 |
|---|
Monday, October 18
1:15 PM, Student Union Ballroom, Student Union
Climate Change
Profiles in Paralysis
Why Our Political Institutions and Leaders Won't Protect Us from Climate Change, and How We Can Make Them
Kevin Knobloch
President, Union of Concerned Scientists
Kevin Knobloch, President, Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and a UMass Amherst Alumnus, will discuss the failure (largely) of the American political system to address the looming catastrophe of climate change, even though it is in our economic, national security, ecological and health interests to lead the world in driving down greenhouse gas emissions and aggressively transitioning to a clean energy economy. The UCS and the national environmental community have just completed an unprecedented national two-year campaign to convince the US Congress and the President to enact a comprehensive policy to cap and reduce global warming pollution, only to fall short of this goal. Similarly, the once promising international negotiations to establish a post-Kyoto treaty are in shambles. According to Knobloch, “We are paralyzed even as the dangerous impacts of climate change are being documented by scientists to an unprecedented degree.” He will discuss this situation and will explain how the national environmental community is strategizing to still achieve the goal -- the swift and deep reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from every sector and source -- in the absence of a clear and bold national policy.
Kevin Knobloch brings 32 years of experience in public policy, government, advocacy and media to his position as leader of the Union of Concerned Scientists where he oversees programs and operations. He recently served as chair of the Green Group, a coalition of the CEOs of 32 national environmental organizations, and currently serves as co-chair of the Green Group Climate and Energy Committee. Knobloch has also worked as a Congressional legislative aid for U.S. Senator Tim Wirth (D-CO) and Representative Ted Weiss (D-NY). He received a Master's Degree in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a Bachelor's degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he concentrated in English and Journalism.
Co-Host: Political Science
Tuesday, October 26
4:00 PM, Bowker Auditorium
Weaving American Indian Perspectives into the Study of Weather and Climate
Kevin Kloesel
Associate Dean for Public Service and Outreach, College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences and Associate Professor of Meteorology, University of Oklahoma
Dr. Kevin Kloesel will present the public lecture he was invited to give as part of the National Academy of Sciences Distinctive Voices Series. Distinctive Voices highlights innovations, discoveries, and emerging issues in an exciting and engaging public forum. Distinctive Voices@The Beckman Center was created in 2006 as a program of the National Academy of Sciences Communication Initiative to increase science literacy in the local community. Western science has always given western scientists the credit for many of the foundational discoveries in weather and climate. However, careful study of Native American tribal art and oral histories suggests that a native science perspective may hold the keys to understanding the complexities of our earth atmosphere system. Using western science and ethno-science perspectives, this presentation will highlight the multicultural integration of past observations with present technological capabilities to give you a glimpse of weather and climate that you have likely never seen before.
Kloesel is a lead investigator of an NSF funded Diversity in Geosciences Project to build a pipeline for Native American students at the University of Oklahoma School of Geology and Geophysics. This project has built strong collaborations between the U. of Oklahoma, Oklahoma's tribal colleges, the Oklahoma tribal community, and the American Indian Math and Science Society (AIMSS). As part of this effort, Kloesel has helped develop a widely popular class for freshman entitled Earth Systems of the Southern Plains. The purpose of this course is for students to become familiar with the interactive earth systems of the Southern Plains, which includes geology, geography, and meteorology. This is done through incorporating Native American art and oral history with western science. Students learn about the hydrologic, tectonic, and rock cycles and how they help to shape the Southern Plains.
Kevin Kloesel is the Associate Dean for Public Service and Outreach, College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences, and an Associate Professor of Meteorology at the University of Oklahoma. His research focuses primarily on how the public perceives and uses weather and climate information to make decisions. His activities include training emergency managers, law enforcement officials, school personnel, electric utilities, tribal governments, and policy makers on how to interpret complex datasets in advance of weather hazards. He is also a collaborator with NOAA in implementing the visitor programs at the National Weather Center in Norman, OK. His degrees include a B.S. in Engineering Science, University of Texas at Austin, 1984 M.S. and Ph.D. in 1990, Meteorology, Pennsylvania State University.
Co-Hosts: Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere, STEM Education Institute
Wednesday, December 1
12:00 PM, 105 HIlls North, Procopio Room
Soft Infrastructure
Catherine Seavitt
Principal, Catherine Seavitt Studio and Faculty, Princeton University School of Architecture
Catherine Seavitt will discuss the Palisade Bay Project, a proposed adaptive transformation of the Upper Bay of New York Harbor in the face of climate change and global sea level rise. This collaborative research imagines a “soft infrastructure” for the Upper Bay, rethinking thresholds of water, land, and city, and challenging the “hard” infrastructure of storm surge barrier solutions to flooding. “Soft infrastructure” strategies work to alternatively buffer or absorb flooding, while also creating a new destination on the water. The work, published in the book On the Water: Palisade Bay (Hatje Cantz, 2010) is the result of a two-year research project funded by The Latrobe Prize, a biennial research grant awarded by the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects for collaborative research. This work served as the inspiration for the workshop and exhibition “Rising Currents: Projects for New York’s Waterfront,” which opened at the Museum of Modern Art in March 2010, and is currently on exhibit as part of the U. S. Pavilion exhibition Workshopping: An American Model of Architectural Practice at the 2010 Biennale di Architettura in Venice, Italy.
Catherine Seavitt is principal of Catherine Seavitt Studio in New York. She is a graduate of The Cooper Union, where she received a Bachelor of Architecture, and Princeton University, where she received a Master’s of Architecture. She also holds a degree in Landscape Architecture from the City College of New York. She is a registered architect in New York State and a LEED accredited professional. Seavitt received the Rome Prize in Architecture from the American Academy in Rome, 1997-98, and was a Fulbright Fellow in Brazil, 2001-02. She currently teaches architectural design at Princeton University and landscape architecture design at the City College of New York. She has also taught at Harvard University, The Cooper Union, University of Virginia, and Parsons School of Design. Seavitt is completing a book on the public gardens of Roberto Burle Marx in Brazil and Venezuela, studying issues of pattern, scale, and the modernist landscape.
Co-Host: Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning