CESR Update and Not to Miss Climate Change Talks

From: "CESR" <cesr@is2.dal.ca>
To: "Sust-Mar" <sust-mar@chebucto.ns.ca>
Date: Sun, 22 Sep 2002 17:54:05 -0300
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Dear Sust-Mar Friends,

I wanted to let you know that the Society for Corporate Environmental and
Social Responsibility
(CESR) will not be able to have a People & Planet Fair this year due to
renovations at the Student Union Building. We will be organizing other
events throughout the year and will post them to Sust-Mar as always. For
more information about CESR, please visit our web site at:
http://is2.dal.ca/~cesr

I also wanted to bring to your attention these upcoming free Killam lectures
on climate change that will take place at Dalhousie University next month.
Please read the descriptions below. For more information about these
not-to-miss lectures organized by the university, please visit:
http://www.dalgrad.dal.ca/killamlectures/

*

Global Warming:
How Uncertain is the Look into the Future?
Speaker: Dr. Thomas Stocker

Wednesday, 09 Oct 2002, 8:00 pm
Ondaatje Auditorium, McCain Building, Dalhousie University

Do scientists understand the climate system well enough to support the IPCC
prediction that the global mean temperature will rise between 1.4 and 5.8
degrees C by the year 2100? The latest climate-system models give a clear
message: most of the observed warming over the last fifty years is
attributable to human activities. The lecture will explore the nature of
uncertainties in such climate modelling, as well as some key implications of
unabated warming in northern regions.

Dr. Thomas Stocker is Professor of Climate and Atmospheric Physics at the
University of Bern, Switzerland. He studied environmental physics at ETH
Zurich and was a postdoctoral fellow at University College (London), McGi11
University, and Columbia University. In his current research, he develops
climate-system models to understand past and future climate changes at time
scales of decades to hundreds of thousands of years. Dr. Stocker recently
served as a Coordinating Lead Author and Contributor for the Third
Assessment Report (2001) of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change.

*

Cumulative Effects of Climate Change and
Human Use on Freshwater Communities
Speaker: Dr. David Schindler

Tuesday, 15 Oct 2002, 8:00 pm
Rebecca Cohn Auditorium, Dalhousie Arts Centre, Dalhousie University

Climate warming and human uses will lead to severe problems with freshwater
quantity, quality and biodiversity. With warmer air and little change in
precipitation, the increased evaporation can lead to large decreases in
river flows. Concomitantly, lake levels decline, wetlands dry up, and
groundwater availability declines. Associated water quality problems include
eutrophication, acidification, exposure to UV radiation, pollution with
pathogens and toxins, and invasions of alien species. Destruction of
wetlands and riparian areas, along with other land-use changes, will further
exacerbate the freshwater problem. Comprehensive watershed planning and
water conservation measures are urgently needed to protect freshwaters in
the remainder of the 21st century.

Dr. David Schindler is Killam Memorial Professor of Ecology at the
University of Alberta, Edmonton. From 1968 to 1989, he directed the
Experimental Lakes Project in Northwestern Ontario, conducting
interdisciplinary research on the effects of eutrophication, acid rain,
climate change and other human insults on boreal aquatic ecosystems. Dr.
Schindler now focuses his research on effects of climate warming, alien fish
stocks, airborne contaminants and other human impacts on freshwaters of the
Rocky Mountains. He has received numerous awards for his research, including
the Volvo International Environment Prize in 1998 and the NSERC Gerhard
Herzberg Gold Medal for Science and Engineering. In addition, he holds seven
honorary doctorates from Canadian and US universities.

*

Climate Change:
Does Global Warming Warrant a Health Warning?
Speaker: Dr. Tony McMichael

Wednesday, 23 Oct 2002, 8:00 pm
Ondaatje Auditorium, McCain Building, Dalhousie University

What consequences might we expect for human health due to continued global
warming? While humans are better buffered against environmental stressors
than any other species, we are still vulnerable to the wide spectrum of
environmental hazards influenced by climate change. The lecture will touch
on a wide range of human-health impacts ranging from severe weather events,
heat waves, infectious diseases and altered water quality, to economic
dislocation and population displacement. Most of the health impacts will be
adverse. Adaptive policies and practices are needed immediately to lessen
human vulnerability to the potential ravages of climate change.

Dr. Tony McMichael studied medicine at the University of Adelaide in South
Australia. Today he is Director of the National Centre for Epidemiology and
Population Health at the Australian National University, Canberra,
Australia. From 1994 to 2001, he was Professor of Epidemiology at the London
School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. His current research deals with
occupational diseases, diet and cancer, and environmental health hazards.
Since 1994, Dr. McMichael has chaired the assessment of human-health risks
for the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Enjoy!

Tamara Lorincz

Chair of the Society for Corporate Environmental and Social Responsibility
(CESR)
Web site: http://is2.dal.ca/~cesr
Email: cesr@is2.dal.ca



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