Woods magnifies the impact of Stanford’s breakthrough environmental research by reaching beyond campus to inform and advance environmental decision-making. Through forums, workshops and briefings, we convene diverse public and private sector experts – from Stanford and beyond campus – who can collectively identify challenges along with the research and solutions needed to address them. These interactions add new dimensions, in-field perspectives and currency to Stanford research. In turn, Woods staff and our affiliated scholars translate and disseminate new findings for those who make and implement decisions affecting the environment. Read on for highlights from our recent work to engage business leaders, policymakers and others in the process of developing, scaling up and implementing solutions.
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Highlights
Clarifying Climate Priorities
Stanford Woods Institute Consulting Professor David Hayes, a Distinguished Visiting Lecturer in Law at Stanford, worked with Woods to organize a panel of climate change, energy and governance experts that included veterans of the Obama, Bush, Clinton and Reagan administrations to identify key climate and energy policies for the next U.S. president to push forward. The #ClimatePOTUS45 event was the first in the Climate Change Implementation Project Conference Series, which culminated with a policy forum at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 15. Read more.
Connecting Climate to Security
Speaking at Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice noted research by Woods Center Fellow Marshall Burke (Stanford Earth) regarding the connection between worsening climate realities and armed conflict. Disputes over basic resources of food and water, refugees from climate impacted areas, and other issues are likely outcomes that could affect international relations. Read more and watch video.
Informing Water Policy
Woods, the Public Policy Institute of California and the California Institute for Water Resources hosted a congressional discussion panel at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center on California water policy and drought. The event featured a diverse group of speakers, including Perry L. McCarty Founding Co-Director Barton “Buzz” Thompson and Letty Belin, Senior Counselor to the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior. The speakers focused on innovations in technology and ecosystem management. Separately, Thompson, Newsha Ajami, Director of Urban Water Policy at Stanford’s Water in the West program, and Woods Senior Fellow Noah Diffenbaugh (Stanford Earth) testified before the California Assembly Select Committee on Water Consumption and Alternative Sources to discuss water solutions for California’s ongoing drought. Read more and watch video.
Collaborating on Solutions
Stanford’s Water in the West program and the Gould Center for Conflict Resolution, in conjunction with California State University Sacramento’s Center for Collaborative Policy, hosted a Groundwater Data Workshop Series. Groundwater managers, county and state representatives, and technical and water policy experts developed regulatory and policy solutions to data-related challenges of implementing the state’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. Read more.
On Camera
Setting the Climate Agenda for the Next U.S. President
Highlights from the May 6, 2016 conference at Stanford University that focused on strategies the next President might employ to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and accelerate the United States' pivot to a clean energy economy. Read more.