BCCN Campus Climate News

Read all about it! The very cool "News from the Berkeley Climate Change Network" is produced every other week for over 900 Berkeley faculty and staff. Spotlights on Berkeley climate projects, upcoming events, funding opportunities and more.

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NEWS FROM THE BERKELEY CLIMATE CHANGE NETWORK - OCT 23rd 
BCCN Instagram: berkeleyclimate
BCCN Hotline: (510) 280-4660
1. Why We Do This Work: Cool Housing - Nordic Warning - No False Hope Please
2. Climate Justice Week @Berkeley Next Week
3. Two Cool Berkeley Talk Recordings (if you missed them)
4. BCCN Spring 2025 Unofficial Climate Class Guide is HERE
5. Iceberk! Informatics for Climate Empowerment @ Berkeley
6. New Important Berkeley Paper on COFs Featured on KQED
7. Oh, Canada: Meredith Fowlie - Latest on the BC Carbon Tax
8. J-School: Getting Rid of Natural Gas Locally
9. Berkeley and the CA 5th Assessment: 5 Winning Projects
10. UC Berkeley Big Ideas Contest: Time to Apply!
11. Goldman CEPP Seminar: Plastic Pollution and Policy 
12. Webinar: What the CA Legislature Achieved on Climate in 2024
** Berkeley Climate Calendar (see below)
1. Why We Do This Work: Cool Housing - Nordic Warning - No False Hope Please
As parts of Florida went dark (and worse) from Helene and Milton, this NET-ZERO community kept the lights on. Uh oh, Finland’s peatlands and forests have stopped absorbing carbon. North Carolinian at Climate Week NYC: "Helene destroyed my home town. I don’t want climate change stories of false hope.
2. Climate Justice Week 2024 @Berkeley Next Week
Check out 15 events for Climate Justice Week OCT 21-25, hosted by the Student Environmental Resource Center (SERC). Free food, workshops, panels and more. Also, a pre-week event, Congo Rising: Indigenous Voices for Climate Justice this Friday 11 am to 1 pm in ASUC Senate Chambers.
3. Two Excellent Berkeley Talk Recordings (if you missed them)
— Bill McKibben, 350.orgThird Act, etc. The Deadly Trade in Oil and Gas (90 mins)
— Toddi Steelman, Duke’s VP for Climate, The Duke Climate Commitment: Infusing Climate Into Duke’s Research, Education, Operations, External Engagement and Community (60 mins)
4. BCCN Spring 2025 Unofficial Climate Class Guide is HERE
Hello Students! Planning your courses for Spring 2025? BCCN just released our Spring 2025 Unofficial Climate Class Guide showcasing 50+ courses from across the campus.
5. Iceberk! Informatics for Climate Empowerment @ Berkeley
— Understand information needs and behaviors of individuals and communities confronting effects of climate change
— Develop information tools to support their efforts in climate mitigation, adaptation, and biodiversity conservation
— Train next generation of information leaders for our societal transition to a sustainable and just climate future
6. New Important Berkeley Paper on COFs Featured on KQED
New paper in Science from Berkeley scientists on covalent organic frameworks (COFs) that could play a huge part in technological carbon removal from the air (not fossil fuel plants). Senior author Omar Yaghi (Chemistry, BIDMaP) and Lead Author Zihui Zhou (Chemistry) explain it all in this KQED interview. See Science Daily’s piece here on the importance of their findings.
7. Oh, Canada: Meredith Fowlie - Latest on the BC Carbon Tax
British Columbia implemented a very serious carbon tax in 2008. It seemingly had all the elements — meaningful tax, good rebates, wide scope, etc. — but now it is politically vulnerable. (Elections over the weekend still too close to call.) Fowlie (ARE) traces the history and meaning in the (always helpful) Energy Institute blog.
8. J-School: Getting Rid of Natural Gas Locally
With Berkeley Measure GG on the ballot NOV 5th, the J-School’s State of Change newsletter looks at all the different ways CA cities are trying to eliminate natural gas use after the courts said NO to local bans.
9. Berkeley and the CA 5th Assessment: 5 Winning Projects
Berkeley and LBNL just netted 3 grants from the State for the 5th CA Climate Assessment. Atmospheric Rivers (Rhodes) - Occupational Hazards (Noth) - Long-Term Soil Carbon Sequestration (Silver). Congratulations all! At the same time, Berkeley experts recently won 2 additional studies for the 5th — Climate Migration & California (Ayazi, Popken) and the Bay Area Regional Synthesis Report (Bedsworth). 
10. UC Berkeley Big Ideas Contest: Time to Apply!
Deadline is NOV 20th for this year’s Big Ideas, including a Climate & Sustainability Track. Year-long program providing training, networks, recognition and funding to inter-disciplinary teams of Berkeley students with great solutions to pressing real-world problems. Details here.
11. Goldman CEPP Seminar: Plastic Pollution and Policy Prevention
Hybrid event co-sponsored by CEPP and BERC featuring an expert panel WEDS OCT 30 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm. Prospects for the UN treaty - Impacts on frontline communities - links between plastic pollution and the climate crisis.
12. Webinar: What the CA Legislature Achieved on Climate in 2024
The Climate Center presents this 90-minute webinar OCT 31, 10 am - 11:30 am. covering bills passed or defeated and strategies for the next session in 2025. The panel includes legislators and climate activists. Register here.
Berkeley Climate Calendar:
GET READY: SPECIAL BCCN NOV 5TH ELECTION ISSUE - SERIOUS READING, DRINKING GAMES AND MORE

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