Past Speakers

I. EPC Speakers:

2011-2012

2010-2011

2009-2010


2008-2009

II. Other Co-Sponsored Symposia, Speakers, and Workshops:


 

Summaries:

2011-2012

 

FROM EVANSTON TO SPRINGFIELD: ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCACY IN ILLINOIS

Thursday, November 3, 12:30-1:30

Norris Center, Big Ten Room

Hal Sprague, Manager of Water Policy at the Center for Neighborhood Technology, and Jen Walling, Executive Director of the Illinois Environmental

Council.

MEETING THE CHALLENGES OF A WORLD OF 7 BILLION PEOPLE

Wednesday, November 2, 2011 3:30-5

Scott Hall 212

The world population is expected to reach 7 billion this month. John Seager, Director of Population Connection will discuss the challenges we face in accommodating a rapidly growing world population.

 

Contagion: From Hollywood to Public Health Policy

Speaker: Maryn McKenna

Date: Sunday, October 23

Location: Harris Hall L07

On Sunday, October 23 at 4:30 Award-winning science writer and Medill grad Maryn McKenna will lead a discussion on the threats of communicable diseases outbreaks. A panel of health experts will address policy responses. 

The event is co-sponsored by the Environmental Policy and Culture Program, The Program in Global Health, International Studies, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and the Evanston Health Department.

 

2010-2011

Global Warming and Art

Speaker: John Luther Adams, American Composer and 2010 Winner of Northwestern Nemmers Prize

Date: Tuesday, February 22

Location: Norris Center, Wildcat Room

Unified by a concern for illustrating how art can contribute to confronting global climate change, John Luther Adams’ wide-ranging presentation included reminiscences of his participation in the landmark legislative battles that resulted in the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA),  insights into his artistic craft and philosophy, and samples of both his compositions and Strange and Sacred Music, a not-yet-released documentary film on Adams and his music.

Looking for a sense of place after finishing his degree at the California Institute of the Arts, Adams spent a summer in Alaska camping, canoeing, and hiking and eventually re-located there.  Borne out of indigenous political struggles and the momentum for progressive change surrounding the environment, a campaign to preserve complete natural ecosystems in Alaska had developed.  From 1975-1980, Adams became deeply involved with this campaign and organizations like the Alaska Coalition and the Wilderness Society; in 1960, he began working on Jimmy Carter’s presidential campaign, largely because of Carter’s support of the protection of public lands in Alaska.  Adams even testified before Congress.   All of these efforts resulted in the passage of the Alaska National Interests Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) in 1980.  ANILCA at the time was the largest land preservation act in history. 

Adams then chose to leave politics to dedicate himself to his art.  Explaining the evolution of his artistic point of view, Adams stated that his initial work was profoundly rooted in place, specifically the landscapes of the north.  But, increasingly, he has aspired to achieve what he terms to be a “sonic geography.”  That is, he strives to move from creating music that is about place to music that is place. 

Adams read an essay he wrote in 2003 entitled “Global Warming and Art.”  He asked the question: what does global climate change mean for art?  For him, art must matter.  Eschewing an interest in overt political art, Adams emphasized the unique sensibility that the experience of art provides for both the artist and the listener.  If the object of art is truth and that which is whole is truth, then art helps us find wholeness.   Art allows for the experience of a series of states or qualities that are largely absent elsewhere:  the non-material and the qualitative, emptiness and surrender.  It sensitizes us to be fully embedded in our environment and hence address problems like global warming more immediately. 

Adams eagerly looks forward to the music he will compose in the future.  Adhering to his creative ideals, he continues to highlight not the ideas nor the messages that music can send, but rather the experiences that it can provide.  No more potent testament of his commitment to both experience and craft can be found than his concluding assertion that he himself hopes to one day disappear into the music.

By Dominic Vendell

Government-NGO Networks and Nature Protection in Belize

Speaker: Steven Brechin, Professor of Sociology, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affars, Syracuse University

Date: January 18, 2011

Location: Norris University Center, Big Ten Room

Brechin’s talk began with the theoretical foundations of his current research.  Hollow state theory is derived from private sector behavior and explains the process by which businesses contract out internal production needs.  Similarly, governments incapable or unwilling to produce public services can transfer those responsibilities to external actors.  Such ideas gained political traction in the 1980s under the leadership of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher as a way to reduce the size of government and transfer ownership to the private sector.  The benefits of this form of management such as increased efficiency and (supposed) tax savings are tempered by decreased stability and the creation of a disconnect between citizens and their elected officials.  Brechin has been interested in how the hollow state functions outside the developed world, particularly Belize.

A small Central American country with a Carribean identity, Belize is home to some of the most ecologically important tropical ecosystems and a burgeoning eco-tourism industry.  Less than a decade after its independence in 1981, the country adopted its first six national parks and subsequently entrusted their management to a domestic NGO, the Belize Audubon Society.  Thus began the hollowing out of Belize’s state responsibility to preserve natural lands.  These informal agreements became, and continue to be, the norm for Belizean national park management.  While the Belizean arrangement mimics traditional hollow states because government acts as the hub for others to fulfill public services, there are two peculiarities.  As per their agreements, the managing NGOs actually pump revenue back into the federal government (in the form of entrance fees) as opposed to being supported by taxpayers.  Furthermore, the Belizean government undermines NGO authority by selling or leasing national park land without warning or consultation. 

