Debates

Motivating humanity to act

This debate is under discussion by participants in the Climate Summit. For more information see http://theclimatesummit.org . Other members of the Collaboratorium community are also welcome to add to this debate. To navigate to the Climate Summit's dedicated debate page, go to http://climatecollaboratorium.org/web/guest/theclimatesummit .

Question	Leading position(s)	# Comments	Most recent comment
How can current globalized economy refocus on ethics and sustainability?	Equal per capita emissions to reach 350 ppm (6 votes)	1	4/15/10 5:54 PM
How might a proactive response to climate change be inhibited?	Other pressing needs, such as global development (6 votes)	4	5/9/10 6:44 AM
How can the media be used to motivate humanity to respond proactively to climate change?	New media/guerilla marketing (10 votes)	13	6/10/10 3:12 PM
What political action can motivate humanity to respond proactively to climate change?	Formal electoral process (4 votes), Grass roots approach (4 votes)	14	5/10/10 1:29 AM
Do religion and faith have a role in motivating humanity to respond proactively to climate change?	Yes (11 votes)	2	4/17/10 5:19 PM
How can we best harness the potential of the 'faith' community to create awareness & action on climate.	Seek the opportinity to speak personally at your congregation or other faith meeting. (1 vote)	0
How Do We Talk About Science in the Age of Sound Bites?	Scientists Need Spokespeople to Manage Public Relations (2 votes)	6	6/27/10 5:17 PM
How can education motivate humanity to respond proactively to climate change?	Primary/secondary education central (9 votes)	14	6/13/10 2:44 PM
How can we convince parlamentarians that climate change is due to the human activities?	More interaction between environmental activists and parliamentarians. (2 votes)	0
How can we address this issue across cultures?	Work locally to create awareness (6 votes)	5	6/8/10 8:38 PM

Policy approaches

Question	Leading position(s)	# Comments	Most recent comment
What government policies should be adopted to address climate change?	Subsidies for green tech (4 votes)	6	5/21/10 5:02 PM
How can major changes in policy occur?	Recognition of the true threat of global warming (6 votes)	2	4/18/10 7:38 AM
How should we extend the concept of CO2 offsetting project itself?	Invent a capital flow based emission control mechanism (1 vote)	0
How can overpopulation be curtailed?	Provide basic needs (2 votes)	5	4/17/10 4:50 PM
How can overconsumption be curtailed?	How about using a slogan like, "Waste less. Want less." (1 vote), New Economic System (1 vote), "Interfaith Action on Climate Change" focused on modifying our consumption patterns. (1 vote)	2	4/25/10 8:03 PM
How Important is the Approval of Cape Wind?	The beginning of the end of NIMBYism (1 vote)	1	6/26/10 3:31 AM

Is the earth's climate changing because of human activity?

Question	Leading position(s)	# Comments	Most recent comment
Do the polar ice caps and oceans show evidence of warming?	Yes (proponent position) (3 votes)	1	4/10/10 4:11 PM
Is the warming of the past 150 years due to human activity?	Yes (proponent position) (2 votes)	2	1/23/10 2:17 AM
Can we trust temperature readings that indicate warming?	Yes (proponent position) (4 votes)	4	4/15/10 11:55 AM
Even if climate change was not due to human activity, don't we still have a problem?	Yes (2 votes)	2	6/20/10 8:56 PM
Is the warming since 1850 outside the range of past climate fluctuations?	Yes (proponent position) (2 votes)	1	6/3/10 2:07 AM
Is there scientific consensus on global warming?	Yes (proponent position) (3 votes)	0
Has the warming trend of the past 150 years slowed recently?	Yes (proponent position) (2 votes)	1	4/17/10 8:30 PM

