Climate Change Q and A Seminar 4: Friday 19 Sept – Are the impacts of climate change being overstated?

Seminar reminder and Discussion Thread.

Friday 19 September: What future climate change scenarios are possible?

“Global warming is good, agriculture will flourish!”

Such statements represent the tip of an iceberg of arguments suggesting that global warming isn’t going to have catastrophic impacts. Some of these are based on pseudo science regarding the effects of global warming on severe weather, sea level rise, or the loss of glaciers. Others focus on the possibility of a few winners in our gamble with the climate–those who find the changes favorable or who are better positioned to adapt–while neglecting the fact there will be a far greater number of people, plants and animals who will suffer as a result of the unnaturally rapid change that are to come.

So what does 2°, 3° or even 6°C of global warming really mean? Find out in the fourth seminar of this series.

Some of the sceptical positions to be covered include:

• Warm temperatures have always been better than cool for people and other species

• Hurricanes/Cyclones are unlinked to global warming

• Polar/mountain ice melt is a natural phenomenon and over half of all glaciers are growing

• Ocean acidification is trivial because the ocean is such a vast carbon sink

• Plants and animals have adapted to climate change before, so they’ll do it again

• Severe droughts and floods are unrelated to climate change

• CO2 is a fertiliser and so extra amounts will be good for plant life and agriculture

Time and place:
5.30 -7.00 pm, Friday 19 September 2008
Lecture Theatre 102, Napier Building, University of Adelaide (North Terrace Campus, City)

Note: Following the above seminar, the University will have a mid-semester break. Seminar #5, entitled “Will it cost the Earth to avoid climate change?” will be held 3 weeks after Seminar #4, on Friday 10 October.

Any questions or comments, ask away!