After the Belizean courts ruled the informal management agreements legally worthless, the environmental NGOs banded together as the Association of Protected Area Management Organizations (APAMO) and began to push back against the state.  As a consequence, no new agreements are being signed, and the Belizean government has begun to seek help from international environmental organizations, a clear sign they do not intend on compromising with domestic NGOs.  Brechin left us with the uncertain future of Belizean national park management.  Additionally, he called for future comparative research to examine the role of external actors in nature preservation in developing nations in order to better understand the role of hollow states in the third world.

Professor Brechin’s webpage: http://www1.maxwell.syr.edu/faculty.aspx?id=6442451242

APAMO Webpage: www.apamo.net

By Dylan Lewis

Yellow Dirt: Uranium Mining and the Navajo People

Speaker: Judy Pasternak, award-winning investigative journalist and author of Yellow Dirt: An American Story of a Poisoned Land and a People Betrayed
Date: November 9, 2010

Location: Norris University Center, Wildcat Room 101
Co-Sponsors: Chemistry and One Book One Northwestern

After working on a four-part series for the Los Angeles Times on uranium mining in Navajo lands, Judy Pasternak decided she had to add the story of what happened to the Navajo people.  "To really understand this issue, it needed characters that you got to know a little bit and have a narrative unfold," she said.

In her book, Yellow Dirt, she describes that when the uranium mines set up shop in Navajo lands, they signed a contract, one that they ultimately did not keep. During the cold war, the mesa, known by the Navajo as the "backbone for the world," was the richest uranium mine in all of Navajo country.  Uranium was highly prized for the war effort during the Manhattan project.

Originally, the Navajo population boomed with the influx of economic
support. People could earn steady wages and work close to home, though
they were never informed of the dangers of the radiation.  The Navajo miners, who had direct contact with uranium, were not warned of the dangers nor told to change their clothes or wash up before going home to their families.

After the mining stopped in the 1960s, the company failed to clean up, leaving sandy hills or waste that were then used as building supplies for homes. It also left giant wells that filled with water during monsoons.  This water was used by animals and even women and children.

As a result, the Navajo went from a people who had impressively low instances of cancer rates, to a community plagued by cancer, birth defects and child deaths.

Steps could have been taken to prevent such widespread effects, namely ventilation and education. The Navajo were a small and almost powerless community that were exploited at the hands of corporations and government policies.

By Lindsey Kratochwill

Water Pressures: A Special Documentary Screening with Artistic Director Dr. Ann Feldman

Speaker: Dr. Ann Feldman

Date: November 4, 2010
Location: Annenberg Hall, Room G21
Co-Sponsors: SEED and Earth and Planetary Sciences

Carbon Meets Politics: How Politics Constrains Carbon Emissions Around the World

Speaker: Detlef Sprinz, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
Date: October 18, 2010

Location: Norris University Center

Part of the 2nd Annual Northwestern Climate Change Symposium.

 

2009-2010

Environmental Risks of Offshore Drilling: Preventing the Next Disaster

Speaker: Ann Alexander, Senior Attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council

Date: May 25, 2010

Location: Norris University Center, Arch Room

Public Campaigns for Conservation in the U.S. and Abroad

Speaker: Carol Baudler, Director of Conservation Campaigns, The Nature Conservancy

Date: April 20, 2010

Location: Norris University Center, Lake Room

Some Dry Space: An Inhabited American West

Speaker: Michael Light

Date: May 18, 2010

Location: Norris University Center, Lake Room

Michael Light is a San Francisco-based photographer and bookmaker focused on theenvironment and how contemporary American culture relates to it. His work is concerned both with the politics of that relationship and the seductions of landscape representation. He has exhibited extensively nationally and internationally, and his work has been collected by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Getty Research Library, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The New York Public Library, and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, among others.

 

 

Climate Wise Women: A Conversation on Global Women's Response to Climate Change

Speakers: Constance Okollet, Ulamila Kurai Wragg

Date: April 13 , 2010

Location: McCormick Tribune Forum

The Program in Environmental Policy and Culture (EPC) presented the Chicago stop for the Climate Wise Women Americas tour. The women activists touring with CWW represent individuals with unique perspectives on the ethical, social and political consequences of climate change on women, children, families and communities throughout the world. The CWW tour was originally presented by the tcktcktck campaign (www.tcktcktck.org) as a program titled "Global Women Take Action on Climate Change," first in NYC in Sept. 2009, coinciding with the UN General Assembly High Level Event on Climate Change and the Clinton Global Fund Initiative, and again in December 2009 at the Global Climate Conference in Copenhagen in Dec. 2009 (COP15). You can see a brief video of CWW participants at Copenhagen at http://cop15.panda.org/video-blog/2009/12/16/weather-girls.html.

Chicago's Climate Change Action Plan: Implementation and Future Challenges

Speaker: Suzanne Malec-McKenna, Commissioner of the City of Chicago Department of Environment

Date: February 23, 2010

Location: Norris University Center, Lake Room

See the following article on this event: "Green plans seek to turn down Chicago's thermostat," Medill Reports.

Water For the World

Speakers: IL Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky and Patti Simon

Date: January 28, 2010

Discussion of global water issues and water problems in Illinois, and the late Paul Simon Water for the World Act, currently in committee in the U.S. Senate.

