Africa: Atlas of Our Changing Environment (open access)

Africa: Atlas of Our Changing Environment

This comprehensive atlas provides data, satellite imagery, and analysis of the environmental conditions and issues relevant to each African country, and several surrounding island nations. The atlas also covers trans-border international issues in Africa.
Date: 2008
Creator: United Nations Environment Programme
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Annual Report on the Environment and the Sound Material-Cycle Society in Japan 2007 (open access)

Annual Report on the Environment and the Sound Material-Cycle Society in Japan 2007

The annual report summarized the FY2006 status of the environment and the establishment of a sound material-cycle Society in Japan. It provides an overview of Global Warming and the technologies for mitigating Global Warming. The report also describes the government's role in environmental conservation, and the formation of a sound material-cycle society.
Date: 2007
Creator: Japan. Kankyōsho
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Annual Report on the Environment in Japan 2005 (open access)

Annual Report on the Environment in Japan 2005

The annual report describes the environment of Japan in FY 2004. It includes an overview on efforts to build a Low Carbon Society, as well as the environmental issues and environmental conservation measures led by the Japanese government.
Date: January 2006
Creator: Japan. Kankyōshō.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Annual Report on the Environment, the Sound Material-Cycle Society and the Biodiversity 2009 (open access)

Annual Report on the Environment, the Sound Material-Cycle Society and the Biodiversity 2009

The white paper on comprehensive environmental policy describes the role of Japan's economy in a sound global environment. In the first part, the report describes current the environmental conditions of the Earth and of Japan, human activities in Japan and overseas, their environmental impacts, and the pathway to the environmental century. The second part of the white paper reports on various measures.
Date: November 2009
Creator: [Japan] Ministry of the Environment
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library

Arctic Climate Feedbacks: Global Implications

Report describing sea-level rise and the associated flooding of coastal regions that may affect more than a quarter of the world’s population. It includes sections on atmospheric and ocean circulation feedbacks, ice sheets and sea-level rise feedbacks, marine and land carbon cycle feedbacks, and methane hydrate feedbacks.
Date: November 2009
Creator: Sommerkorn, Martin
Object Type: Musical Score/Notation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Arctic Flora and Fauna: Status and Conservation (open access)

Arctic Flora and Fauna: Status and Conservation

What is the overall state of the Arctic environment? The aim of this report is to answer the many aspects of this seemingly straightforward question. Although several national and international efforts have looked at parts of the Arctic, this is the first attempt to assess the state of Arctic flora and fauna as a whole.
Date: June 11, 2001
Creator: Program for the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF)
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Assessing the Costs of Climate Change and Adaptation in South Asia (open access)

Assessing the Costs of Climate Change and Adaptation in South Asia

.This Asian Development Bank (ADB) study examined the economic costs associated with the impacts of climate change and the cost and benefits of adaptation in Bangladesh,Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. The study aimed to (i) assess the biophysical impacts of climate change in the region, including individual country impacts, and (ii) estimate the total economic loss to the countries in the region by 2100, taking into account the different scenarios and impacts projected across vulnerable sectors, and then to estimate the magnitude of funding for adaptation measures required to avert such potential losses. Results of the study will aid development of future policies and programs for climate change adaptation in the region, including initiatives for regional cooperation and capacity building in climate change management. The study covered the following sectors: agriculture, terrestrial ecosystems, water, marine and coastal resources (except Bhutan and Nepal), health, and energy.
Date: June 1, 2014
Creator: Ahmed, Mahfuz & Suphachol Suphachalasai
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Blue Ribbon Advisory Council on Climate Change, Report to Governor Jon M. Huntsman, Jr. (open access)

Blue Ribbon Advisory Council on Climate Change, Report to Governor Jon M. Huntsman, Jr.

The final report from an advisory panel of 15 scientists and industry experts finding that humans are responsible for climate warming and that Utah is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions per capita than the rest of the nation. It makes about 70 recommendations for fighting global warming including: developing significant amounts of renewable energy with incentives and tax credits, encouraging the capture and disposal of carbon dioxide, improving efficiency at power plants, implementing an aggressive mass-transit strategy, and preserving open space and agricultural land and protecting forests. The report, however, does not include specific policy recommendations or rules to implement action.
Date: October 2007
Creator: Utah. Governor's Blue Ribbon Advisory Council on Climate Change
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
British Columbia Climate Action for 21st Century (open access)

British Columbia Climate Action for 21st Century

The report fulfills the Greenhouse Gas Reductions Target Act requirements with respect to the progress, action and plans to achieve the emissions reduction targets.
Date: October 2010
Creator: Climate Action Secretariat staff
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Can Cities Reduce Global Warming?: Urban Development and the Carbon Cycle in Latin America (open access)

