VIU hosts free public symposium on future of climate change

A free symposium for anyone who wants a greater understanding of emerging topics in climate change will be held at Vancouver Island University’s Nanaimo campus Tuesday, Feb. 21.

Entitled “The future of climate change: navigating the science in a changing political climate,” the symposium takes place in the Arts & Sciences building 355 from 9 am to 3 pm and includes workshops and presentations.

“The purpose of this event is to provide opportunities to improve the understanding of the emerging topics in climate change,” said Dr. Erik Krogh, VIU chemistry professor. Two expert presentations and a series of workshops will appeal to a diverse audience, including students, faculty, professionals and members of the public interested in the topic of climate change.

The symposium is organized by a student group called ACER (Awareness of Climate Change through Education and Research), a university based public outreach initiative to promote a greater understanding of science and social implications of climate change.

“Climate Change: Science and Public Perception” will be presented by Geography professor Jeff Lewis at 9:30 am in room 203. Studies indicate that approximately 97 per cent of climate researchers support research findings that human greenhouse gas emissions are the main driving force of present-day climate change, while opinion polls show that a much smaller proportion of the public shares the same view. This presentation will address some of the causes of this discrepancy.

Krogh’s presentation at 10:30 am is entitled “Beyond Climate Change: Powering the Future.” “The Stone Age didn’t end because we ran out of stones,” he said. “This presentation will review compelling arguments to conserve energy and develop carbon neutral alternatives above and beyond the issue of global warming, including air quality, ozone depletion and the use of carbon reserves for new advanced materials. The scope and magnitude of global energy demands and introduce emerging energy alternatives, including recent advances in bio-mimetic photosynthesis.”

Afternoon break-out sessions start at 12:30 pm and again at 1:30 pm in the first floor of the Arts and Science building 355. A workshop called “Visualizing Climate Change – Interactive Web Activity” will have participants look at web resources (Digital Learning Objects) designed at The King’s Centre for Visualization in Science (http://www.kcvs.ca/site/projects/climate.html) to help students, teachers and the public to better understand the science of climate change. This will include looking at www.explainingclimatechange.ca, which is a project intended to create learning materials about climate change for 16 – 19 year olds.

Another workshop, called “So What Do We Do Now? – Weighing the Evidence of Climate Change” will give participants a chance to become policy makers and make choices by considering the credibility of the evidence and associated risks. The workshop is based on the book What’s the Worst that Could Happen? A Rational Response the Climate Change Debate by Greg Craven (Oregon High School teacher; www.gregcraven.org).

A third workshop, “Navigating Facts & Biases – Bring the Tricky Questions” will reveal what is meant by climate tipping points and describe where the 2o C warming threshold comes from. “It’s a chance for participants to bring their toughest questions about climate change,” said Krogh. “The session will also include a discussion about how climate change information is presented in the media and the notion of ‘confirmation bias’ and how to detect it in ourselves and others.”

Two other workshops will look at “Biodiesel – turning waste into energy” and the “Psychology of climate change communication.”

“Using the recently published guide The Psychology of Climate Change Communication, created by the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions (CRED) at Columbia University, this session will discuss the main principles of communicating science effectively in order to affect behaviour change and help society take the actions needed to respond to climate change.

The symposium wraps up with an interactive discussion and question and answer session on what we don’t know about the future of climate change at 2:30 pm.

The cost of attending the symposium is free, however, organizers invite participants to pre-register by emailing Acer@viu.ca.

ACER gratefully acknowledges funding assistance for the symposium from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRCC), TD Friends of the Environment Foundation and the Natural Sciences and Education Research Council of Canada (NSERC).