News
General Interest
Five ISPE faculty members take on the topic of global climate change during lecture series
October 6, 2006
By Stephanie Doster
Global Climate Change lecture series logo.
Seven UA researchers -including five faculty members affiliated with the Institute for the Study of Planet Earth (ISPE)-will discuss the "major environmental challenge" of this century in the upcoming lecture series, Global Climate Change.
Beginning on Tuesday, October 17, the researchers will address a variety of climate change issues during the series presented by the UA College of Science. The climate theme reflects the growing consensus among researchers that a global warming trend is tied to increasing levels of industrial heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere. Significant shifts in climate can influence and change the way we live; now, researchers say, is the time to act.
"This lecture series is designed to give the public the very best scientific basis for understanding what is THE major environmental challenge of the twenty-first century," said Jonathan Overpeck, ISPE director and a geosciences professor who will present one of the lectures. "I hope the lecture series will help people in the public understand that the global warming problem is very real, that humans are causing it, and that there are solutions ready to be tapped that won't kill our economy."
Scientists point to rising global temperatures and sea levels, shifting plant and animal ranges, retreating glaciers and arctic sea ice, and increasing acidity in the oceans as evidence that the Earth's climate is changing. But discussion of these changes and their effects won't make the lecture series "a doom and gloom exercise," said Travis Huxman, a UA assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology.
"If we ever want to change our behavior and reverse the patterns of global change, then we have to start soon," said Huxman, another lecturer and ISPE faculty member. "We'll point out that there are simple fixes that are win-win."
Other ISPE faculty who are presenting lectures are Andrew Comrie, dean of the Graduate College and professor of geography and regional development; Malcolm Hughes, professor of dendrochronology; and Julia Cole, associate professor of geosciences. Roger Angel, Regents' Professor of Astronomy, and Paul Portney, dean of the Eller College of Management and professor of economics, also are presenters.
The climate series comprises the second Theme Semester presented by the UA College of Science. The first series, on evolution, debuted during the 2006 spring semester. Those lectures proved so popular they had to be moved to a larger venue. Huxman said that series helped people better understand what evolution is and isn't, and hopes the upcoming series will do the same for climate change.
"We want to talk about what contributes to climate change and what doesn't," Huxman said. "Every time it's hot the media says it's global warming. That's partially right and partially wrong."
All lectures begin at 7 pm at UA Centennial Hall and are free and open to the public. For more information, call 520-621-4090 or visit http://cos.arizona.edu/climate/.