According to NASA and NOAA, 2015 was the hottest year on record. While some still argue about whether climate change is real, most scientists agree that it is and are studying its effects and ways to slow or reverse the damage.
MU’s 12th Annual Life Sciences & Society Symposium, held March 12 and 17-19, 2016, addresses the complex and controversial topic of how we should confront climate change by gathering seven expert speakers in search of answers to a few key questions. How and why is climate change happening? What are its consequences likely to be for weather, agriculture, health and society? And what can and should be done – in terms of energy, technology and policy – to mitigate it? All events are free and open to the public. See the full schedule and event locations at the symposium’s website.
Featured speakers include Richard Alley (Saturday, March 12, 10:30 a.m.), a professor at The Pennsylvania State University, an environmental scientist, author and one of the contributors to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. He hosted the recent PBS miniseries “Earth: The Operators’ Manual,” (the companion book is available for check-out from DBRL) and has been called a cross between Woody Allen and Carl Sagan for his enthusiastic efforts to communicate the excitement and importance of science to everyone.
Wes Jackson, the founder and president of The Land Institute, will speak about natural systems agriculture (Saturday, March 19, 9:00 a.m.). He was a Pew Conservation Scholar in 1990, a MacArthur Fellow in 1992 and received the Right Livelihood Award in 2000. His books include, “Consulting the Genius of the Place: An Ecological Approach to A New Agriculture” and “Nature as Measure,” a collection of essays.
Naomi Oreskes is a professor at Harvard University, as well as a respected essayist and author. Her 2010 book, “Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco to Global Warming,” co-authored with Erik M. Conway, was shortlisted for the Los Angeles Time Book Prize and received the 2011 Watson-Davis Prize from the History of Science Society. She’ll be speaking about climate change denial on Saturday, March 19 at 3:30 p.m. You can be super prepared for her talk by making time on Monday, March 14 to see a 5:30 p.m. screening of “Merchants of Doubt” at Ragtag Cinema. This documentary film is inspired by Oreskes’ book and will be followed by a discussion with Mike Urban (MU Department of Geography) and Sara Shipley Hiles (MU School of Journalism).
For additional reading on climate change, its causes and what we can do about it, check out these books in our catalog.
