The Second Cold War Observatory2 Mar 2024

US-Soviet Scientific Cooperation & Implications for Environmental Politics Today with Dr. Vladimir Jankovic

In this episode, we look to history to consider areas of potential areas for US-China environmental politics and cooperation today. Dr. Vladimir Jankovic discussed US-Soviet scientific cooperation in the 1980s, early climate cooperation, and the 1989 Sundance Symposium on Global Climate Change dubbed ''greenhouse glasnost'' by its sponsors. What are the legacies of this conference and partnership, and how did they move the needle on our understanding of climate change? What happened after the collapse of the USSR? What were the lasting impacts on the scientific field, and what might be the implications for climate and environmental (geo)politics today?

Dr. Vladimir Jankovic is a historian of atmospheric sciences who writes on the cultural history of meteorology, medical environmentalism, and contemporary urban climatology in relation to urban design. His research focuses on scientific, cultural, and social engagement with weather and climate since the 1700s. He is currently president of the International Commission for the History of Meteorology and a Reader in History of Science and Atmospheric Humanities at the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine (CHSTM), University of Manchester.

In 2005, he was featured on Storms of War, the Discovery Channel’s five-episode documentary on warfare and the weather. He is the author of Reading the Skies (Chicago, 2000), Confronting the Climate (New York, 2010), Intimate Universality (with Fleming and Cohen, 2005), Weather Local Knowledge and Everyday Life (with Barbosa, 2009), and Klima (with Fleming, Chicago, 2011).

Links and resources from the episode:

US and China agree to boost green energy in climate action ‘gesture’ in The Financial Times
The Aspen Institute
Greenhouse Glasnost: The Crisis of Global Warming by Terrel Minger (1990)
Ross, Andrew. 1991. Is global culture warming up? Social Text.
1989 New York Times article: "Summit of Sorts on Global Warming"
The book
Reading the Skies A Cultural History of English Weather, 1650-1820 by Vladimir Jankovic (2001)

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