage over the past fifty years, including its internal politics, its often fraught relationship with the United States, and its shifting relationship with the global community.
Complete list of CFR Books
The report of this bipartisan Task Force of distinguished leaders and experts represents a strong consensus on the importance of repairing America's immigration policy. It makes the case that maintaining America's political and economic leadership depends on attracting talented and hard-working immigrants, and on securing the country's borders in a smart, effective, and humane way.
This report finds that nuclear weapons will remain a fundamental element of U.S. national security in the near term, and makes recommendations on how to ensure the safety, security, and reliability of the U.S. deterrent nuclear force, prevent nuclear terrorism, and strengthen the nuclear nonproliferation regime.
About Independent Task Forces at CFR
Complete list of Task Force reports
Identifying international threats and acting on them may be the most difficult job for U.S. policymakers. This report
provides an actionable road map for managing international threats before they erupt into crises and makes a strong case that preventive action is not a luxury but a necessity.
For more than a decade, the United States has mostly watched from the sidelines as Asian countries organize themselves into an alphabet soup of new multilateral groups. In this report, the authors review the relationship between pan-Asian and trans-Pacific institutions and suggest policy guidelines for a new U.S. approach to this new Asian landscape.
Complete list of Council Special Reports
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