Climate Change and the National Parks

Speakers: Troy Haman, Alaska's Katmai National Park; Paul Ollig, Montana's Glacier National Park; and Laura Castellini, California's Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

Date: January 19, 2010

Location: Norris University Center, Big Ten Room

Co-Sponsors: ISEN and One Book One Northwestern

Paul Ollig began by discussing the resource aspects of climate change at Glacier National Park including ice melts, pathogens, forest fires, loss and migration of species. Ollig then described the change in visitors experience. It appears to be a sad inevitability that visitors to Glacier National Park will see no glaciers, possibly as soon as ten years from now. The national parks employees face certain challenges in discussing climate change with visitors due to the politics surrounding the issue, media coverage, skepticism, and its complexity. Glacier National Park trains staff in interpretation to help engage and inform visitors to the park. They are also developing a partnership with NASA in the Earth to Sky program aimed at fostering collaborative work between the science and interpretation/education communities of national parks and NASA. Their primary goal is to promote climate change literacy by facilitating interpretive programs and tools relevant to national park visitors around the country.

Laura Castellini recounted ways in which Golden Gate National Recreation Area has been trying to mitigate the effects of climate change by promoting sustainability. The park has been measuring their green house gas emissions and monitoring their carbon footprint in order to reduce their carbon emissions. Current projects include placing solar panels on building in Alcatraz and the introduction of hybrid ferries. And, much like Glacier National Park, Golden Gate is working on interpretation projects with the hope of influencing visitors to reduce their own carbon footprint.

Troy Hamon concluded the panel discussion by describing how Katmai National Park and Reserve in Alaska has already been affected by climate change and how it could potentially be impacted in the future. They have already experienced significant increase in temperature and fear a loss of permafrost that could result in a changed topography and further warming. These changes are beginning to threaten the habitats and lives of the animals in the park.

All three parks continue to gather more information on the potential consequences of climate change in their areas. They hope to develop ways to mitigate their own carbon footprint and communicate to the public the threats of climate change to the national parks. 

Buildings Don't Use Energy: People Do! Green Architecture and Energy Efficiency

Speaker: Kathryn Janda, Environmental Change Institute, Oxford University
Date: November 24, 2009
Location: Norris University Center, Lake Room 

Dr. Katy Janda discussed the synthesis between social and technical systems in the built environment and how taking a sociotechnical approach to carbon reductions in buildings can improve quickness and efficacy. Buildings offer the largest low cost carbon reduction potential in all world regions by 2030. Hence the importance of understanding the reasons different social groups decide to promote or reject certain environmental technologies, given varying levels of “building literacy”.

In order to achieve the carbon reductions potential in buildings, Janda suggests that we fix the misuses through first seeking feedback and post occupancy evaluations. Even with the implementation of smart grids and intelligent buildings, we need people to be smarter about their interactions with them. This can be done by providing more information and creating a dialogue about smart use of buildings. Energy use is a particularly important issue for carbon reductions, and has ordinarily been thought of as a technological problem. However, it has various social aspects that need to be better studied. Janda argues that in order to reduce energy use there need to be changes in society, not just technological changes in energy production and consumption. Changing professional practices will be a real challenge along with integrating design and reality. By understanding the role of human behavior in the use and misuse of energy, we can create a more comprehensive system to support efficient energy use. 

International Negotiations and the Road to Copenhagen

Part of the 2009 Northwestern Climate Change Symposium.

Speaker: Michele Betsill, Colorado State University

Date: November 5th, 2009

Location: McCormick Tribune Forum

With the upcoming climate change conference in Copenhagen less than a month away, Dr. Betsill talked about the difficulties of reaching a comprehensive agreement to reduce greenhouse gasses (GHG). With 190 countries, the Copenhagen summit is likely to be the biggest Conference of the Parties (COP) of  the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC).

Why does success not look likely? Betsill presented three reasons why it has been so difficult to sustain agreement: the nature of multilateral negotiations, North-South politics, and the role of the U.S. Multilateral negotiations among so many countries require long preparation in trying to reconcile the different interests and approaches. Representatives from each country will also need to go back to their country for final decisions about targets and concessions. A difficult issue has been the common but differentiated responsibilities of countries. Industrialized countries bear a disproportionate responsibility for emitting large portions of GHG. Yet the impacts of industrializing countries are increasing and they are expected to find ways to reduce their anticipated emissions. Adding to the tension, Betsill says, is the fact that neither scientific nor economic analysis are used in creating the differentiation between countries—they come about as a result of political workings and what each country is willing to do. The South wants to maintain the “firewall” between industrialized and industrializing countries’ requirements and commitments, whereas the North disagrees and wants action to be made by all major emitters regardless of industrialization status. In terms of financing, the South wants to be provided with new and additional resources; they do not want to divert their own resources to mitigate climate change. The North is willing to contribute, but thinks that developing countries should supply resources as well.

Another difficulty has been the lack of U.S. leadership. Despite being the largest emitter of GHG till last year, the U.S. pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol. Betsill illuminated the importance of the different approaches to scientific assessment in guiding climate change commitments in the U.S. and Europe. The U.S. follows a “sound science” system where a panoply of research and a high degree of certainty must exist before any action is taken. European countries, in contrast, are guidance by the precautionary approach. Thus, European nations worked to convince Japan, Canada, and Russia to sign on the Kyoto Protocol even offering them some incentives and concessions, while the U.S., under President Bush, walked away.

Betsill concluded the talk by describing the current situation as a chicken and egg puzzle. The South wants the North to commit before they will join an agreement, and the North wants the South to commit to binding conditions before they will commit. Ultimately, she said, an agreement is unlikely to be reached at the upcoming COP15. However, the talks have mobilized constituencies (e.g. local governments, energy industry, carbon markets, indigenous people) and will provide a forum for much needed discourse and that, argues Betsill, is by itself, a meaningful element of success.

By Ariana Gonzales

Also see the report in the Daily Northwestern: Climate Change Symposium.