Model Debates

Question	Leading position(s)	# Comments	Most recent comment
How rapidly will new low-emission technologies emerge?	Modest technical progress (2 votes)	0
What are the probable economic, social, and environmental costs and benefits of the various CO2 levels various plans try to achieve by various dates?	Models should extend to estimating the economic, social, and environmental costs and benefits of trying to achieve various CO2 levels by various dates. (3 votes)	2	4/23/10 3:21 AM

Other debates

Question	Leading position(s)	# Comments	Most recent comment
What mix of new technologies/practices should be adopted?		2	6/20/10 7:26 PM
Can behavioral economics help with climate change?	Yes (3 votes)	5	4/19/10 11:48 PM
Should the Collaboratorium be augmented by less formal collaborative software, such as a threaded forum or mailing list?	The Collaboratorium should have a threaded forum/mailing list in which discussions can take place in a more free form than is appropriate in the argument map (1 vote)	0
Should there be a major debate heading for discussion of issues relating to the design and operation of the Collaboratium, itself?	People should be allowed to participate in the debates easier (2 votes), Yes (2 votes)	2	4/23/10 5:51 PM
What will be the impact of the Gulf Oil Spill?	This is an unavoidable and intolerable risk in offshore drilling (1 vote)	3	7/14/10 11:10 PM
How are we going to increase resilience and sustainability in our water environments given the range of predicted climate scenarios?		1	7/7/10 5:52 PM

UN climate talks issues

Question	Leading position(s)	# Comments	Most recent comment
How can the burden of climate change mitigation be shared equitably?	Rich countries should lead the way (10 votes)	4	4/15/10 11:52 AM
What should the global emissions target be for 2050?	Emissions should be cut substantially (4 votes)	2	4/15/10 11:46 AM

Projects

What are some projects done on the local, state, or federal level that have shown a lot of promise that you support? Are there some projects that are actually really bad ideas?

Question	Leading position(s)	# Comments	Most recent comment
Should we increase natural gas production?	No votes.	0
How Important is the Approval of Cape Wind?	The beginning of the end of NIMBYism (1 vote)	1	6/26/10 3:31 AM
What mix of new technologies/practices should be adopted?		2	6/20/10 7:26 PM
How should we extend the concept of CO2 offsetting project itself?	Invent a capital flow based emission control mechanism (1 vote)	0
How are we going to increase resilience and sustainability in our water environments given the range of predicted climate scenarios?		1	7/7/10 5:52 PM

Collaboratorium Design

In these debates, members of the Collaboratorium are invited to provide input on key questions about the design of the Collaboratorium system. The first of these, running May-July 2010, focuses on the design of the 2010 Climate Collaboratorium Contest. More information on the design of the contest is at http://www.climatecollaboratorium.org/web/guest/resources/-/wiki/Main/Designing+the+Climate+Collaboratorium+Contest+2010.

Question	Leading position(s)	# Comments	Most recent comment
How should users provide input prior to final round?	Users sign up as plan supporters (1 vote)	0
Should plans be broken out into subplans and judged on that basis?	No votes.	0
How should the preliminary and semi-final rounds be structured?	Sketch in plans first, then refine them (2 votes)	1	6/3/10 3:52 PM
Is the initial design of the 2010 Collaboratorium Contest sound?	No votes.	0
Should we seek to limit redundancy among plans while teams are working on them?	No, plans should be winnowed during judging (2 votes)	4	6/6/10 7:29 PM
How many plans should be in the semi-finals and finals?	Let judges decide (1 vote)	0
How should users provide input during the final round?	Preferential voting (1 vote)	2	6/2/10 8:34 PM

Inactive Debates

These debates and their threads are being placed inactive but are being left for interested viewers to read.

Question	Leading position(s)	# Comments	Most recent comment
Would the Dalai Lama's participation in The Climate Summit help or hinder awareness and action? Should we be concerned with backlash in China?	It would hinder the overall goals of The Climate Summit (7 votes), The Dalai Lama should be welcome to participate to avoid politicizing The Climate Summit (7 votes)	19	5/20/10 11:12 PM

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