November 2001 I2E2 Newsletter

November 2001

The Snake River Basin Sustainability Laboratory Roars Into Action

The Snake River Basin Sustainability Laboratory is a partnership between Keystone Resort, I2E2 and the Keystone Center. The Lab's mission is to provide research and educational tools to assist mountain resort and gateway communities to fulfill the promise of Sustainability. These communities represent the tension that exists between growth, quality of life and environmental protection in all of our communities today. The added, critical dimension is that they exist in a system where the environmental, social and economic fabric is very fragile and is easily tipped out of balance. Work is underway to build foundation knowledge and fund projects. All I2E2 faculty associates and partners are invited to participate. An Advisory Council of stakeholders and experts is being formed. Please contact Sharon Westmoreland to learn more at (303) 681-3620 or Sharonwestmoreland@snakeriversustainabilitylab.org.

Data Collection and Research
Tracking the work and knowledge that already exists is the current focus of this area. Leveraging that work for the future, preserving the historical knowledge of the stakeholders and maximizing resources are our goals.

· As a living platform for Laboratory activities and partnerships, www.snakeriversustainabilitylab.org is an ongoing effort to present a public venue for the data and opportunities being established by the Lab.

· Community Cataloguing© - A key component of the social fabric of the Lab's work is being built through a combination of debriefings of Resort staff, historical research to gather key documents from previous projects, as well as conversations with key members of the community (Champions on the Ground).

· The application of this knowledge will be through an Access driven database entitled Snake River Basin Human Resource Network. This database is cataloguing the interconnectedness of the decision-making and communication lines within the Basin. Specifically it catalogues the individual's primary organization (our first line of contact with them), the area of influence for that organization, affiliations to stakeholder organizations, and skills sets. This stakeholder information will assist the Lab in being more effective in its outreach effort to the stakeholder community and ultimately will be the foundation to plugging the human resources into the sustainability formula.

· Efforts are underway to provide a permanent and living home at the Lab for the Indicators of a Healthy Community: Measuring Summit County's Quality of Life completed through the Shaping Our Summit Taskforce in 2000.

Current Projects: Three Priority Areas
The Core Team of the Laboratory has identified three priority areas for projects to be undertaken: Energy, Transportation and Development. Each project, within these areas, is tasked with incorporating and building knowledge about the 3 indicators of the Sustainability Formula.

Energy Forum
Approximately 40 participants joined 5 exhibiting organizations and companies in an afternoon of informative presentations on Energy use in tourist settings. The Energy Forum was a partnership of the SRBSL and the Colorado Energy Science Center. The diverse audience of residents, business owners and maintenance staff from Breckenridge, Keystone and Vail resorts participated in a dialogue around educational requirements needed to meet today's shifting energy picture. The Forum was funded through a grant from the USEPA and in kind resources from the Resort and the Lab.

Energy Education Partnership
A dynamic partnership of educators, scientists, businesses, and energy experts, under the umbrella of the Snake River Sustainability Laboratory, has joined together to create a unique educational opportunity for students, grades 7-12. The Energy Education Partnership proposes to create a unique and powerful pilot program to be introduced initially through the established platforms offered by the Keystone Science School, Earth Force, and I2E2. This program will be built on the partners' existing, highly successful educational models, extensive energy expertise and a proven energy curriculum to provide practical education about Energy and it's role in developing sustainable practices for communities. Through this Partnership, students will learn a systems approach to thinking about energy from economic, social and environmental viewpoints. The long-term plan is to offer the program in partnership with the Summit County School District and others around the state.

Transportation Study
At the request of the Keystone Resort, Dr. Hutton has recruited John Loewy, a policy expert with experience in national transportation policy and in state environmental regulatory agency policies (Oregon), to create a project to study the transportation issues of the Basin and acquire existing funding from CDOT. The team is tracking down previous transportation documents and building institutional knowledge prior to meeting with the stakeholders on this topic in November.

Development
Entry points for the team to provide science-based decision-making tools for Basin developers are being considered.

Stakeholder Outreach
In addition to the efforts previously detailed under Data Collection and Research, the core team is working actively with the new management at the Keystone Center to build a practical relationship that allows the resource strapped organization to participate in the stakeholder outreach phases of our projects. For example, the Keystone Science School is a partner in the Energy Education Project's efforts to receive Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment grant funds this fall.

Existing relationships with businesses and the school district are being leveraged to provide opportunities to present the Lab's mission to larger groups and to provide mutually beneficial entry points into organizations such as the school district.

Visit the Snake River Basin Sustainability Laboratory website at http://www.snakeriversustainabilitylab.org.

Delivering Kyoto: Can Europe Do It?
By Don C. Smith, JD, LL.M
I2E2 Fellow

The resolve of the European Union (EU) and its 15 Member States to ratify the Kyoto Protocol remains undiminished notwithstanding the continuing reluctance of the United States to engage in a meaningful way in talks about climate change, according to many of the speakers at a recent high-level London conference of leading European politicians, industrialists, and environmentalists. In fact, if anything the EU appears poised to play the pivotal role in the ratification of the protocol.

