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

建立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，大部分的政治焦点都是在美国建立一个国家气候计划，以及与国际气候变化协议协调这种努力的可能性。然而，在过去的几年里，地方和地区政府已经开始实施气候变化项目，这些项目不是由联邦政府制定或授权的。然而，人们对这些地方项目及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、市级气候变化项目的出现，更具体地说，考察了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（U.S. Conference of Mayors）批准该法案以来，已有750多个美国城市签署了该法案，这些城市的人口总数超过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、通过促进能源效率的城市条例以及开展环境恢复项目来减少温室气体排放。通过深入的案例研究，包括访谈、焦点小组和在西雅图、华盛顿的观察，以及对所有参与MCPA的城市的多城市调查，本研究探讨了：1)美国地方气候项目是如何以及为什么出现的，对全球气候治理有什么影响；2)城市气候治理系统如何以及为什么涉及环境问题，这些问题通常被描述为在其范围上更具全球性；3)如何建立和维护与MCPA的发展和传播相关的人员和信息网络。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解决气候变化的原因以及可能在其社区中感受到的潜在影响。这篇博士论文的研究结果将加深当前对地方和区域政府在气候治理中所起作用的理解，以及人们理解地方和全球尺度的物理系统和政治过程之间关系的方式。气候治理的地理变化，包括MCPA等项目的出现，已经提出了重大的社会、政治和生态问题，涉及全球气候变化能够和应该在最有效的政治尺度上得到解决。该项目将通过撰写学术和政策论文，以及参加气候治理相关组织的专业会议，为这些政策辩论做出贡献。这些外联工作将包括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.