Environmental Threats to the Great Lakes

Speakers: Debra Shore, Commissioner, Chicago Metropolitan Water Reclamation District; Thomas Cmar, Staff Attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

Date: October 22, 2009
Location: Norris University Center, Lake Room

Co-Sponsors: Physicians for Social Responsibility, Chicago Chapter

Water was here before we were and will be here after we are gone. Debra Shore, Commissioner at the Chicago Metropolitan Water Reclamation District discussed the importance of water issues and the regional significance the Great Lakes play in the global system. She began by recounting the history of the Chicago region starting 14,000 years ago. With the development of human settlements, waste and pollutants were being released into the river and subsequently Lake Michigan, a source of drinking water. The contamination led to sickness of many in the 1870s and 1880s. A plan to dig a canal to build a lock and reverse the river was devised with hopes that it would flush the waste out—only to become someone else’s problem.

Commissioner Shore described how the reversal of the Chicago river helped the development of the city. It successfully washed away the waster, but allowed invasive species to spread. Also, the waste problem was not eliminated, but rather channeled to a different area: the Gulf of Mexico. There are other unintended consequences of development, Debra Shore explained how the impervious surfaces of roads, sidewalks, and driveways add more runoff into the sewer system leading to overflow. Currently, the Chicago Metropolitan Water Reclamation District is trying to reduce impediments and eventually aim to provide incentives for those residents who wish to install more friendly surfaces. Commissioner Shore called to uphold our moral obligation to ensure water not only for anthropocentric reasons, but also for reasons solely relating to nature. Our society should see it as its special responsibility to ensure the health and integrity of the ecosystems that sustain us.  

In the second part of the event, Thom Cmar a Staff Attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), discussed other threats affecting the Great Lakes. He focused on invasive species, climate change, dirty fuels, legacy pollution, and water diversions.  Crises arising from climate change include an increase in temperature leading to falls of lake levels and droughts. Not only will it alter the climate, but these changes will lead to a decline in coldwater fish such as trout. Dirty fuels are often the main culprit for climate change, and the Great Lakes are particularly threatened now by an expansion of tar sands refinement in the area, which leads to increase in air pollution.  Air pollution and contaminants not only have direct effects on human health, but also lasting ones. Today we are still feeling the consequences from the earlier period of industrialization in the region. As water diversions are only 1% renewable, fears of overuse by states and provinces have led to the Great Lakes Compact, restricting the ability of states and provinces to divert water.

Thom Cmar then discussed the threat of invasive species. It is estimated that The St. Lawrence Seaway resulted in 180 invasive species being introduced into the Great Lakes. About 65% of those are attributable to ballast from ships entering the Great Lakes.  Invasive species are capable of completely altering food webs and are often aggressive and highly adaptable, making their eradication more difficult. Possible solutions being considered are closing the seaway, reestablishing natural barriers, and creating stricter regulation of vessels. In the meantime, progress is being made at the state level in Michigan and California to require more strict regulations than the Clean Water Act. Currently, the NRDC is working through federal administrative and legislative advocacy for tighter standards regarding ballast water. They also assist states who litigation when trying to enforce strict regulation.

By Ariana Gonzalez

For more information about the speakers please see:

 

2008-2009

Thinking Locally, Acting Globally: Environmental Politics and Canada's Tar Sands

Speaker: Ian Urquhart, University of Alberta

Date: May 12, 2009

Location: Norris University Center, Lake Room

Professor Urquhart provided an overview of the rise of the tar sands (or oil sands) industry in northeastern Alberta, efforts to counter it, and the industry’s response to these efforts. He recounted the evolution of tar sands operations, from the humble investment projections of the National Oil Sands Task Force in the mid-1990s to the industry’s colossal success since. Essential to understanding the boom, he says—and what makes it different from past booms, such as the oft-compared Klondike Gold Rush of the 1980s—is the neoliberal backdrop upon which it took place. The government has left the industry, in practice, virtually free from regulation, with the paradoxical result that cost overruns and difficulties sustaining profitability have plagued it.

For the first decade, until about 2005, activist opposition to the tar sands industry (which came mostly from a single NGO, Pembina) was moderate and emphasized collaboration; it was also ineffective. Urquhart offered possible explanations for this approach, and noted the substantial corporate financial contribution to Pembina’s revenues. This period resulted in voluntary environmental agreements—such as greenhouse gas reductions—with the industry, as well as increased public awareness; it also resulted, however, in regulatory hearings following which approvals were invariably granted.

Since 2005, because of the failure of domestic politics and the rise of international actors, the opposition has increasingly sought international outlets (thus the title of his talk). Activists need to focus their efforts, says Urquhart, toward Americans, especially—both consumers and politicians. Few Americans know, for instance, that Canada is the biggest supplier of petroleum to the United States, and has been since 2001. New actors publicizing tar sands operations include the National Resources Defense Council, Greenpeace, and Environment Illinois. Investors are also being alerted: A recent Greenpeace UK report warned investors of the negative effects of tar sands operations. These efforts have been made easier by certain discoveries—cancer among First Nation groups living along the Athabasca River and a flock of dead ducks in a tailings pond of one industrial site, among others. Google Earth, too, has surely helped, insofar as it makes it possible to see the full extent of destruction in the region (and from space, literally, at that).

The industry has, however, responded to the opposition, sparking a public relations war and even lawsuits. They have argued that they are, in fact, good stewards, pointing to their efforts to plant trees, employ Native Americans, capture carbon emissions, and restore land, for instance. In the end, there has been no change to government policies regarding leases or project approval. Fully nine new mining or updating projects have been approved since December 2006, and companies have laid claim to large tracts of untouched land.

