Dr. Stephen Pekar

Professor, Queens College
Climate Change : What it means for our future and what we can do about it!

For the past 100 years, the earth’s climate has been rapidly changing mostly due to humanity’s altering our atmosphere and environment. The pumping of carbon dioxide (CO2) along with other greenhouse gases, emitted by fossil fuel burning, and changes in land use (i.e., deforestation for agriculture and livestock) has resulted in that the atmosphere is changing faster than any time of the last 65 million years. In addition, the current level of atmospheric CO2 has not been seen in at least 3 million years (ten times further back than the origin of our species, Homo sapiens), and has the potential to stress our civilization to its breaking point. This presentation will examine the main causes of climate change, what is being done and needs to be accomplished to ameliorate it to avoid the worst-case scenarios predicted by climate scientists. The talk will also analyze key political and social actors (i.e., the oil industry, corporate lobbyists) that continue to hinder society from combatting climate change. The talk will end with a hopeful proposal and call for change summarizing what we can do to mitigate and avoid the worst of climate change’s consequences and in turn, create a more sustainable and equitable future for all.

Wednesday, Sept. 20th, 12:15-1:30 PM, Science Bldg. C-207
Zoom ID: 820 5441 6677 Passcode: 895367