Pregled posta

Marketing

Leveling the Carbon Playing Field: International Competition and Us Climate Policy Design

As political momentum surrounding climate change builds in the US, policymakers are taking a fresh look at national climate policy and American involvement in multilateral climate negotiations. And as in years past, the potential economic impact of any US effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions stands as a central question in the Washington policy debate. Of particular concern is the effect climate policy would have on carbon-intensive US manufacturing. Many of these industries are already under pressure from foreign competition, particularly large emerging economies like China, India, and Brazil that are not bound to reduce emissions under the current international climate framework. As the Congress takes up domestic climate legislation and the Administration reengages in multilateral climate negotiations, policymakers are looking for ways to avoid putting US industry at a competitive disadvantage vis-A?A -vis countries without similar climate policy, lest a decline in industrial emissions at home is simply replaced by increases in emissions abroad. While this would be best achieved through harmonized international climate policy, the differences between countries in level of economic development, obligations stemming from historic emissions and responsibilities arising from future emissions, mean harmonization is still a long way off. The question then, in the design of domestic US climate policy today, is how to level the playing field for carbon-intensive industries during a period of transition, where trading partners are moving at different speeds and adopting a variety of policies to reduce emissions...and how to do so in a way that doesn't threaten the prospects of broader international agreement down the road. This book, a collaboration between the Peterson Institute for International Economics and the World Resources Institute, tackles these issues through an assessment of the economics and trade flows of key carbon-intensive industries. They evaluate a wide range of policy options, including those that would impose carbon costs on foreign-produced goods at the border (currently included in draft US legislation and under consideration in the EU) in terms of their effectiveness in reducing emissions and addressing competitiveness issues and their impact on health of multilateral trade and climate negotiations.

As political momentum surrounding climate change builds in the US, policymakers are taking a fresh look at national climate policy and American involvement in multilateral climate negotiations. And as in years past, the potential economic impact of any US effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions stands as a central question in the Washington policy debate. Of particular concern is the effect climate policy would have on carbon-intensive US manufacturing. Many of these industries are already under pressure from foreign competition, particularly large emerging economies like China, India, and Brazil that are not bound to reduce emissions under the current international climate framework. As the Congress takes up domestic climate legislation and the Administration reengages in multilateral climate negotiations, policymakers are looking for ways to avoid putting US industry at a competitive disadvantage vis-A?A -vis countries without similar climate policy, lest a decline in industrial emissions at home is simply replaced by increases in emissions abroad. While this would be best achieved through harmonized international climate policy, the differences between countries in level of economic development, obligations stemming from historic emissions and responsibilities arising from future emissions, mean harmonization is still a long way off. The question then, in the design of domestic US climate policy today, is how to level the playing field for carbon-intensive industries during a period of transition, where trading partners are moving at different speeds and adopting a variety of policies to reduce emissions...and how to do so in a way that doesn't threaten the prospects of broader international agreement down the road. This book, a collaboration between the Peterson Institute for International Economics and the World Resources Institute, tackles these issues through an assessment of the economics and trade flows of key carbon-intensive industries. They evaluate a wide range of policy options, including those that would impose carbon costs on foreign-produced goods at the border (currently included in draft US legislation and under consideration in the EU) in terms of their effectiveness in reducing emissions and addressing competitiveness issues and their impact on health of multilateral trade and climate negotiations.

Assignment: PCA 35 View from the ground floor
Deadline:August 3, 2008
Image Tag: pca35
From: me and them

Mission:
The ground floor... there's nowhere to go but up! This time around shoot whatever you want, but what's important is where your camera is: ground level. Be it the kitchen floor, an open field or hiding underneath a church pew, your perspective is going to be that of a mouse, a fairy, an ant, or anything else similarly relegated to the world of the small. Try to find a subject that is really complemented by your earthly perspective.
For those engineering types in the group who need precision (including yours truly), you don't need to have your camera exactly in contact with the ground. Let's say no more 3 inches from ground to camera base. Get those elbows dirty!

WIT:
It turned out a little more complicated than I intended.

I took several shots at ground level with my telephoto lens and the camera on the ground.

There are several problems with shooting a black dog with a telephoto - the exposure tends to end up with blown out highlights and the depth of field poses problems.

I tried with the face in focus and with the paw in focus and didn't like either.

Then I used photoshop elements and, after making sure that I imported an image that did not have overexposed or underexposed areas, I overlayed the two shots (focused paws and focused face) on top of each other.

I used the quick selection tool to select the focused paw (and inverted that selection) and then deleted everything but the paw and the leg in the vicinity. It needed to be aligned which I did by making the paw-piece semi-transparent and moving it around.

You will notice (I know summerspot will) that there is a bit of a OOF edge around the paw. I left it in there - sort of a faux orton :-) - because I liked it (a realization that came after trying several techniques for getting rid of it :-))

Then I needed to deal with the carpet in the foreground that was very bright in the original. I again used the quick selection tool to select that, used levels to darken only that part and added a gausian blur to the layer to merge the darker with the rest of the photograph with a soft edge. Oh - and the door in the background had a glass pane about the height of the top of the head that I cloned out.... my goodness lots of manipulation this week!

I am fairly pleased with the result (forgive the photoshop elements tutorial - I thought it would be useful to include these details....).

Anne (my wife) says that our dog now looks a lot older than we think of her.... our Midnight Molly is getting gray.

Informal study spaces are located throughout this integrated learning environment. Here techniques such as blended learning are encouraged and promoted as study spaces with PCs are positioned close to book stock. Motion sensitive lighting strips along the top of book shelves illuminate the area. Soft seating is provided for students to take a break from their computers and books. Different bold block colours are used for each of the floors giving each of them their own identity.