The mineable tar sands area, which is covered mostly by boreal forest, occupies an area of about twelve hundred square miles, or five times the size of the Metro-Chicago region.

By Alice Cherry

Creating a More Sustainable American City: The Metro Portland Vision

Speaker: Jim Desmond, Director, Metro Sustainability Center, Portland, Oregon 

Date: April 23, 2009

Location: Norris University Center, Big Ten Room

The key for long-term sustainability is understanding and promoting reciprocity between man and nature. At the center of man relation with nature is the need to protecting land.  Metro Portland runs one of the most successful land acquisition programs in the country. The central goal of the program is to find better ways to blend the boundary between the built and natural environment so they are not in conflict with one another. 

The environmental history concerning land and growth varies greatly from the East coast to the West coast.  In the last twenty years, developed land base around the United States has increased by leaps and bounds.  Conversely, during that same time Portland has doubled in size while managing to keep its ecological footprint growth around 5%. 

Metro helps to redefined how people think about the city and adjacent suburbs.  For too long the city and suburbs have been perceived as separate entities. The reality is that neither would exist without the other and they are connected in many ways.   

As a government agency, the Metro Sustainability Center in Portland is composed of 25 different cities, 2 counties, serves 1.4 million people and is the only elected regional government in the U.S.  Metro is the entity that deals with all issues of sustainability for the region.  Meeting every two weeks, representatives from these 25 cities come to Portland to try and reach agreements on issues of regional importance.

Metro was originally created to manage the urban growth boundary (UGB) of the Portland area.  Following its success, the same concept has begun being applied in various other locations.  In fact, state law in Oregon now requires every jurisdiction to have an UGB outside of which no development is allowed. 

Metro is currently developing a regional growth strategy in an attempt to align transportation corridors to cut down commute time, allow for more efficient land use patterns and manage growth patterns.  While Portland is a pedestrian-friendly city with 7% of downtown workers using alternative means of transportation other than cars, there is still great room for improvement.

Reducing waste and increasing recycling in the Portland area is another important goal of the Sustainability Center. In 1988 26% of waste was estimated to being recycled, and a goal of reaching 62% recycling rate at 2009 was set then. In pursuit of this goal, for years there has been mandatory mixed recycling in which haulers were required to pick all items except food waste. The goal has been reached.

The greatest challenge for Metro is addressing increases in Carbon emissions.  Statewide, Oregon’s goal is to reduce carbon emissions by 20% by 2020, and by 70% by 2050.  In an attempt to stave off some of the problems associated with increases in waste and carbon due to population increases, modifications towards sustainability are being made to cities amenities.  These include transportation, land use/community design, resource conservation, natural areas acquisition and restoration, building, research capabilities, and community outreach.   

Modifications have so far included a regional outreach plan, a carbon calculator to analyze all the consequences of actions performed on the environment prior to action, nature friendly development, nature neighborhoods to promote awareness, design competitions to promote green practices, conservation education, citizen oversight committees and land acquisition for future preservation, conservation, and education.

Currently, the Metro Sustainability Center is conducting a carbon footprint inventory with the help of 25 full time researches. After the inventory is completed, a climate action plan will be designed.

By Samantha Nemecek

Health and Human Rights Consequences of Climate Change

Speaker: Maureen McCue, MD, Professor of Global Health, University of Iowa

Date: April 20, 2009

Location: University Hall 122

Professor McCue began her talk by discussing the different connotations that the terms global warming, climate change, and climate chaos have. She said that the public believes that global warming is going to reach a plateau, but it is chaos that we are actually facing. McCue discussed the high uncertainty involved with predicting the effects of climate change and the need to act according to the precautionary principle. A lack of full scientific certainty must not cause postponing cost effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.

Global warming is an economic, human rights, lifestyle, and health issue. It is about race, class, democratic participation, national security and global security. We need to realize that we have to pay to protect our environment because we have been exploiting it freely for hundreds of years.

McCue then showed maps of the globe to demonstrated how much more vulnerable developing countries are to the effects of global warming. That’s despite the fact they are the least responsible for the CO2 emissions contributing to it. 13 times more people die per reported disaster in poor countries than in developed ones.

Global warming is and will continue to alter hydrologic systems, rainfall patterns, melt polar ice caps and glaciers, melt permafrost, create storm surges and sea levels rising. In addition, global warming is causing an increase in pests and disease vectors, which have serious health implications. Predictions indicate that over 50 million people will likely be displaced by 2010 because of rising sea levels, desertification, dried up aquifers, and weather-induced flooding. Worldwide, 634 million people live in areas at or below sea level and /or are subject to storm surges. Natural disasters have quadrupled in the last 2 decades. 

Some of the effects of climate change that impact human health are increased heat leading to illness and death, increased levels of CO2 creating allergens and respiratory diseases, storms leading to injuries, water, and vector borne diseases. Droughts lead to wild fires and famine, crop failures create hunger/malnutrition, and overall conflict over scarce resources becomes more likely. In warmer temperatures, mosquitoes mature more rapidly, their range enlarges, their breeding season is prolonged, their rate of production increase and the number of blood meals increases.

McCue raised several questions about how to rethink global warming in the context of security. What is military’s role in contribution to climate change? Does militarism mean security?  What % of greenhouse gas emissions comes from the production of weapons? What can we do?

Real homeland security needs to be approached from a pre-emptive public health perspective. Warming and response plans, alternatives infrastructure development, and society wide adaptations need to be implemented. On a more personal level, we can start by eating lower on the food chaining, sharing more, and becoming engaged in the political process.

