UH panel will fight greenhouse gases

A 15-member group of scientists and environmental experts will begin working next month on ways the University of Hawaii and the whole state can reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming, the panel's chairman said.

The Manoa Climate Change Commission will consider ideas such as whether the Manoa campus could reduce carbon emissions enough to be rewarded under a carbon trading system, said Lorenz Magaard, who will serve as chairman of a group named this week by interim Manoa Chancellor Denise Konan.

The group might also look at introducing new courses into the UH curriculum, better educating the general public and conducting research about climate change, Magaard said.

Magaard has headed the International Center for Climate Change and Society at UH since 2003.

The first meeting of the group is expected in early March. Magaard said he expects subcommittees of the group to focus on different issues and that the panel would continue "indefinitely."

Other members of the commission include:

» Denise Antolini, director of the UH environmental law program and professor of environmental law, William S. Richardson School of Law.
» Roger Babcock, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering.
» Makena Coffman, graduate student in economics.
» Gordon Grau, Sea Grant College Program director.
» David Karl, oceanography professor.
» Kim Kido, engineering undergraduate student.
» Stephen Meder, Center for Smart Building and Community Design director.
» Peter Mouginis-Mark, Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology interim director.
» Richard Rocheleau, Hawaii Natural Energy Institute director.
» James Roumasset, economics professor.
» Thomas Schroeder, Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research director.
» Kapua Sproat, Environmental Law Program acting director.
» Terrence Surles, Hawaii Natural Energy Institute researcher.
» Mary Tiles, chairwoman of the UH-Manoa Sustainability Council.