North Raleigh Times

In light of a recent report issued by many of the world’s top scientists concluding that global warming is a almost certainly a human-made problem that must be addressed immediately, North Carolina State University will host a symposium on global climate change from Monday, Feb. 26, to Wednesday, Feb. 28.

The three-day event, titled “Global Climate Change: Interdisciplinary Responses,” is free and open to the pubic. The complete schedule, along with speaker biographies and discussion topics, is available at www.chass.ncsu.edu/chass/global_warming.

Elizabeth Kolbert

Elizabeth Kolbert, staff writer for The New Yorker and author of the book, Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change, will kick off the symposium with a keynote address at 7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 26, at 7 p.m. in NC State’s Campus Cinema, located in Witherspoon Student Center. Kolbert will share her experiences in reporting and writing Field Notes from a Catastrophe. The book chronicles Kolbert’s global travels from Alaska to Iceland to the Netherlands as well as her conversations with scientists and politicians in an attempt to get at the heart of the debate over global warming.

In addition to Kolbert, other leading authorities on global climate change from a variety of disciplines will share insights and address various aspects of the issue over the course of the symposium. On Tuesday, Feb. 27, Dr. Rick Kearney, director of NC State’s School of Public and International Affairs, will moderate a panel discussion that will address the social, political and economic issues related to the impact of climate change in various world regions. The panel includes Elizabeth Bast, international policy analyst for Friends of the Earth in Washington, D.C.; Dr. Andrew Jorgenson, assistant professor of sociology at Washington State University; and Dr. Chris Russill, assistant professor of rhetoric at the University of Minnesota. The panel begins at 4 p.m. in NC State’s Talley Student Center Ballroom. An NC State Arts Now Series concert – which will include compositions inspired by environmental concerns – will follow the panel at 7 p.m. Composers include J. Mark Scearce and Rodney Waschka of NC State, and Thomas Clark of the North Carolina School of the Arts.

On Wednesday, Feb. 28, Dr. David Archer, professor of geophysical sciences at the University of Chicago, will lead a panel along with faculty members from NC State’s Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences on understanding the science behind global warming. Archer will make a presentation that involves humor, understandable examples and analogies to convey key global warming concepts. NC State faculty members who are participating include: Drs. Anantha R. Aiyyer, David J. DeMaster, Daniel L. Kamykowski, Nicholas Meskhidze and Yang Zhang. The panel begins at 3 p.m in Witherspoon Cinema.

NC State’s “Global Climate Change” symposium comes just weeks after the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report that concluded that global warming has begun, resulting in higher temperatures and increases in sea levels. The panel also concluded that global climate change is “very likely” a problem created by humans, and that the problem “would continue for centuries.” The report warned that immediate action must be taken to prevent harmful consequences.

The three-day symposium is sponsored by a number of departments and programs within NC State’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences and College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences.