by Bill Batson
When 16 year old Greta Thunberg was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for organizing a global student climate strike, an epic challenge was set. Will the generation that allowed our planet to get to the brink of climate catastrophe rise to the occasion? How do we convince every adult on the planet how urgent the moment truly is? What can an individual or a community do to reverse the direction of an eco-system? If you live in Nyack, New York, you are lucky because some of your neighbors are on the front lines of this fight for survival.
We are lucky to be sharing a community with some of the most significant scientific and legal minds fighting to save our planet for the generation that protested at the Main Street gazebo in March 15. Faculty of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Pace University School of Law will participate at two forums at the Nyack Center to answer questions that are literally burning. The Knowledge Market was launched to facilitate neighbor-to-neighbor information transfer like these. And like you would with your neighbors, stay after the presentations to have a bite and chat with the men and women whose work is impacting all of our futures.
April 2: How Urgent is the Moment: Facts on Climate from Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Robin Bell, Professor and Polar Researcher, President of the American Geophysical Union moderates a discussion on the fragile state of our planet’s climatic system. Antarctic explorer and president of the American Geophysical Union, Bell is a Palisades Geophysical Institute (PGI) Lamont professor, directing research programs in Antarctica and Greenland. The Bell Buttress, a mile-long Antarctic ridge, has been named in honor of her scientific discoveries.
Panel members include: Nicole Davi, Adjunct Associate Scientist at Lamont Doherty and Associate Professor, William Paterson University who is a paleoclimatologist and tree-ring expert, and William D’Andrea, professor of biology and paleo environment, who is an expert on natural and human-induced climate change.
April 16: Living Sustainably Now
Pace Law School Professor Karl S. Coplan is director of Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic and principal outside counsel for Riverkeeper, Inc. After graduating from Columbia Law School in 1984, he clerked for The Honorable Warren E. Burger, chief justice of the United States Supreme Court.
Coplan will give practical advice on how everyone can reduce their carbon footprint from how you travel to how you manage your home. Coplan leads by example, having commuted to work across the Hudson River via kayak until new bridge construction restricted his access.
Each evening is followed by meet-and-greet receptions with the presenters.A definitive source on climate change, scientists from Lamont-Doherty coordinate a global infrastructure that includes laboratories at the North Pole and Antarctica, and a world-ranging, 235-foot research ship.
“I think that an individual direct footprint of four tons per year is defensible as sustainable for a middle class citizen of a developed nation during the phaseout of all fossil fuels over the next few decades.” — Pace Law School Professor Karl S. Coplan
See also:
- The Ice Beneath Their Feet: Dr. Robin Bell and Columbia graduate student Adrienne Block discuss a recent expedition to Antarctica to map the subglacial Gamburtsev Mountains. In addition, they speak about the satisfaction that comes from pursuing a career in the sciences.
- Raiders of the lost bark: How Nicole Davi reads climate history in Mongolian tree rings, ScienceLine 6/28/2018
- Expedition Braves Arctic Perils for Climate Science, National Geographic speaks with LDEO paleoclimatologist William D’Andrea, 2/14/17
- LIVE! SUSTAINABLY! NOW! Karl Coplan’s blog about living a good life with a sustainable individual carbon footprint of about four tons CO2 equivalent per year.
- Earth Matters: Youth Climate Strike Nyack, 3/19/2019
- Earth Matters: Polar Ice (And Why You Care), 4/11/2018
- Earth Matters: Carbon Offsets 101, 1/30/2019
- Nyack Sketch Log: Climate Conversations with Lamont Doherty’s Dr. Robin Bell, 3/19/2019