GEC3 Seminars & Lecture Series
High-Resolution Climate Projections: Connecting Global Change to Local Impacts
Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming
Fixing the Sky: Historical Perspective on Weather and Climate Control
Abrupt Climate Change: Would We See It Coming Early Enough?
The Human Dimensions of Climate Change: Is it Time to go Deeper?
Implementing Global Warming Mitigation Targets: Cost-efficient Investments and Risks
Connecting the Dots… Adaptation to Climate Change, Biodiversity and Land Use in SE Australia
Healthy People 2100: Health Risks of Climate Change
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High-Resolution Climate Projections: Connecting Global Change to Local Impacts
Dr. Katharine Hayhoe
Department of Geosciences, Texas Tech University
11th March 2011Abstract: Regional climate impact assessments attempt to quantify the impacts of global climate change at the human scale, providing essential input into the development of robust mitigation and adaptation strategies. Such assessments require high-resolution projections of climate change, capable of resolving local factors that modify the impact of global-scale forcing on a given location and system. I will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the statistical and dynamical approaches that have been developed to downscale global climate model simulations, and show how these can be used to assess the potential impacts of climate change on a broad range of systems, from public transportation in Chicago to wine grape quality in California.
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McGill School of Environment, Global Environment and Climate Centre (GEC3) and Situating Science: Science in Human Contexts are proud to present:
Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming
Dr. Naomi Oreskes
10th February 2011
McGill New Residence Ballroom
Naomi Orekes (Ph.D., Standford) is a professor of History and Science Studies and the Provost at University of California, San Diego’s Sixth College. Her research highlights the disconnect between the state of scientific debate and the way it was being presented in the mass media and perceived by the American public.
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Fixing the Sky: Historical Perspective on Weather and Climate Control
Dr. James R. Fleming
Department of Science, Technology and Society, Colby College, Maine
4th November 2010Abstract: This presentation examines the tragicomic history of rainmakers, weather warriors, and climate engineers, arguing that “history matters” in pressing issues of current public policy concern and technical decision-making.
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Abrupt Climate Change: Would We See It Coming Early Enough?
Dr. Klaus Keller
Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, USA
27th March 2009Abstract: Model simulations and the geological record suggest that the Earth System can change abruptly and with little warning time in response to small and smooth forcing. The potential collapse of the North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC) due to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions exemplifies such a climate threshold response. Currently, the MOC sensitivity to anthropogenic forcing is deeply uncertain posing unique challenges to the design of climate risk management strategies. Here we analyze three questions. Would the currently implemented MOC observation system deliver an actionable early warning sign of MOC changes before the system has been committed to a threshold response? How could the MOC observation system be improved to deliver earlier and more precise warning signals? What are economically efficient risk management strategies in the face of uncertainty and learning about climate thresholds? Keller Extended Abstract
Link to Webcast (Media Player required)
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The Human Dimensions of Climate Change: Is it Time to go Deeper?
Dr. Karen O’Brien
Department of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo, Norway
18th February 2009Abstract:The IPCC Fourth Assessment Report presents a sobering picture of climate change impacts and vulnerability to observed and projected changes. It explains the science behind the changes and considers the responses that can be taken both to mitigate the rate and magnitude of change, and to adapt to the changes that are now considered inevitable. If modern science is to be trusted, then society faces overwhelming challenges in the coming decades —challenges that most people find very difficult to grasp. Responding to climate change in a way that successfully prevents or minimizes ecological and social disasters will require societal transformations to occur at a breadth, depth, and speed that is probably unmatched in human history. Climate change does not merely challenge a “business as usual” approach to economic growth and development, it raises fundamental ethical questions, including issues of equity, justice and human security. For academic research to make valuable contributions to bringing about changes in both understanding and policy, there is a need for more innovative approaches, drawing on different disciplines and types of knowledge. In this lecture, I will discuss some of the social challenges of responding to climate change, and explain why it is time for human dimensions research to go much deeper, exploring how culture, values, and worldviews influence systems and behaviors. I will explain why I think an integral approach can help us to better understand and address some of the contradictions and paradoxes that are impeding action towards a sustainable future.
