Every seat was filled and the aisles were lined with students Wednesday night in Pearson Hall to hear Neil Adger's presentation, "Can we adapt to the coming climate change?"
Adger, an environmental economist with the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of East Anglia, UK, was a lead author for the fourth assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC), the group that won this year's Nobel Peace Prize.
His speech marked the inauguration of the Gene and Carol Willeke Frontiers in Environmental Sciences Distinguished Lecture Series. Gene Willeke is a doctor emeritus with Miami's Institute of Environmental Science (IES).
"Dr. Willeke believes good theory makes good practice," said Sandra Woy-Hazelton, the deputy director for academic affairs for IES, about the series. She also elaborated this view to say that there needs to be an interface between what scientists do and how to apply it.
Fourteen years ago Gene Willeke and Woy-Hazelton met Adger at East Anglia when he was starting off his career in environmental science. His research won the Nobel Peace prize after they had invited him to Miami.
Adger said that his group's research was more than 3,000 pages long and has been broken down into two sound bites-global warming is unequivocal and its global effects are presently detectable with high confidence. He showed some of his findings, which include that global temperatures, as well as average sea levels, are rising.
As far as effects of global climate change, Adger said 300 additional people died in Paris during its 2003 heat wave. This same heat wave may be responsible for up to 70,000 deaths throughout Western Europe.
He did have some optimism, however.
"I would say that we can adapt to the climate crisis if the intellectual capital is put into this issue," Adger said.
The rest of his speech followed the same line-adaptation. He said arctic communities are already adapting their hunting due to higher temperature and pollution.
For the U.S. to adapt, it must first protect the vulnerable and second, provide good public information, he said.
"The biggest barrier is public opinion," Adger said.
But, even when there is public discourse, high active capacity doesn't translate into action, he said. The most obvious example of this is the devastation left by Hurricane Katrina. The public was well aware and there still hasn't been enough done, he said.
Adger outlined several key threats of a warmer world. Malaria, malnutrition, flooding and psychological affects, such as stress, topped the list.
"You can't rely on markets in these circumstances," he said.
Adaptation is worth it, some is happening now, but it isn't efficient, he told the audience, which was equally made up of students, faculty and community members.
Woy-Hazelton said the defining theme was that in current students' adult lives, they're the ones who will make the decision.
"When he said, 'It's in your hands,' that's the group he was talking to," she said.
"Global climate change is real, and he explained the action that needs to be taken," said Brandon Cirillo, a senior environmental studies major who attended the lecture. Cirillo also said he will be attending the rest of the lectures in this series.
