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"On June 2nd, I had the pleasure of speaking at the C40 Summit in São Paulo, Brazil. The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group consists of iconic cities from around the world committed to addressing climate change. Chaired by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the group has recently joined forces with the Clinton Climate Initiative's Cities Program. Together, this partnership can have meaningful role in the fight against climate change."

This is a very cool trailer that depicts many of the challenges facing humanity in the 21st century. It is highly significant because the Communication of Foresight s one of the pre-eminent challenges we face today as societies. The dangers of climate change have been well developed by generations of climate scientists. But what about engaging various publics in the issue, garnering interest and energy for change through instigating new debates. How many other areas are like climate change - genetics, human consciousness, the list goes on. This trailer is a good example of aestheticizing the future in ways that CAN garner interest.

thanks Josh Floyd Great overview of personal energy calculus in context of climate change Saul Griffith has done a very detailed analysis of the energy portfolio required to address the problem of climate change inducing carbon emissions. He begins by examining what our maximum output of carbon emissions would be to limit carbon increases to 450 parts per million. He then calculates how much other types of energy (non carbon / fossil fuel based) will be needed. He then distributes this using a global equity system. The result is an overall reduction in energy consumption which is a quarter (25%) of current amounts. It is a useful application of backcasting and it has big applications for eco-innovation and entrepreneurship. For ICT, it implies a huge reduction in current energy consumption and a strong movement toward closed loop engineering.

"Presenting on the heels of Canada, which argued that it is difficult to achieve emissions reductions while continuing on a path of economic growth, the EU stated that, in fact, its own GDP has grown, by 40%+ percent between 1990-2009, while its emissions have been reduced by 16%. "So it is possible," said the EU's lead climate negotiator Artur Runge-Metzger, "to de-couple economic growth from increased emissions.""

Beyond the Tipping Point?' is a documentary film about climate, action and the future. It is a free resource for groups to provoke discussion and open up debate. ..Imagining the Future, Acting in the Present: a day of debate and reflection on climate change, ethics and belief for students 

"On June 3, Brundtland held a keynote speech at Fudan University for the 15th anniversary of the joint BI-Fudan MBA program. Other speakers at the event included Dag Morten Dalen, Senior Vice President of BI, Lu Xiongwen, Dean of the Fudan School of Management, Professor Torger Reve, and Paul Utvik, an alumni of the BI-Fudan MBA Program. In her speech, Brundtland recognized China's importance as a collaborator in the global fight against climate change, and the challenges faced by the country in its efforts to balance economic growth with sustainable development. Citing former World Bank economist David Wheeler, she stated that China is one of the countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, like extreme weather. Brundtland said that the question is not if China should grow, but rather how it should grow, and that the advances made by China in green technology put it on the right track for making sustainable prosperity a reality. "

OzClim provides a simple step-by-step option to help you generate and explore climate scenarios. There are also six scenarios in the examples section for rainfall and temperature for 2030.

"FOUR DEGREES OR MORE? Australia in a Hot World explores the unintended consequences of current domestic and international climate policies. It invites us to imagine the social, economic and ecological implications of catastrophic global warming for Australia and its region."

Over the next few decades, the global food system will come under renewed pressure from the combined effects of seven fundamental factors: population growth, the nutrition transition, energy, land, water, labour and climate change. The combined effects will create constraints on food supply and if action is not taken, there is a real potential for demand growth to outstrip increases in global food production. Effects on developing countries would be devastating. Developed countries will be affected too. Expectations of abundant and ever cheaper food could come under strain. The UK can no longer afford to take its food supply for granted.

"Beautiful, and a little disturbing.."  Radiohead, Dead Air Space "These powerful images prompt us to consider everything that is at stake - the things we value, the things we take for granted - and call us to work towards a very different future."  Yvo de Boer, KPMG, Special Global Advisor on Climate Change and Sustainabilit

" Pascal Lamy, Director-General of the World Trade Organization, will lead a meeting in Oxford today of international business, government and other leaders to address the gridlock in international and national attempts to deal with key global problems. The meeting launches the Oxford Martin Commission for Future Generations. The Commission seeks to address the growing short-term preoccupations of modern politics and identify ways to overcome today's impasse in key economic, climate, trade, security and other negotiations."

 Biomass role in achieving the Climate Change & Renewables EU policytargets. Demand and Supply dynamics under the perspective of stakeholders . IEE 08 653 SI2. 529 241

"A generation of far-reaching social change lies ahead for Australia. There will be a serious struggle to adapt to climate change as water security becomes a critical issue for many coastal cities and for agriculture. "

looks like an example of emerging public science and science communication - attempting to do science in a way that influences the public

"We still have emissions rising and we need to get that trajectory turned around. We need to get investment shifted to clean energy sources and low emission transport," he told The Conversation. If we don't get it going this decade, you get an impossibly tough task to achieve the two degree target. It will be exceptionally costly and probably impossible to roll out infrastructure fast enough (in future)."

It's an idea that most of us would rather not face -- that within the next century, life as we know it could come to an end. Our civilization could crumble, leaving only traces of modern human existence behind. It seems outlandish, extreme -- even impossible. But according to cutting edge scientific research, it is a very real possibility. And unless we make drastic changes now, it could very well happen. Experts have a stark warning: that unless we change course, the "perfect storm" of population growth, dwindling resources and climate change has the potential to converge in the next century with catastrophic results.

" More than half the people on Earth now live in cities, so they'll be where we have to face our changing weather patterns. The most prepared cities are finding ways to keep citizens safe--and make them money. "

"Worsening climate change and the emergence of new economic powers is leading to a renewed scramble for resources, with negative consequences for many impoverished communities."

When it comes to changing the way we use energy, cities are at the centre of the action, says Manish Bapna, managing director of the World Resources Institute.who reports here on the recent meeting of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group.