The enthusiasm that the EU holds for the Kyoto Protocol was illustrated in the remarks of Olivier Deleuze, Belgian Minister for Energy and Sustainable Development and the current President of the Energy Council of Ministers, who said, "Climate change and the transition to a sustainable energy economy is the most urgent and important test of the industrialized countries' willingness to change their unsustainable patterns of production and consumption, as they pledged to do in Rio in 1992." Mr Deleuze made clear that the transition to a sustainable energy future would be complex and take time and would, as a consequence, require the industrialized world "to change not only the structure of the energy sector, but also behavior in our societies and economics. Bringing the Kyoto Protocol into force is the but the first vital step in this transition."

Another leading EU politician, Kjell Larsson, Swedish Minister of Environment, noted in a hopeful tone that in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on New York, perhaps the US might relax its general opposition to multilateral pacts. "We are all committed to counter these [terrorist] threats. And it must be a multilateral effort with a central role for the United Nations and other multilateral institutions. Maybe this can open up new avenues also for the climate negotiations," Mr. Larsson said.

The conference was addressed by two representatives of the US government, John Beale, Deputy Assistant Administrator at the US Environmental Protection Agency and Harlan T. Watson, Senior Climate Negotiator and Special Representative for the US State Department. Both men indicated that while climate change was of serious concern to the Bush Administration, the events on Sept. 11th would necessarily lead to a revision of priorities at the White House. Neither was willing to offer a prediction as to when climate change might return to the top levels of priority.

Representatives of European industry and non-governmental organizations joined the political voices in supporting the EU moving ahead. What emerged was very much a picture of an EU that stands united in its support of and willingness to push for ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. What was not discussed at any great length, due in large measure to respect for the US following the terrorist attacks, was the difficult issues that lie ahead for global businesses, and European businesses in particular, if the EU adopts measures to implement Kyoto while the US does not. In private, a number of attendees voiced concern over such a situation and the fact that it would imperil "the level playing field" that global businesses typically seek.

On a related matter, Margot Wallstrom, European Environment Commissioner, announced in September plans for EU ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. She set out a three-step process which will include: (1) a formal ratification proposal that will be considered and adopted by each of the 15 Member States; (2) a strategy for the cost-effective implementation of reducing greenhouse gases in the EU; and (3) a proposal for an EU-wide emission trading scheme.

For more information on the conference, please contact donsmith@du.edu.

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Please tell all of your students, associates, and friends about this terrific new course!

Students in the News

Stacy Porto, President of the All Undergraduate Student Association (AUSA), aims to combine her commitment to the environment with a career in law and politics. Coming to DU from Mission Hills, Kansas, Stacy is a sociology major with minors in creative writing and photography.

Stacy's past environmental activities include being very active in Greencorps as it helped increase environmental awareness on campus as well as worked to increase voter turnouts at elections. Last year when she was an AUSA senator, she sponsored a funding bill to bring more recycling bins to campus. This past summer she was an intern for the environmental law group at Shook, Hardy, & Bacon. This year as president of AUSA, her environmental goal is to preserve the green areas on campus, "because it is especially sacred when you're surrounded by a city."

Stacy is involved in a yearlong independent study through the sociology department in conjunction with a nation-wide organization called "Democracy Matters." She is researching issues surrounding the influence of private wealth on political campaigns. "I think private money has a large influence on what we learn and what we don't learn about the current problems in our environment," says Stacy, "so I am excited that one focus of my independent study is campaign finance and the environment."

Projects and Promotions

Ongoing Project: Emissions Remote Sensing Technology at DU

The on-road emissions remote sensor invented at the University of Denver has been used all over the USA and the World. It has been subject of some controversy because anyone who proposes a $0.25 test as a replacement for a
$25.00 test is labelled as a heretic/interloper.

The fact that most on-road vehicles today have negligible emissions is not widely publicized. In Denver today half the on-road emissions of CO and HC come from only 5% of the vehicles. One car in twenty is emitting more than
the sum of the remaining nineteen.

Data, analyses, links, references and reports can be found on the remote sensing web page www.feat.biochem.du.edu.

New Book: Corporate Leadership in Climate Change takes a closer look at some of the "first movers" -- companies that have decided to take early action on the climate change issue. In the pages of this report, business executives explain why taking early action works to their firms' advantage, and reveal some of the ways in which they have approached it.

The report features a wealth of detail, insight, and experience that other companies can learn from. Detailing the experiences of 11 companies, it offers real-life expertise that may help you decide how your organization will address the reality of a carbon-constrained future.

For a complete description with Table of Contents, go to http://www.cutter.com/envibusi/reports/corporate.html

Job Opening: Assistant Professor of Labor, Distributive Justice and the Environment - University of California at Berkeley, College of Natural Resources.

This is a tenure-track, nine-month career position in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and management, Division of Resource Institutions, Policy and Management and the Agricultural Experiment Station
at the University of California at Berkeley, available July 1, 2002. Go to the Career Page.

Job Opening: Research Assistant: Environmental Policy - Australian National University, Australian Centre for Environmental Law

A research assistant position as part of a new ARC research project: Environmental Regulation and Policy - Regulatory Design for Water Quality Management in Urban Catchments. Go to the Career Page.