I want to congratulate my father for his being recognized tonight by NYU for his 50 years of contributions to their great Medical School. My father has spent his whole career there.  He is a loyal guy. I'm more of a free agent but I see the benefits of building lasting bonds with one institution rather than continually switching universities.  With that drum roll, permit me to change topics. 

Climate change policy to be focus of Oct. 4 conference


September 29, 2010

Leading economists, analysts, and executives from academia, the state government and industry will discuss the impacts of climate change and Assembly Bill 32 on California’s economy and the environment during an Oct. 4 conference, sponsored by the University of California Giannini Foundation and UC Davis-based UC Agricultural Issues Center.


"California's Climate Change Policy: The Economic and Environmental Impacts of AB 32" will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the California Museum, 1020 O St., in Sacramento.


Assembly Bill 32, or the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, set the 2020 greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal into law. It directed the California Air Resources Board to begin developing discrete early actions to reduce greenhouse gases, while also preparing a scoping plan to identify how best to reach the 2020 limit. The reduction measures to meet the 2020 target are to be adopted by the start of 2011.



"It is important in the current economic and political climate that Californians have the best possible information about the impacts of AB 32 on the California environment, climate change and job creation in California," said Colin Carter, director of the Giannini Foundation and a UC Davis professor of agricultural and resource economics. "We are pleased to have assembled some of the best and brightest minds in the state and nation to inform the debate on AB 32.”



Slated to speak during the conference are researchers who have contributed to the California Air Resources Board's economic analysis of AB 32 impacts, as well as those who have offered independent reviews of that analysis or their own economic assessments.



Speakers include Lawrence Goulder, Stanford professor of environmental and resource economics; Matthew Kahn, UCLA professor and author of “Climatopolis: How Our Cities Will Thrive in the Hotter Future”; Mark Newton and James Nachbaur of the California Legislative Analyst’s Office; and Robert Stavins, director of the Harvard Environmental Economics program.



UC speakers will include Meredith Fowlie, UC Berkeley assistant professor of agricultural and resource economics; Dan Sumner, UC Davis professor of agricultural and resource economics and director of the UC Agricultural Issues Center; David Victor, director of the UC San Diego Laboratory on International Law and Regulation and author of “Climate Change: Debating America’s Policy Options”; and David Zilberman, UC Berkeley agricultural and resource economics professor.



A.G. Kawamura, secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture will be the luncheon speaker.



The conference registration fee is $35 and includes lunch. More information and registration are available at the Giannini Foundation website: http://giannini.ucop.edu/AB32/AB32conference.