By Elizabeth Summers

Water Conflicts and Crises in China

Speaker: Jennifer Turner, The Woodrow Wilson International Center

Date: April 16, 2009

Location: Norris University Center, Big Ten Room

Jennifer Turner provided an excellent overview of the broad range of environmental problems China faces and the interconnections between these problems. China’s current status as the largest emitter of greenhouse gasses is closely related to the significant increase in mercury realized in coal burning, which infiltrates water and the fish we eat, as well as the atmosphere. China’s huge industrial sector continues to grow rapidly and produces dangerous levels of air pollution. China currently does not have the institutions to deal with the range and magnitude of environmental problems it is facing and creating.

One of the most difficult dilemmas China currently faces centers on the issue of water. The pressure of growing population on fresh water and the history of open access to water resources have led to many conflicts among communities competing over the use of water. Historically, communities were able to cooperate in some instances. However growing pressures on resources, partly due to local governments push for economic development, and the imposition of flawed regulation have led to conflicts over and abuse of water resources. Water pollution and drought are also serious concerns.  In 1997, the Yellow River did not reach the ocean for seven days. This drought caused conflict among farmers.  Much of the water in China is polluted.  In China, 60,000 die yearly from diarrhea due to polluted water.  Almost half of the water in China is rated grade four or five, meaning it can’t be used for anything.  One hundred and ninety million people get sick from drinking water in China each year, and this data could actually be an underestimation, as the data from China is quite patchy. 

Air pollution is also a serious problem in China.  China’s huge industrial sector, among other factors, has led the country to become the world’s number one emitter of greenhouse gasses.  Everything the nation does affects us; mercury released from the burning of coal is transferred into our water, atmosphere, and the food we eat.  China is quickly becoming an industrial location for the rest of the world’s production.  As their GDP has grown, so has air pollution.  Unfortunately, the country does not have the institutions necessary to deal with this pollution. 

Recently, the Center for Legal Assistance for Pollution Victims, an NGO, has been working to aid those negatively impacted by environmental degradation in China.  This organization operates in a university, keeping it politically safe.  Lawyers from around China do pro-bono work for the organization, hoping to build a legal system that is of the capacity to help China’s declining environment. 

One main problem concerning environmental action in China is a lack of personal empowerment.  Many people see the growing pollution as a sign of increasing national wealth.  Additionally, there has been a push to legitimize the communist party by increasing local wealth.  Unfortunately, China’s corrupt governmental structure is furthering the strain on the environment.  Factories are supplied by portions of the country’s revenue, and as a result, are not concerned with environmental regulations. 

Fortunately, the public of China is beginning to realize the serious nature of the water pollution threat.  At first, farmers’ concerns were pushed off and their petitions went unanswered.  As a result, the farmers barricaded the industrial park and beat up many local police.  There have since been about 5000 significant environmental protests in rural China.  Although public security bureaus have begun to retaliate by beating up farmers, protests continue.  Specifically, the Xiamen protest was quite effective, as urbanites organizing proved quite threatening to the government.

By Natalie Noble and Max Shaul

Adapting to a Rapidly Changing Climate: Fostering Resiliency in Social and Ecological Systems in Tibet and Chicago

Speaker: Bob Moseley, The Nature Conservancy, Director of Conservation, Illinois

Date: April 7, 2009

Location: Norris University Center, Lake Room

Mr. Moseley’s talk focused on the importance of adapting to future climate change, as distinct from mitigating its effects by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Mr. Moseley noted that greenhouse gases in the atmosphere today will persist for at least a century, and that as a consequence much climate change is already inevitable. To illustrate the ways in which adaptation planning can be implemented, he described his experience as former director of the Conservancy’s China program, in rural Yunnan province, which forms part of the Tibetan plateau. The two broad goals of adaptation planning, he says, are to decrease vulnerability and increase resilience of ecological and social systems. To that end, his team sought to understand past effects of climate change, observe its effects in the present (i.e., monitoring), and project those of the future.

Past effects of climate change in the region were pieced together using historical landscape photography of specific sites in different time periods. This allowed the team to document, for instance, glacial retreat and the movement of forests and other vegetative zones to higher altitudes. One of the most devastating effects of temperature changes in that area, he said, is the gradual loss of alpine meadow environments, which are among the most biodiverse of the region. In some instances, accounts of the local people confirmed the team’s findings—as when yak herders lamented the incursion of shrubland into grazing areas.Monitoring of alpine meadow loss and other changes also used photography and was done in collaboration with the Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments, from the University of Vienna. As for the future, the team used computers to model the impact of different emissions scenarios on plant species distribution. The models uniformly predicted an expansion of woodlands at the expense of alpine meadows.These changes will have a considerable impact on the livelihood of many people in the region, who rely on the meadows as grazing land for their yaks and as a source of medicinal plants.             

Mr. Moseley emphasized the need for new research and conservation priorities in the region. These priorities must take into account the fact that climate is not static, but changing rapidly. This would represent an enormous shift in perspective for scientists in the area of China in which he worked; beyond the mere establishment of nature reserves, this work entails adaptation planning. Also in need of revision is the government’s ban on prescribed forest burning, an activity vital to yak herders.

Mr. Moseley ended by linking the lessons of adaptation planning on the Tibetan plateau to the same work in the Chicago region. Although climate change is happening more quickly in the former, the strategies he described are applicable to both regions. Moreover, we currently possess the information needed to develop climate-adaptive strategies in the Chicago region. Mr. Moseley praised the Chicago Climate Action Plan; he also described the need, however, for a plan that considers ecosystem (as well as human) adaptation. Climate changes forces us to consider—even as Tibetans do—humans and nature together, as one system. Chicago Wilderness, the Nature Conservancy, and the city of Chicago are working together to develop a plan of this kind.

