Message from John Topping to Bob Bartles:

>>> 3/1/2007 12:53 PM >>>

Thanks, Bob. My apologies about my delay in getting back to you. I have been immersed in follow-up after an out of this world (almost literally as well as figuratively) 12 1/2 days in Mexico, regrettably none playing tourist. I am also copying some others of our crew as some of these developments might link to our Class Project.

John Topping and Mexican colleague Luis Roberto Acosta

Although the Ambulante documentary film festival paid my way to be a panelist following screenings of the Spanish subtitle versions of An Inconvenient Truth, these screenings, while they drew capacity crowds at two universities, were only a small part of the trip. Our planned observatories, one at 15,000 feet next to Mexico's soon to be opened radio telescope that will reach out 13 billion light years, generated huge excitement and national pride. (My theme was Mayan astronomers were quite advanced while Europe was in the Dark Ages, Mexico now has a chance to leap to the forefront in astronomy and climate science, also in climate solutions, smart architecture and building practices , good urban transportation planning, etc). Together with my remarkable Mexican colleague, Luis Roberto Acosta, I was interviewed by Playboy Mexico, two of the leading dailies, Mexico's equivalent of Popular Science, a leading women's magazine, a leading business magazine, and one of the two biggest tv stations. Our interviews will be the lead story on a two hour Sunday evening tv newsmagazine this weekend.

We signed an agreement with the astrophysics and optics agency to locate a climate observatory next to their super telescope. We have a green light from them and the Natural Protected Areas Commission(our two sites are both within national parks-they have little background pollution and are ideal for greenhouse measurements) - to begin construction of our platform that will house the instruments as soon as we want. We already have lined up a million dollars of instruments from NOAA and NASA and a server and some terminals from Sun Microsystems. We are seeking to nail down $250,000 for Construction- the platform can be in place within about 10 weeks of our having funding as architectural plans are ready. Two Mexican foundations are possible partial funders and we are working with a Los Angeles based Spanish language talk show host with a national audience of about 3 million to raise funds for Latin American climate efforts through a radiothon and musical concerts. Next year we hope to have funds to open a sea level climate observatory in a bioreserve in Quintana Roo, south of Cancun. (We already have the instruments for this as well).

The two Mexican observatories not only fill a gap in the global greenhouse gas measuring network, they also may provide a better handle on our vulnerability to Atlantic hurricanes. Scientists have recently discovered a negative correlation between dust from Africa and the formation of Atlantic hurricanes. It isn't clear whether this is due to the interaction of the dust with clouds or whether the meteorological conditions in Africa that propel dust across the Atlantic are negatively associated with broader forces that are conducive to hurricane formation.. Both 2005 and 2006 had warm South Atlantic sea surface temperatures conducive to hurricane formation. 2005 was a disastrous hurricane year, 2006 was relatively quiet but one where there was a huge amount of African dust. NASA is providing the instruments that will measure aerosols (dust). Our Observatories will, we believe, give the world a better grasp of dust transport and perhaps more of a heads up for a bad or good hurricane season.

There might be a real chance for a Dartmouth link with the Observatories (already Oliver Bernstein, Dartmouth 2003, served on a Reynolds for nearly a year with Ro Acosta in the planning of this effort).

Several other opportunities opened, some of which might be of interest to Dartmouth:

1) CICEANA, the national awareness campaign set up following approval of NAFTA, has asked the Climate Institute to partner in a climate awareness campaign; as part of this we plan over the next six months to put most of www.climate.org in Spanish as well as English.

2) We have been asked by Martha Delgado, Secretary of the Environment in Mexico City, to work with Mexico City in strengthening its climate action plan; she has offered a building of about 3,000 square feet in area in the natural history museum for a climate awareness series of exhibits. The Museum will seek funding from the Mexican National Congress for this and other efforts to revamp the natural history museum.

3) A more immediate opportunity may occur at the Papalote children's museum, a blend of Disneyland and a science park, where we have been asked to take over an environment house and make climate protection a lead theme.

4) We have located a Site for offices for ourselves and our Mexican counterpart that will be accessible by subway and bus to students from UNAM,(a university with 120,000 students), and by foot from the national technical university. We could regularly host a Rocky Center or Dickey Center intern here. We hope to make this 50s era former home, about 4,000 square feet, a zero net energy home with a botanical roof garden.

There are two other possible opportunities that may be of interest to Dartmouth.

1) Clean energy in the Marshall Islands. Some of you may have seen my pitch for this in the Alumni Magazine Interview. For several years the Education Department has sent students to the Marshalls to teach English in the Elementary Schools. The Marshalls has decided to become the first Pacific island nation to move aggressively toward clean energy. The Climate Institute has arranged through Climate Care, an Oxford-based carbon offset group, to ship 10,000 compact fluorescents to the Marshalls to replace incandescents on the two main islands. It would be great if Dartmouth and Dartmouth alums could help finance small solar systems on some non-electrified outer islands. A Campus Climate Challenge has been in touch with President Wright about Dartmouth's signing up to move toward carbon neutrality-about seventy colleges and universities including Penn and Cornell have signed on. I would hope Dartmouth would do so, not only would this be good for the Environment, it would be very helpful in a competitive environment for bright high school seniors. Dartmouth might reap additional benefits over other schools by focusing its offset efforts in the Marshalls as an adjunct to an ongoing program. The Marshalls are especially compelling- the site of US H-Bomb testing in the 50s, they are one of the half dozen countries most vulnerable to climate change.

2) Linking with Tribal Colleges. Last night at A UN Foundation gathering for release of a major report on climate change I had a chance to speak with Nancy Maynard, a top NASA scientist and program administrator. Nancy has recently assumed responsibility for NASA's work with tribal Colleges around the United States. Nancy would welcome the possibility of setting up mentoring arrangements involving Dartmouth Students, both Native Americans and others, with Students in the tribal colleges. This could encompass a wide number of areas including the environment. This might be a way of Dartmouth in the modern era, using Internet technology, etc. of fulfiling some of Eleazar Wheelock's initial vision. I will be in touch with Karen Liot Hill about this.