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From the climate of Venus to the Kyoto summit on global climate change - our seminar series this year has it all!. The Environmental Studies program at Union College is hosting a Winter Seminar Series on Global Climate Change to highlight the advances in understanding various aspects of climate change, but also to address the increasing awareness of the public on this issue. Talks are presented by Union College professors who are involved in aspects of climate change in their scholarship. We invite you to four evening lectures in the Nott memorial or the College Center on the Union Campus. These hour-long lectures address various aspects of global climate change, and you are invited to remain after the talks for lively and spirited question and answer session with the speakers.
All talks are free of charge and open to the public.
February 5 1998, 7:30 PM, College Center Auditorium
The determining factors of planetary surface temperatures: A comparison between the greenhouse effect on Earth and Venus
Dr. Jonathan Marr, Physics Department, Union College
Can we learn anything about global climate change by looking around the solar system? What determines the temperature of a planet? The Moon's atmosphere and climate and the extreme greenhouse effect on Venus are examined in order to better understand the dangers posed to Earth's climate by the burning of fossil fuels.
February 12 1998, 7:30 PM, Nott Memorial
Global warming and El Nino: A
geological perspective
Dr. Donald T. Rodbell, Geology Department, Union College
Natural Archives of global climate change over the last several million years preserved in marine sediment, ice cores, tree rings, and lake sediments will be reviewed as background for addressing the current debate over global warming. The last 2 million years have been some of the coldest in Earth's recent history, and natural climate change is now thought to have occurred over extremely short intervals. El Ni?o will also be examined from a geologic perspective.
February 19 1998, 7:30 PM, Nott Memorial
Global Warming--What, Me worry?
The effect on plants and animals
Dr. Peter L. Tobiessen, Biology Department, Union College
The earth has cooled and warmed repeatedly over the last several million years. Just 10,000 years ago, the Schenectady area was under an enormous glacier that flowed southward to New York City and Long Island. Despite this incredible disruption, most plants and animals survived. Will more species be lost this time?
February 26 1998, 7:30 PM, Nott Memorial
Global Warming and the Global Economy: The Policy Challenges from Kyoto
Dr. James M. Kenney, Economics Department, Union College.
Can the nations of the world reach an agreement to balance their economic needs and the need to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases? What should the U.S. position be? An economist assesses the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the unresolved policy issues, and the consequences for the U.S. and other economies.
For more information call John I. Garver, Dir. Environmental Studies,
518-388-6517