Colorado State University Takes a Close Look at Climate Change Solutions Feb. 4-5

What can students, concerned citizens, researchers and policy makers do about global climate change? On Feb. 4-5, Colorado State University will address this and related questions in a two-day series of presentations by 30 speakers. All events will be held in Colorado State’s Lory Student Center and are free and open to the public.

As an outgrowth of last year’s Focus the Nation event, this year’s "What We Can Do About Climate Change" event has the goal of helping students and members of the community to become informed citizens and leaders in what is one of the greatest challenges in the world today.

"This year, we have shifted our focus from understanding the problem to thinking about what we can do about it," said John Calderazzo, CSU English professor and co-director of the event. "We’ll also hear about the latest and most exciting research being developed here at CSU and beyond."

Subjects of individual sessions include the connections between climate change and art, rangelands, local and national policy, effective communication, adaptation strategies and ongoing work at CSU to develop clean energy and better understand ecosystem effects of climate change. One workshop will focus on how to calculate and shrink a household carbon footprint.

Featured speakers include representatives from the Presidential Climate Action Plan; Rocky Mountain Climate Organization; Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment; and CSU’s nationally renowned Department of Atmospheric Science.

"It’s time for all of us to get past feeling overwhelmed by the problem of climate disruption and get to work on it.  There are lots of things we can do, and these talks will point us to some of them," said SueEllen Campbell, co-director of the event and CSU English professor. This event is organized by Changing Climates @ CSU, which Campbell and Calderazzo direct.

Atmospheric Science Professor Scott Denning is delivering the keynote presentation, "Solutions to the Climate/Energy Problem," at 7 p.m. Feb. 5 in the Lory Student Center North Ballroom.

For more information, visit http://changingclimates.colostate.edu or call John Calderazzo at (970) 491-6896.

The complete schedule of events is listed below.

Feb. 4, 2009

10 a.m.

LSC Room 228: "Toward a Carbon-Neutral Campus," presented by Carol Dollard and Sheela Backen, CSU Facilities Management.

LSC Room 224-226: "3-D Earth: Our Planet through Space and Time," presented by Andrew Warnock, CSU Center for Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education.

11 a.m.

LSC Room 228: "Cool Art in the Hot Zone: Artists Respond to Climate Change," presented by Lynne Hull, Fort Collins environmental artist.

LSC Room 224-226: "Mapping the Air: What We’re Doing with Climate Modeling at CSU," presented by Ian Baker, CSU Atmospheric Science.

Noon

LSC Room 228: "The 2-Week Obama Report Card and 100-Day Presidential Climate Action Plan," presented by TBD speaker.

1 p.m.

LSC Room 228: "Developing Climates: How will Africa Fare?" presented by Lara Prihodko and Niall Hanan, CSU Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory.

LSC Room 230: "Ethical Solutions to Climate Change," presented by Phil Cafaro, CSU Philosophy.

2 p.m.

LSC Room 228: "Heated Words: How We Talk About Climate Change," presented by Martin Carcasson, CSU Communication Studies, and Jessica Thompson, CSU Human Dimensions of Natural Resources.

LSC Room 230: "Get in the Know: Finding Information on the Science and Business of Climate Change," presented by Allison level and Louise Feldmann, CSU Libraries.

3 p.m.

LSC Room 228: Featured speaker, "The Climate of Home: What’s Happening in Colorado and the Southwest," presented by Tom Easley, director of programs at Rocky Mountain Climate Organization.

Feb. 5, 2009

9:30 a.m.

LSC Room 228: "Climate Change and Rangelands: Implications, Adaptations, and Opportunities," presented by Jack Morgan, USDA-ARS; Cini Brown, CSU Bioagricultural Sciences and Pest Management; Julia Klein, CSU Forest, Rangeland and Watershed Stewardship; Marshall Frasier, CSU Agriculture and Resource Economics; and Meena Balgopal, CSU Education.

11 a.m.

LSC Room 228: "Earth, Wind and Fire: Finding Alternative Energy at CSU," presented by Andrew Warnock, chief of staff of CSU Clean Energy Supercluster.

LSC Room 230: "A Community Climate Challenge," presented by political science students and Michele Betsill, CSU Political Science, and Lucinda Smith from the city of Fort Collins.

12:30 p.m.

LSC Room 228: Featured speaker, "The National Scene: Impacts, Mitigation, Adaptation," presented by Dennis Ojima, CSU Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory and the Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment.

2 p.m.

LSC Room 228: "The Joys of Carbon Dieting: Workshop," presented by Mark Easter, CSU Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory.

3:30 p.m.

LSC Room 228: "Looking for Answers: Ecosystems Research at CSU," presented by Jill Baron, Matthew Wallenstein, Steve Ogle and Randy Boone, CSU Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory.

LSC Room 230: "On the Lighter Side: The Climate Dating Game," moderated by Connie Uliasz, CSU Graduate Degree Program in Ecology.

7 p.m.

Keynote event, LSC North Ballroom: "Solutions to the Climate/Energy Problem," presented by Scott Denning, CSU Atmospheric Science.

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