Can Cities Reduce Global Warming?: Urban Development and the Carbon Cycle in Latin America

This report includes case studies on urban development and the carbon cycle in the Americas. The authors intend to demonstrate the consequences of different pathways of urban development on the carbon cycle, and identify points of management and intervention aimed at designing less-carbon intensive development.
Date: 2005
Creator: Romero Lankao, Patricia; López Villafranco, Héctor; Rosas Huerta, Angélica; Günther, Griselda & Correa Armenta, Zaira
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage (open access)

Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage

This report provides information for policy makers, scientists and engineers in the field of climate change and reduction of CO2 emissions. It describes sources, capture, transport, and storage of CO2, as well as the costs, economic potential, and societal issues of the technology, including public perception and regulatory aspects.
Date: 2005
Creator: Working Group III of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
Changes in the Arctic: Background and Issues for Congress (open access)

Changes in the Arctic: Background and Issues for Congress

The diminishment of Arctic sea ice has led to increased human activities in the Arctic, and has heightened concerns about the region's future. Issues such as Arctic sovereignty claims; commercial shipping through the Arctic; Arctic oil, gas, and mineral exploration; endangered Arctic species; and increased military operations in the Arctic could cause the region in coming years to become an arena of international cooperation, competition, or conflict. This report provides an overview of Arctic-related issues for Congress, and refers readers to more in-depth CRS reports on specific Arctic-related issues.
Date: October 8, 2010
Creator: O'Rourke, Ronald
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Clean Air Act (open access)

The Clean Air Act

The United States Clean Air Act is legislation authorizing the Environmental Protection Agency to control air pollutiants on a national level.
Date: February 24, 2004
Creator: United States. Congress. Senate.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Clearing the Waters: A focus on water quality solutions (open access)

Clearing the Waters: A focus on water quality solutions

This report discusses global water issues and offers a variety of proposals for countering the degradation of freshwater ecosystems for the benefit of public health and the environment.
Date: March 2010
Creator: Palanaippan, Meena; Gleick, Peter H.; Allen, Lucy; Cohen, Michael J.; Christian-Smith, Juliet; Smith, Courtney et al.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Climate Change and Water: Technical Paper VI (open access)

Climate Change and Water: Technical Paper VI

The Technical Paper addresses the issue of freshwater. Sea level rise is dealt with only insofar as it can lead to impacts on freshwater in coastal areas and beyond. Climate, freshwater, biophysical and socio-economic systems are interconnected in complex ways. Hence, a change in any one of these can induce a change in any other. Freshwater-related issues are critical in determining key regional and sectoral vulnerabilities. Therefore, the relationship between climate change and freshwater resources is of primary concern to human society and also has implications for all living species.
Date: 2008
Creator: Bates, Bryson; Kundzewicz, Zbigniew W.; Wu, Shaohong & Palutikof, Jean
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
Climate Change: Science Compendium 2009 (open access)

Climate Change: Science Compendium 2009

This Climate Change Science Compendium, based on the wealth of peer-reviewed research published by researchers and institutions since 2006, has been compiled by UNEP in response to that request. The findings indicate that ever more rapid environmental change is underway with the pace and the scale of climate change accelerating, along with the confidence among researchers in their forecasts. The Compendium will provide important insights into the rapidly developing and fast moving realm of climate science so that the choices made by leaders in Copenhagen in December are informed by the best and the latest research available to the international community.
Date: May 2010
Creator: McMullen, Catherine P. & Jabbour, Jason
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Climate Change Science Compendium 2009 (open access)

Climate Change Science Compendium 2009

This document was compiled as an annual snapshot of peer-reviewed research about climate change.
Date: 2009
Creator: McMullen, Catherine P. & Jabbour, Jason
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Coastal Sensitivity to Sea-Level Rise: A Focus on the Mid-Atlantic Region (open access)

Coastal Sensitivity to Sea-Level Rise: A Focus on the Mid-Atlantic Region

This document is part of the Synthesis and Assessment Products described in the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) Strategic Plan. The U.S. Government's CCSP is responsible for providing the best science-based knowledge possible to inform management of the risks and opportunities associated with changes in the climate and related environmental systems. To support its mission, the CCSP has commissioned 21 "synthesis and assessment products" (SAPs) to advance decision making on climate change-related issues by providing current evaluations of climate change science and identifying priorities for research, observation, and decision support. This Synthesis and Assessment Product (SAP), developed as part of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, examines potential effects of sea-level rise from climate change during the twenty-first century, with a focus on the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. Using scientific literature and policy-related documents, the SAP describes the physical environments; potential changes to coastal environments, wetlands, and vulnerable species; societal impacts and implications of sea-level rise; decisions that may be sensitive to sea-level rise; opportunities for adaptation; and institutional barriers to adaptation.
Date: January 2009
Creator: U.S. Climate Change Science Program and the Subcommittee on Global Change Research
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
Colorado Climate Action Plan: A Strategy To Address Global Warming (open access)

Colorado Climate Action Plan: A Strategy To Address Global Warming

The plan is considered a living document, and a first installment of what could become further refinements as additional initiatives are evaluated and new technologies unfold.
Date: November 2007
Creator: Governor Bill Ritter, Jr.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Deep Water: the Gulf Oil Disaster and the Future of Offshore Drilling (open access)

Deep Water: the Gulf Oil Disaster and the Future of Offshore Drilling

On May 22, 2010, President Barack Obama announced the creation of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling: an independent,nonpartisan entity, directed to provide a thorough analysis and impartial judgment. The President charged the Commission to determine the causes of the disaster, and to improve the country’s ability to respond to spills, and to recommend reforms to make offshore energy production safer. This report is the result of an intense six-month effort to fulfill the President’s charge. The Commission’s report offers the President, policymakers, industry, and the American people the fullest account available of the largest oil spill in U.S history: the context for the well itself, how the explosion and spill happened, and how industry and government scrambled to respond to an unprecedented emergency.
Date: January 2011
Creator: National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling (U.S.)
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Economics of Climate Change in Southeast Asia: A Regional Review (open access)

The Economics of Climate Change in Southeast Asia: A Regional Review

The study examines climate change issues in Southeast Asia, with a particular focus on Indonesia,Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.The study is intended to enrich the debate on the economics of climate change that includes the economic costs and benefits of unilateral and regional actions. It seeks to raise awareness among stakeholders of the urgency of the grave challenges facing the region, and to build consensus of the governments, business sectors, and civil society on the need for incorporating daptation and mitigation measures into national development planning processes.
Date: April 1, 2009
Creator: Asian Development Bank
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Effects of Climate Change on Agriculture, Land Resources, Water Resources, and Biodiversity in the United States (open access)

The Effects of Climate Change on Agriculture, Land Resources, Water Resources, and Biodiversity in the United States

This document is a part of the Synthesis and Assessment Products described in the U.S. Climate Change Science Program Strategic Plan. The report describes how climate affects the design, construction, safety, operations, and maintenance of transportation infrastructure and systems. The prospect of a changing climate raises critical questions regarding how alterations in temperature, precipitation, storm events, and other aspects of the climate could affect the nation's roads, airports, rail, transit systems, pipelines, ports, and waterways. Phase I of this regional assessment of climate change and its potential impacts on transportation systems addresses these questions for the region of the U.S. central Gulf Coast between Galveston, Texas and Mobile, Alabama.
Date: May 2008
Creator: U.S. Climate Change Science Program and the Subcommittee on Global Change Research.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
Energy Policy Act (open access)

Energy Policy Act

The Energy Policy Act (EPA) addresses energy production in the United States, including: (1) energy efficiency; (2) renewable energy; (3) oil and gas; (4) coal; (5) Tribal energy; (6) nuclear matters and security; (7) vehicles and motor fuels, including ethanol; (8) hydrogen; (9) electricity; (10) energy tax incentives; (11) hydropower and geothermal energy; and (12) climate change technology. For example, the Act provides loan guarantees for entities that develop or use innovative technologies that avoid the by-production of greenhouse gases. Another provision of the Act increases the amount of biofuel that must be mixed with gasoline sold in the United States.
Date: January 4, 2005
Creator: United States. Congress.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federal Water Pollution Control Act (open access)

Federal Water Pollution Control Act

The Clean Water Act (CWA) establishes the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United States and regulating quality standards for surface waters. The basis of the CWA was enacted in 1948 and was called the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, but the Act was significantly reorganized and expanded in 1972. "Clean Water Act" became the Act's common name with amendments in 1977. Under the CWA, EPA has implemented pollution control programs such as setting wastewater standards for industry. We have also set water quality standards for all contaminants in surface waters. The CWA made it unlawful to discharge any pollutant from a point source into navigable waters, unless a permit was obtained. EPA's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program controls discharges. Point sources are discrete conveyances such as pipes or man-made ditches. Individual homes that are connected to a municipal system, use a septic system, or do not have a surface discharge do not need an NPDES permit; however, industrial, municipal, and other facilities must obtain permits if their discharges go directly to surface waters.
Date: November 27, 2002
Creator: United States. Congress. House.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library