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Oxford Martin School: Public Lectures and Seminars

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Nov 24, 2010 • 52min

Integrating Technology, Science, Law, Economics, and Politics: Development of Practical Policy for Carbon Capture and Storage

Dr Kenneth Richards, James Martin Senior Visiting Fellow on how carbon capture and storage (CCS) provides a potentially promising approach to mitigating carbon dioxide emissions. However, as with virtually all major new technologies, deployment will require careful consideration of a number of issues - including geology, property rights, transactions costs, politics, and legislative strategy. This discussion will illustrate how multiple fields of study have been integrated to synthesize a practical solution in the United States.
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Oct 27, 2010 • 1h 2min

Working with the crowd : 21st century citizen science

Galaxy Zoo PI and James Martin Fellow Chris Lintott will review the technologies available to researchers seeking to rescue themselves from drowning in data by recruiting the help of tens or even hundreds of thousands of volunteers. As well as our own Zooniverse suite of projects (which now includes climate science and papyrology), Lintott will highlight other successful examples including the protein folding game, fold.it, and even an example of collaborative mathematics.
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Oct 15, 2010 • 59min

Climate Shocks: Turning Crisis into Opportunity

Thomas F. Homer-Dixon, CIGI Chair of Global Systems, Balsillie School of International Affairs; full Professor, Faculty of Arts and Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo on Climate Shocks: Turning Crisis into Opportunity. Climate policy is gridlocked nationally and globally, with virtually no chance of a breakthrough under current conditions. Policy makers need to accept that societies will not make drastic changes to address climate change until a climate crisis hits. The recent financial crisis showed that when powerful special interests have convinced much of the public that what they are doing is not dangerous, only a disaster that discredits those interests will provide an opportunity for comprehensive policy change.
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Sep 7, 2010 • 56min

Climate change and marine ecosystems: have dangerous changes already begun?

Special seminar from the James Martin 21st Century School: Climate change and marine ecosystems: have dangerous changes already begun? The Earth's ocean is central to the conditions experienced on our planet, regulating its atmosphere, climate and biology. Recent evidence, however, suggests that the physical and chemical conditions within the ocean are changing in ways that are rapidly moving outside those experienced for millions of years with major changes to ocean temperature, acidity, sea ice extent, sea level, and storm intensity. These changes are impacting the biological components the ocean, including an array of important microbial systems. Observed changes so far include decreased ocean productivity, altered food web dynamics, declining abundances of habitat forming species such as oysters, mangroves and corals, species range shifts, and an increased incidence of disease and invasion by exotic species. These changes to the marine biosphere are also beginning to amplify changes within major nutrient cycles, adding to impacts driven by other human activities such as coastal land use and overfishing. As we continue to push carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, there is also growing uncertainty as to the risks associated with passing non-linear triggers and tipping points. This talk will examine the totality of changes occurring in the world's oceans as result of anthropogenic climate change, and will explore the consequences for the biological systems that are otherwise crucial for healthy oceans and their many human dependents. Ove Hoegh-Guldberg is Professor and Director, Global Change Institute, University of Queensland.
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Jun 17, 2010 • 1h 3min

The Plundered Planet

Paul Collier, Oxford Professor and author of The Bottom Billion, launched a discussion based on his latest publication, The Plundered Planet. Building on his work in developing countries and the poorest populations, Collier argued for proper stewardship of natural assets as a matter of planetary urgency. His arguments charted a course between unchecked profiteering on the one hand, and environmental romanticism on the other to offer realistic and sustainable solutions to these dauntingly complex issues.
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Dec 17, 2009 • 1h 53min

A Panel Discussion with George Soros

Lessons from Financial Crises: Paradigm Failure and the Future of Financial Regulation. In October, George Soros delivered a week-long series of lectures at the Central European University in Budapest discussing his latest thinking on economics and politics, and the way forward out of the current financial crisis. Soros argued that while the magnitude of the credit and leverage problem faced today is greater than in the Great Depression, the artificial life support given to the financial system has been successful. However, Soros believes that the recovery may run out of steam and sees a possibility for a "double-dip" in the next year. At this event, George Soros will lead a panel discussion to reflect on some of the key ideas that he put forward in those lectures. He will particularly invite discussion among both the panellists and the audience to engage with his ideas and understand the alternative they represent when compared with traditional economic theory.
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Nov 19, 2009 • 59min

Geoengineering the climate

Geoengineering the climate: Science, Governance and Uncertainty: The Royal Society Study - John Shepherd (NOCS). The climate change we are experiencing now is caused by an increase in greenhouse gases due to human activities, including burning fossil fuels, agriculture and deforestation. There is now widespread belief that a global warming of greater than 2C above pre-industrial levels would be dangerous and should therefore be avoided. However, despite growing concerns over climate change, global CO2 emissions have continued to climb. This has led some to suggest more radical 'Geoengineering' alternatives to conventional mitigation via reductions in CO2 emissions. Geoengineering is deliberate intervention in the climate system to counteract man-made global warming. There are two main classes of geoengineering; direct carbon dioxide removal, and solar radiation management, which aims to cool the planet by reflecting more sunlight out to space. This talk will summarise the findings of a recent review of Geoengineering carried-out by the UK Royal Society discussing the climate effects, costs, risks, and research and governance needs for each approach.
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Nov 18, 2009 • 44min

The End of Business as Usual

Distinguished Public Lecture: The end of business as usual by Dr Mohamed El-Erian, Co-CIO of PIMCO. In the wake of last year's financial crisis, businesses, economists, policy makers and analysts around the world are asking if the events of 2008 mean the end of business as usual for the global financial system. Dr Mohamed El-Erian, Co-CIO of PIMCO, the world's biggest bond fund, and one of the world's most respected economic analysts, certainly thinks that it does.
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Nov 11, 2009 • 40min

Dealing with doctrines: time to outlaw nuclear weapon use?

Achieving an end-state of "zero" has emerged as an important policy goal for a number of 21st Century challenges. The most prominent example is the "Global Zero" campaign to eliminate nuclear weapons. To stand any chance of getting near to zero, nuclear weapons must be marginalised in military and security doctrines. That means creating international norms and, if feasible, agreements that until nuclear weapons are universally prohibited by treaty, their use will be treated as a crime against humanity. Dr Johnson considers how the problems of doctrine and use could be addressed.
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May 8, 2009 • 54min

Blueprint for a Safer Planet

Professor Lord Nicholas Stern, a world renowned economist and leading authority on climate change, came to the 21st Century School on Thursday 7 May to give a lecture about his "Blueprint for a Safer Planet". Professor Lord Nicholas Stern, a world renowned economist and leading authority on climate change, came to the 21st Century School on Thursday 7 May to give a lecture about his "Blueprint for a Safer Planet". Lord Stern made headlines in 2006 with the publication of the influential Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change and the launch of his most recent publication "Blueprint for a Safer Planet", on which this lecture was based has also received attention from around the world. Further substantial global warming is now unavoidable and the risks to the natural world, the economy and our everyday lives are immense. Approximately 800 people heard Lord Stern explain his vision for a global deal to manage these risks and how the way we live in the next thirty years - how we invest, use energy, organise transport and manage forests - will determine whether these risks become realities.

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