Measured Insights
The latest blog posts from our research projects.
'Climate Spider' at the UN Climate Conference in Doha
A few of the Yale Climate and Energy Institute students who attended the COP-18 UN Climate Conference in Doha, Qatar in December, 2012 made this fun video about one of the art sculptures in the Qatar National Convention Center.
Shanghai's New Air Quality mascot
Shanghai's Environmental Protection Bureau (EPB) recently updated how it communicates daily air quality via its website and Weibo account. Shanghai has one of the best websites for accessing information about air quality, including real-time pollution data in...
Beyond ‘Crazy Bad’: Explaining Beijing’s Extreme Air Pollution
Beijing’s air quality once again is making international headlines for off-the-chart measurements of air pollution. Images of Beijing show China’s capital city completely shrouded in gloomy shades of grey. According to Jan. 12 readings of the city’s official real-time air quality monitoring platform, air pollution levels exceeded the upper limit of 500 on the Air Quality Index (click here to read an explanation of China’s newly adopted AQI) in many of Beijing’s districts, meaning that air pollution was beyond “hazardous” levels. The US Embassy in Beijing, which has been independently monitoring air pollution since the 2008 Olympics, independently measured and reported AQI values topping 755 .
Germany hosts Sustainable Energy High-Level Ministerial Event with China and others at Doha Climate Talks
This post originally appeared on ChinaFAQs.org. Although major greenhouse-gas emitting countries were criticized at the latest round of climate negotiations in Doha for failing to show enough ambition, an event held during the second week highlighted leadership from...
Crowdsourcing Accountability: DecisionMakr rankings Day 1&2 – Who's on top?
The COP18 UN climate negotiations have kicked off without too much fanfare. Host country Qatar is hosting its largest ever conference, with an expected 17,000 participants, including 1,500 media (although I heard only about half of these anticipated media actually...
DecisionMakr At Doha: Can A New Smartphone App Hold Leaders More Accountable?
This post originally appeared on The Huffington Post and The Metric, the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy’s blog. Expectations for the global climate negotiations taking place over the next two weeks in Doha, Qatar, are dismally low, and major political transitions in China and the United States – the world’s two largest emitters of greenhouse gases – further temper hope for any kind of game-changing proposal. So what are the more than 7,000 civil society members and 1,500 journalists(myself included) in attendance going to do to make their opinions count and to hold their governments accountable for accomplishing something in Doha?
US-China relationship live-chat on China Dialogue and Tea Leaf Nation
I recently participated in a live-chat on the US-China relationship via China Dialogue and Tea Leaf Nation. Although I wasn't quite sure how a live chat would work, it was extremely well moderated and prepared by the China Dialogue and Tea Leaf Nation staff. I had a...
What to expect from China in Doha
This post originally appeared at ChinaFAQs.org. The next round of United Nations climate negotiations is gearing up to take place starting next week in Doha Qatar, where countries will look to both China and the United States to see whether domestic political events...
New bloc of 'Like Minded Developing Countries' meet in advance of Doha Climate Talks
The lexicon of climate change negotiations is always full of alphabet soup - the UNFCCC, GHGs, AWG-KP, AWG-LCA - the list is endless, particularly in reference to negotiation blocs, which can be as simple as G77 & China, EU-27, BASIC, BRIC, etc. etc. While...
Yu's Family Kitchen – An Unforgettable Sichuan Feast
Although I had heard that Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, is also the gastronomical center of China, I never fully understood the extent of how amazing and diverse its cuisine can be until I had the pleasure of dining at Yu's Family Kitchen. Sichuan cuisine...