By Alice Cherry

Campus Sustainability and Universities' Responses to Climate Change

Speaker: Jeremy Friedman, New York University

Date: February 27, 2009

Location: Norris University Center, Lake Room

Jeremy Friedman is the leader of the Sustainability Task Force at New York University, an advisory body of staff, faculty, and students that leads strategic planning and environmental initiatives.

Friedman suggested that sustainability incorporate three concepts: meeting present needs and not compromising ability of future generations to meet their needs; recognizing nature’s capacity; and striving for social, economic, and environmental sustainability – ‘triple bottom’ approach.

Friedman noted that more than 600 university presidents have signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (CUPCC), and 250 have formed broad campus green initiatives. In addition, sustainability staff at universities doubled from 1998-2003, and again from 2006-2008. Universities are increasingly interested in sustainability for economic and educational reasons, but also because applicants have expectations for colleges to pursue sustainable policies and provide environmental education.

Universities and colleges have an important role in society in educating the next generation of leaders who will face the actual challenges of climate change. Universities also have an intellectual leadership role in society and they can influence national policy- making. For example, the University of Colorado Denver created a framework for policy on climate change that the Obama Administration seems to be drawing on.

Top sustainability schools have taken different approaches. Harvard University pursues extensive research on emissions reductions but also invested in specific steps on campus including the first revolving fund. Columbia, through the Earth Institute advances practical solutions to global sustainability problems.  The College of Atlantic is the first school to set being carbon-neutral as a goal and achieving it. New York University established a Sustainability Task Force in 2006 and completed green house gas inventory in 2007. The inventory shows 177,000 tons of CO2 equivalent emissions from energy use in buildings, 4,000 tons from waste, 3,000 tons from transportation. NYU’s inventory looked at emissions from point sources, which are easier to measure. There is no uniform method for measurement and assessment and it is difficult to draw boundaries on emissions. Some methods focus on point sources on campus, other methods include some measures of members of the university community including transportation to campus.

The Sustainability Task Force at NYU focused on conservation, efficiency, generation, procurement and offsetting. The biggest project is cogeneration power plant, with a $120 million investment, but smaller projects such as building retrofitting yielded over $2 million in savings.

Despite some controversy around how much universities can affect overall U.S. emissions and the reliability of measurement and evaluation, Friedman believes universities must engage now in sustainability at both the academic and operational levels. Universities should build their sustainability plans around areas of strengths at the beginning, and develop plans that emphasize their geographical, energy, and educational profiles.

By Meryl Summers

The Chicago Region Green Infrastructure Vision

Speaker: Dennis Dreher, Director of Conservation Design for Cowhey Gudmundson Leder, Ltd, and Chair of the Water Resources Committee of the McHenry County 2030 Plan Commission

Date: Febraury 12, 2009

Location: University Hall 102

In University Hall, Dennis Dreher spoke to a group of students, professors and interested citizens about the Chicago Wilderness Green Infrastructure Vision.  Throughout his talk, he presented facts in an engaging manner, making his enthusiasm for the topic obvious.

Dreher began his lecture by introducing the Vision to the audience.  Rooting it in the tradition of Daniel Burnham – whose “Plan of Chicago” defined the city’s growth in the early 20th century – Dreher explained how the Green Infrastructure Vision project will encourage the protection of the Chicago area’s natural ecosystems in the face of continued development.  He noted that the project’s scope was not limited by political boundaries.  Instead, he said, it focused on the protection of biological relationships across borders – from southeastern Wisconsin to northeastern Illinois to northwestern Indiana.

The main component of the Vision is the extension and protection of “resource protection areas,” which Dreher said number about 140 and cover approximately 1.8 million acres.  As the audience absorbed this figure, Dreher underscored its magnitude.  “It’s a very ambitious recommendation,” he said.  He pointed out that there are currently over 360,000 acres of protected public space in Chicago Wilderness, while the region as a whole encompasses over 6 million acres.

Dreher then gave the audience the opportunity to see what the plan would look like beyond the abstract view provided by maps and numbers, as he highlighted three tangible examples. He explored the case of Harms Woods within the North Branch Chicago River Cluster resource protection area.  This preserve is surrounded by development, making it impossible for it to grow.  In light of this challenge, Dreher listed three main strategies for resource protection: expanding the work being done to restore the ecosystem, retrofitting landscapes through innovations like rain gardens, and working with the landowners surrounding the preserve. 

Dreher then described the Blackberry Creek Corridor, an example of how conservation development could be an opportunity to make the Vision a reality. Unlike traditional sprawling development, conservation development clusters buildings together on small lots, while preserving open space and natural landscapes.  The third example Dreher highlighted is the Boone Creek Watershed where private landowners with large estates could set aside portions of their property as off-limits for development.  Interestingly, he noted that this is a “win-win” proposition for both the public, which gets biodiversity, and the landowners, who get tax breaks.       

Dreher concluded his presentation by reminding his audience of the benefits of the Vision – aesthetic improvements, increased human connection to nature, economic rewards, and better public health. 

