ECCE Speaker Series - Climate Change Action: A Civic Responsibility
From Cody Pope
Co-Sponsored by UIS Department of Environmental Science, UIS Sustainability Committee, and World Affairs Council of Central Illinois
What is climate change and how serious is it? How do I know climate change is real? How will climate change impact me, my and other communities, the economy, Illinois, the U.S., and our planet? I’m only one person… How can what I do make any difference?
UIS welcomes Professor Don Wuebbles (Harry E. Preble Professor of Atmospheric Science at the University of Illinois and White House expert on climate science under the Obama administration), Dr. Julie Maldonado (Associate Director for the Livelihoods Knowledge Exchange Network), and Debra Jacobson (Associate Director, Prairie Research Institute) who together will provide answers to these and other questions raised about climate change, its impacts on society and ecosystems, and the need for climate change adaptation and mitigation response.
Don Wuebbles is an expert in atmospheric physics and chemistry with over 500 scientific publications related to the Earth’s climate, air quality, and the stratospheric ozone layer. He has led international and national scientific assessments, including as Coordinating Lead Author on several international climate assessments led by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that resulted in IPCC being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. Dr. Wuebbles is a recipient of the Cleveland Abbe Award from the American Meteorological Society, the Stratospheric Ozone Protection Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Bert Bolin Global Environmental Change Award from the American Geophysical Union.
Julie Maldonado is a public anthropologist who has consulted for the UN Development Programme and World Bank on resettlement, post-disaster needs assessments, and climate change. She worked for the US Global Change Research Program and is an author on the 3rd and 4th US National Climate Assessments. Her book, Seeking Justice in an Energy Sacrifice Zone: Standing on Vanishing Land in Coastal Louisiana, and co-edited volume, Challenging the Prevailing Paradigm of Displacement and Resettlement: Risks, Impoverishment, Legacies, Solutions, were released in 2018. Dr. Maldonado is a Lecturer at UC Santa Barbara (Environmental Studies Program).
Debra Jacobson, an environmental engineer, leads the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center’s (ISTC) Technical Assistance Program and serves as the Operations Director for the Midwestern Regional Climate Center at the Illinois State Water Survey. Ms. Jacobson provides technical, environmental, and safety compliance assistance to industrial facilities within Illinois, and works closely with federal, state, and local government agencies and industry trade groups on environmental matters affecting industry.
Julia Wasik will serve as the student moderator for this event. Julia is a UIS sophomore in the Capital Scholars Honors Program majoring in Global Studies and minoring in Legal Studies. Julia is passionate about finding inclusive, interdisciplinary solutions for global climate change.
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