The following article summarizes the original event which is listed below the summary.
Finding solutions to climate change
UMRA's October 2022 luncheon forum featured Jessica Hellman, Ph.D., executive director and Ecolab Chair in Environmental Leadership at the University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment. Hellman asserted that getting people to acknowledge the existence of climate change is a battle that is essentially won. Polls indicate a majority of Americans believe that climate change is real. The problems now are finding ways to ameliorate climate change and garnering support for these initiatives.
Climate change it is not just an issue for the coasts; it affects the Midwest as well, Hellmann said. The Midwest accounts for 26 percent of the total carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the United States, second only to the 27 percent from the Southeast; much more than the West, California included, at 17 percent; and the Northeast, New York included, at 15 percent.
In global terms, the American Midwest is the fifth largest emitter of global warming gases in the world, just behind Russia and just ahead of Japan. We are seeing major climate change effects here, including urban heat, flooding, warmer and shorter winters, fluctuating lake levels, and ecological changes such as shifts in biomes and increased numbers of pests and invasive species.
Research needs to be better, faster, smarter
The good news is there is a great deal of fruitful study going on to find solutions to these problems, and solutions are being found. But our research needs to be better, faster, smarter, more equitable, and inclusive, Hellmann said. It also needs to be more systems oriented and multidisciplinary.
One example of a systems approach is the identification of methane leaks. Oil fields and individual leaky wells can be huge emitters of methane. Satellite technology can identify and map these leaks so that political and financial leverage can be used to persuade companies to clean them up. For a given volume, methane has 86 times the global warming potential of CO2, Hellmann said.
The U of M is working to foster such creative approaches. Both the Twin Cities campus and the Duluth campus are government-designated Climate Adaptation Science Centers, developing science to help fish, wildlife, and ourselves to better adapt to our changing climate.
The Institute on the Environment brings together researchers from many disciplines, from biology to political science, to focus on specific climate and ecology goals, Hellmann said. The Institute works to develop novel insights, build committed leaders, and tell stories—all with the goals of helping our region to achieve carbon neutrality, define sustainable land use, and ensure safe drinking water
Climate change is a reality that must be met with creativity. We can’t stop it, but we can lessen it and find ways to adapt to it. There is reason for hope.
—Ron Matross, UMRA president
Tackling climate change and building a sustainable energy future
Tue, October 25 2022, 11am
Jessica Hellmann, Ph.D.
Executive Director
U of M Institute on the Environment
Campus Club West Wing Dining Room, Coffman Memorial Union
Jessica Hellmann, Ph.D., the guest speaker for UMRA’s October 25 luncheon forum at the Campus Club, is executive director and Ecolab Chair in Environmental Leadership at the University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment and a professor in the College of Biological Sciences Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior.
Hellman will share with us the critical role that universities have to play in addressing the climate crisis—by understanding climate impacts, proposing strategies for managing climate risks, and engaging the world in the transition to a sustainable energy future. This work involves every discipline of academia and requires a special capacity to collaborate with policy makers, corporations, and the broader society.
Grand challenges ahead
“We’ve made much progress, but there are grand challenges still ahead,” Hellman says, and she should know. She has been practicing environmental, ecological, and climate science for more than 25 years. She has studied climate impacts for natural and human ecosystems and has proposed new—and sometimes controversial—strategies for adapting to that change. And she leads an institute that pursues climate and other sustainability solutions, by embracing both technology and policy and building the capacity of people to pursue those solutions.
Hellmann holds a B.S. from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. from Stanford University. She served as a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation and the University of British Columbia’s Centre for Biodiversity Research and, before coming to the U of M in 2015, she was a faculty member at the University of Notre Dame. She works with governments, corporations, and non-profits to build investments in renewable energy and adaptation.
Plan to arrive by 11 a.m. on Tuesday, October 25, for a buffet lunch starting at 11:15 in the Campus Club West Wing Dining Room. Reservations and prepayment are due by October 15.
—Ron Matross, UMRA president
Upcoming Events
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