By Daniel Foster

On the Brink of the Anthropocene: The Fossil Fuel Era as Seen by a Geologist in 1 Million AD

Speaker: Raymond Pierrehumbert, Professor of Geological Sciences, University of Chicago and Lead Author of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Third Report

Date: January 15, 2009

Location: University Hall 102

Raymond Pierrehumbert is a geological sciences professor at the University of Chicago and was a lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Third Assessment Report. As the first speaker in the Environmental Policy and Culture Program’s series, Pierrehumbert was an engaging speaker, answering questions for almost two hours after the talk! In front of an audience of about 70 students and faculty, Pierrehumbert simplified the science behind global climate change to explain the dire threats to our environment and the need for drastic changes in policy and individual behavior.

Pierrehumbert began his talk by discussing the recent frigid weather in Chicago. Surprisingly, the sub zero temperatures on the day of the talk were considered normal when Pierrehumbert was growing up in Evanston in the 70s. Global climate change is not only causing the overall average temperature to rise, but also causing strange weather patterns all over the world. What we are experiencing now is called a snapback, where the assumed trends of global warming do not occur. This makes it very difficult to convince policy makers of the urgency to cut green house gas emissions and consumption.

Pierrehumbert suggests that we are no longer in the geological era or the Holocene, but on the threshold of a new era called the Anthropocene. Humans have become more than a force of nature by co-opting natural photosynthesis processes, disrupting natural nitrogen cycles by manufacturing nitrogen fertilizers, and most importantly, altering the carbon cycle. The natural carbon cycle is the rate at which carbon rocks are brought down into the earth and resurface at mid-ocean ridges and volcanoes. These fossil fuels have built up over the last half a billion years and were buried below the earth’s surface before it combined with oxygen, making it inaccessible. The release of this ancient carbon and the daily increase in carbon emissions pose a serious danger. With an excess of physics-based lab experiments on infrared radiation absorption and satellite images, there is no doubt that global warming is real. Pierrehumbert believes the term global warming is too mild, and that we should refer to these changes as global climate disruption.

Pierrehumbert noted that Burning fossil fuel and deforestation is putting carbon into the atmosphere at the rate of 9 GT per year. This is 20 times the natural rate. In order to remove just one year’s worth of carbon from the atmosphere, we would need to take 1/5 of everything that grows on land and bury it every year for five years. If we continue to burn all 5,600 GT of available fossil carbon resources, the atmospheric concentration will increase to 4 times the pre-industrial level. The level could go much higher if soils and forests start releasing carbon and if we start liquefying coal.  Our inputs could also trigger a natural doubling, similar what occurred 56 million years ago, to increase temperatures by 8-10 degrees.

“These are fire alarms, not the fire,” Pierrehumbert remarked. The effects of our carbon input are only beginning to be felt. Sea ice will likely be completely gone by 2100, and the number of days that are 90 degrees or warmer will increase significantly if we continue to use business as usual strategies. Uncertainty does not justify inaction. Carbon dioxide is fundamentally different in its potential to alter life on earth and we cannot wait to see how bad it gets before taking action.

By Meryl Summers

 

Other Co-Sponsored Symposia, Speakers, and Workshops


Conservation Research Symposium

Participants: Eric Lonsdorf, Stuart Wagenius, Jeremy Fant, Nyree Zerega, Herbert Schroeder, Melinda Merrick, Paul Gobster, Rachel Santymire, Elizabeth Lonsdorf, Yael Wolinsky-Nahmias

Date: Friday, March 4

Location: Harris Hall 108

The Second Annual Northwestern Climate Change Symposium: "Carbon and Climate: Lessons from the Past, Solutions for the Future"

Participants: Ralph F. Keeling, Yarrow Axford, Mark Pagani, Liz Moyer, Melissa Wynne, Detlef Sprinz, Sally Benson, Mark Ratner, Kimberly Gray

Date: October 18, 2010

Location: Norris University Center, Auditorium 1999
Co-Sponsors: Earth and Planetary Sciences, ISEN, Environmental Policy and Culture, and Environmental Sciences.

Building a Green Economy: Indigenous Strategies for a Sustainable Future

Speaker: Winona LaDuke, Program Director, Honor the Earth

Date: June 1, 2010

Location: Fisk Hall 217

Co-Sponsors: American Indian Center of Chicago, Environmental Policy and Culture (EPC), Program in Cognitive Studies of the Environment, and WCAS Dean's Office

Winona LaDuke (Anishinaabe) lives and works on the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota. As Program Director of Honor the Earth, she works nationally and internationally on the issues of climate change, renewable energy, and environmental justice with indigenous communities. In her own community, she is the founder of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, one of the largest reservation-based non-profit organizations in the country, and a leader in the issues of culturally based sustainable development strategies, renewable energy and food systems.

A graduate of Harvard and Antioch universities, LaDuke has written extensively on Native American and environmental issues. She is the author of five books, including Recovering the Sacred, All Our Relations and a novel, Last Standing Woman.

Zero Population Growth is Essential to Curb Global Warming

Speaker: John Seager, President and CEO, Population Connection

Date: May 28, 2010

Canadian-United States Energy Issues After Copenhagen: Oil Sands and Energy Interdependence

Participants: Ian Urquhart, University of Alberta; George Hoberg, University of British Columbia; and Andre Plourde, University of Alberta.

Dates: May 27-29, 2010

Location: Scott Hall, Ripton Room

Co-Sponsors: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs Canada, The Buffett Center, ISEN, and EPC

Green Energy Solutions

Speaker: David Kraft,

Date: May 21, 2010

The First Annual Northwestern Climate Change Symposium

Participants: Lonnie Thompson, Distinguished Professor in the School of Earth Sciences, Ohio State University; Liz Moyer, Professor of Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago; Francesca McInerney, Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Northwestern University
Date: November 5, 2009

Location: McCormick Tribune Forum

 

November 16, 2011