Link to Webcast (Media Player required)
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Implementing Global Warming Mitigation Targets: Cost-efficient Investments and Risks
Dr. Hermann Held
Co-chair Research Domain ‘Sustainable Solutions’
Potsdam Institute for Climate Research (PIK)
13th November 2008Abstract: After the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) released its 4th assessment report in 2007, the international climate debate shifted focus from whether anthropogenically induced global warming exists, to how to implement stringent global warming mitigation targets. Recent estimates produced by climate economics indicate that the early mitigation required to attain the ‘2° target’ (limiting global mean temperature increase to ≤ 2°C compared to pre-industrial levels) currently pursued by the European Union can be achieved at rather low costs. These findings contrast to earlier ‘conventional wisdom’ among economists that mitigation should be postponed by 50 to 100 years to maximise global welfare. This talk presents technology mixes and their costs compatible with a 2° target. Renewable energy sources, energy efficiency and carbon capture & sequestration (CCS) constitute major mitigation options.
I outline the key shifts in investment streams necessary to build-up emission-free capacities, and sketch structural elements of a ‘global deal’ that could mobilise the according investment switches. When designing such a deal, it will be necessary to weigh the impacts avoided through mitigation – such as crossing climate thresholds – against potential impacts induced by mitigation technologies such as CCS. Pursuit of massive deployment of CCS should be controlled by an environmental authority along with bond instruments tradable at the capital market.
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Connecting the Dots… Adaptation to Climate Change, Biodiversity and Land Use in SE Australia
Dr. Ian Mansergh
Department of Sustainability and Environment, Victoria, Australia
30th October 2008Abstract: Climate change is the major novel threatening process affecting biodiversity and ecosystem services of south-eastern Australia in the 21st century. Adaptation encompasses both good science and emerging new societal values. Increasing ecological and socio-economic evidence suggests large-scale land and water-use change will be part of a an appropriate risk management adaptation response. Restoration of effective ecological connectivity (biolinks) can transform some key landscapes from carbon sources to carbon sinks and assist biodiversity to “self adapt” to climate change. New techniques in visualisation can assist the scientific and public debates by defining the historical context of the problem and future landscape options. Bequeathed landscapes will be determined by bio-physical effects of climate change (science) and what “meaning” society imbues into those landscapes that conditions long-term-actions. Adaptation requires good science and incorporation of emerging societal values that supports biodiversity as a driver of a “new sense of place.”
Link to Webcast (Media Player required)
Securing our natural future:
A white paper for land and biodiversity at a time of climate changePublished by the State of Victoria, Australia available here
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Healthy People 2100: Health Risks of Climate Change
Dr. Kristie Ebi
Lead Author: IPCC Human Health Chapter, Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, WHO: Methods of Assessing Human Health Vulnerability and Public Health Adaptation to Climate Change
11th September 2008Abstract: Weather and climate are among the factors that determine the geographic range and incidence of several major causes of ill health, including undernutrition, diarrheal diseases, and malaria. Climate change has begun to negatively affect human health; projected climate change will increase the risks of climate-sensitive health outcomes, particularly in lower-income populations, predominantly within tropical/subtropical countries. The cause-and-effect chain from climate change to changing patterns of health determinants and outcomes is complex and includes socioeconomic, institutional, and other factors. The severity of future impacts will be determined by changes in climate as well as by concurrent changes in nonclimatic factors and by the adaptation measures implemented to reduce negative impacts. Public health has a long history of effectively intervening to reduce risks to the health of individuals and communities. Lessons learned from more than 150 years of research and intervention can provide insights to guide the design and implementation of effective and efficient interventions to reduce the current and projected impacts of climate variability and change.
Link to the Webcast (coming up soon!)
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)