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The UMass Lowell Climate Change Teach-In, a two-part event held on Oct. 22 on North and South campuses, brought together a diverse group of speakers to address the impact of climate change.
Welcomed by Lowell Mayor Edward “Bud” Caulfield, the speakers addressed such topics as how our health is affected by climate change, extinction of plants and animals, how to be well informed on the issue, the social and economic cost of global warming and what we must do to protect the Earth.
The teach-in was coordinated by Prof. Juliette Rooney-Varga, an environmental microbiologist in the Biological Sciences Department. Rooney-Varga began the discourse by illustrating what recent scientific studies have concluded about a changing planet.
“Reports in the peer-reviewed scientific literature indicate that by the end of the 21st century, with no action to reduce human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, impacts of climate change will include severe drought, wildfires and floods; sea-level rise up to several meters; a 40 to 80 percent decrease in major U.S. agricultural crop yields; significant species extinctions around the globe and increased malnutrition, cardio-respiratory and infectious disease” Rooney-Varga explained.
Prof. Robert Gamache, dean of the Department of Environmental, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences addressed “information and misinformation” about climate change, demonstrating how a great deal of internet sources, outside of scientific literature, use “hand-picked” statistics to claim that climate change is either not taking place or not cause by human activity. Conversely, the wide consent in the scientific literature is that it is not only occurring and caused, in part, by human activity, but it is also propelling.
Prof. Joel Tickner of the Department of Community Health and Sustainability described the effects of climate change on human health. Tickner spoke about conditions such as smog, heat waves and floods and their direct or indirect connections to skin cancer, mold and mosquitoes that transmit West Nile virus.
“The key message that I hope the audience gained is twofold: first, climate change could be devastating for humanity unless we take action to mitigate it and second, it is not too late to take action and each of us can be part of the solution on many levels,” says Rooney-Varga. “This fall, especially, is an exciting time, as members of the United Nations meet this December in Copenhagen to negotiate an international treaty on climate change. The U.S. will play a key role in determining whether the Copenhagen Conference is successful in bringing us effective climate policy.”
Other speakers at the teach-in were Prof. Mark Hines, chair of the Department of Biological Sciences; Prof. Supriya Lahiri of the Department of Economics; Prof. Mathew Barlow of the Department of Environmental, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences; Shayle Kann, senior analyst at Green Tech Media; David Turcotte, chair of the Lowell Green Building Commission and Scott Clavenna, CEO and president of Green Tech Media.
The UMass Lowell student band “The J.B.C” provided entertainment.
- Venus_Israni and Edwin_Aguirre
