Doctoral Dissertation Research: From Nations to Networks: Global Climate Change and Local Climate Governance in the U.S.

制定和实施有效的气候变化法规是整个美国激烈辩论的主题。 传统上，大部分政治焦点都集中在美国建立国家气候计划上，沿着的是将这些努力与国际气候变化协定协调起来的可能性。 然而，在过去的几年里，地方和地区政府已经开始实施并非由联邦政府创建或授权的气候变化计划。 然而，人们对这些次国家级项目或其潜在的政治和生态影响知之甚少。 因此，本研究考察了美国次国家级、以社区为基础的气候变化项目的出现，更具体地说，是美国市长气候保护协议（MCPA）的创建和实施。 自2005年6月美国市长会议批准以来，已有750多个美国城市签署了MCPA，这些城市的总人口超过7500万。参与MCPA的社区承诺通过实施减少扩张的土地使用政策，通过城市法令以提高能源效率，并开展环境恢复项目来减少温室气体排放。 本研究通过在西雅图、华盛顿的访谈、焦点小组和观察等深入的案例研究，以及对所有参与MCPA城市的多城市调查，考察了：1）美国地方气候项目是如何以及为什么出现的，以及对全球气候治理的影响; 2）城市气候治理系统如何以及为什么参与通常被描述为更具全球性的环境问题;以及3）如何创建和维护参与MCPA开发和传播的人员和信息网络。 这项研究的另一个重要成果将包括更深入地分析城市如何应对气候变化的原因以及可能对其社区产生的影响。这篇博士论文的研究结果将加深目前对地方和区域政府在气候治理中所扮演的角色的理解，以及人们如何理解物理系统和政治过程的地方和全球尺度之间的关系。 不断变化的气候治理地理位置，包括像MCPA这样的项目的出现，已经提出了重大的社会，政治和生态问题，即全球气候变化可以并且应该得到解决的最有效的政治规模。 该项目将通过撰写学术和政策文件以及参加参与气候治理的组织的专业会议，为这些政策辩论做出贡献。 这些外联工作将吸收学术界内外的个人和组织，通过广泛传播项目成果，促进公共政策机构和科学研究中心之间的进一步合作。

Creating and implementing effective climate change regulation is the subject of intense debate throughout the United States. Traditionally, much of the political focus has been upon the creation of a national climate program in the U.S., along with the possibility of coordinating such efforts with an international climate change agreement. During the past several years, however, local and regional governments have begun implementing climate change programs that have not been created or mandated by the federal government. Yet, little is known about these sub-national programs or their potential political and ecological effects. As a result, this research examines the emergence of sub-national, municipally-based climate change programs in the U.S., and more specifically, the creation and implementation of the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement (MCPA). In the time since it was endorsed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors in June 2005, more than 750 U.S. cities whose combined populations include more than 75 million U.S. citizens, have signed on to the MCPA. Participating MCPA communities pledge to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by implementing land use policies that reduce sprawl, passing city ordinances to promote energy efficiency, and undertaking environmental restoration projects. Using an in-depth case study involving interviews, focus groups, and observation in Seattle, Washington and a multi-city survey of all participating MCPA cities, this research examines: 1) how and why local climate programs have emerged in the U.S. and with what implications for global climate governance; 2) how and why municipal systems of climate governance engage environmental issues that are often described as more global in their extent; and 3) how the networks of people and information involved in the development and spread of the MCPA are created and maintained. Another important outcome of this research will include a more in-depth analysis of how cities are addressing the causes of climate change and the potential impacts that may be felt in their communities. The results of this doctoral dissertation research will deepen current understandings of the role that local and regional governments play in climate governance, as well as the ways that people come to understand the relationships between local and global scales of physical systems and political processes. Changing geographies of climate governance, including the emergence of programs like the MCPA, have raised significant social, political, and ecological questions regarding the most effective political scale at which global climate change can and should be addressed. This project will contribute to these policy debates through the writing of academic and policy papers, as well as participation in professional conferences of organizations involved in climate governance. These outreach efforts will incorporate individuals and organizations both inside and outside of academia to facilitate further collaboration between public policy institutions and scientific research centers through wide dissemination of project results.