Mary Friedman, MSc Student in Environmental Policy and Management at University of Denver
Asheville, NC 28806
January 17, 2022
Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) 3100 Clarendon Boulevard, Suite 800
Arlington, Virginia 22201
To: Mahmoud Abouelnaga, C2ES Solutions Fellow
The purpose of this letter is to request permission to research how Software as a Service (Saas) can be used to tackle global climate change on behalf of C2ES.
According to the Journal of Frontiers in Environmental Science, there is unanswered demand for broad integrative analyses given the large amounts of diverse data related to global climate change. SaaS, according to the Computer Security Resource Center within the United States Department of Commerce, is defined as the capability to access applications running on cloud infrastructure from various client devices without using a server. According to the Journal of Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, the major data challenges in climate science can be addressed by cloud computing as it lowers the barriers to risk and organizational change, fosters innovation and experimentation, facilitates technology transfer, provides the agility required to meet increasing and changing needs, and crucially increases the capacity to engage communities in the construction of new capabilities.
All the best,
Mary
References:
Computer Security Resource Center. “Software as a Service (SaaS)”. National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Sebestyén Victor, Timea Czvetkó and Janos Abonyi. 2021. “The Applicability of Big Data in Climate Change Research: The Importance of System of Systems Thinking”. Frontiers in Environmental Science. Volume 9.
Schnase, John, Daniel Duffy, Glenn Tamkin, Denis Nadeau, John Thompson, Cristina Grieg, Mark McInerney, William Webster. 2017. “MERRA Analytical Services: Meeting the Big Data Challenges of Climate Science Through Cloud-Enabled Climate Analytics-as-a-Service”. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems. 61: 198-211.
Comment by Danette Jewell:
Hi Mary,
Who is the writer’s audience?
The audience is the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES)
What is the issue/question the writer is presenting?
The issue being presented is that there is a demand for a broad integrative analysis of climate data that is not able to be met because most climate data is on individual servers instead of using cloud computing. The question being presented is permission to research how Software as a Service (Saas) can be used to track global climate change on behalf of C2ES.
How will the writer propose a solution that will convince an audience the issue/question is valid and important?
Data is used from the Journal of Frontiers in Environmental Science, the U.S. Department of Ccommerce, and the Journal of Computers, Environment and Urban Centers to convince the audience that the current methods for tracking climate change can be improved. She also introduces benefits that can occur from cloud computing such as fostering innovation and facilitating technology transfer.
Additional Feedback
Mary, I thought you did a great job with your permission memo. You kept it brief and also included enough information to build a good argument for why the technology is necessary to improve data on climate change. I liked that you also used different journals and the Department of Commerce to back up your argument. As someone that doesn’t have the best understanding of technology, I struggled a little with figuring out how this software would work, but I am definitely not your target audience. I imagine that folks at C2ES would have a pretty good understanding of how cloud computing would work with climate data. Great job!
My Comment:
Hi Danette,
Thanks so much for all of the feedback!
I decided to add the publication years after my in-text references to the journals and U.S. Department of Commerce. Since the articles and info are both from within the past five years, then doing so will only enhance my ethos and also more closely follow the Turabian Author-Date citation style.
I’m glad you brought up the understanding of SaaS because the folks at C2ES may actually need more clarification too. A lot of the solutions mentioned on the C2ES website discuss technology related to renewable energy or corporate action but not anything about the cloud. I included the definition of SaaS to help the audience with the understanding the technology because I figured it would be a tough aspect of my topic but think that if I draw a more explicit connection to how SaaS is related to my solution then it will strengthen my permission memo’s argument a bunch.
Comment by Amanda Hughes:
Hi Mary,
Who is the writer’s audience?
While the broader audience is the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, I appreciated that you addressed the memo to one specific person, Mahmoud Abouelnaga.
What is the issue/question the writer is presenting?
Utilizing Saas to tackle global climate change.
How will the writer propose a solution that will convince an audience the issue/question is valid and important?
You did a nice job of highlighting the challenges of climate change that can be addressed with cloud computing. You pulled out specific elements that are relevant and researchable to provide evidence and support.
One piece of advice I have is to include more data or numbers. Talk about the large amounts of data with numbers or examples of the diverse types of metrics. I can only imagine the large scale of these two examples, but bringing numbers to the table tends to create a better picture.
My Comment:
Hi Amanda,
Great feedback to include more data or numbers as a way to make my argument even more convincing. Now that I see we do not have to make the permission memo be in a letter format, I will have more space to include the statistic-based support. Thanks for the specific suggestions to talk about the large amounts of data or examples of diverse types of metrics. I very well may be able to find it in the articles I already included in the memo thus far.
All the best,
Mary