News 2014
An Evening on Climate Change
UCC is hosting an Evening on Climate Change on Thursday, January 16th.
Climate Change is recognised as one of the greatest challenges currently facing humanity. In the last month UN scientists have unveiled the first volume of a comprehensive report detailing the global impact of climate change (http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/). The findings of the report are stark . Many of the problems of the modern world – starvation, poverty, flooding, heat waves, droughts, war and disease – are likely to worsen as the world warms from man-made climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its fifth assessment report in September, confirmed that climate change is happening, is caused by human activity and requires urgent action. The report predicts that if current emission trends are not reversed, the climate will warm by up to 5°C by 2100. The rapid dwindling of summer Arctic sea ice has outpaced all scientific projections, which will have impacts on everything from atmospheric circulation to global shipping. Plants, animals and other species are already struggling to keep up with rapid climate shifts, increasing the risk of mass extinction that would rival the end of the dinosaurs. The weather in European countries is continually setting new records as a result of climate change - the hottest, driest, wettest, coldest, windiest countries are experiencing the effects in forest fires, record heat waves, droughts and massive floods that are damaging societies and economies. Most of this man-made climate change is due to the burning of fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal) but it is also caused by other activities such as methane emissions from agriculture (this is creating a real challenge for Ireland to meet its commitments to reduce greenhouse gases due to our high level of agricultural activity)
To highlight recent scientific research on climate change University College Cork is hosting an Evening on Climate Change on Thursday, January 16. The main event of the evening will be the screening of the widely acclaimed film “Chasing Ice”. In the spring of 2005, environmental photographer James Balog headed to the Arctic on a tricky assignment for National Geographic - to capture images to help tell the story of the Earth’s changing climate. Even with a scientific upbringing, Balog had been a skeptic about climate change. However, that first trip north opened his eyes to the undeniable evidence of a warming planet. Balog deploys revolutionary time-lapse cameras across the brutal Arctic to capture a multi-year record of the world’s changing glaciers (http://www.chasingice.com).The Evening on Climate Change will be started with a short overview of the latest science on Climate Change by Professor Ray Bates, IPCC Report Contributor & Climate Modelling expert. After the film screening there will be reception where attendees will have an opportunity to meet scientists and engineers from UCC who are carrying out research on climate change mitigation, adaptation and modelling and have their “burning” questions on climate change answered.
This is a free event but pre-registration is required. To register please contact Dr Paul Bolger, Environmental Research Institute at p.bolger@ucc.ie (021-4901933).
To download an A4 poster for the event please click An Evening on Climate Change at UCC - Event Poster
Event Details
Date: Thursday, 16th January, 2014
Time: 18.30
Venue: Room G.05, Western Gateway Building, Western Road, UCC
Directions/Parking:The Western Gateway Building is located on the Western Road about 10 minutes walk from the main UCC campus (near Victoria Cross). There is free parking available. Click on link below for a map.
http://www.ucc.ie/en/visitors/parking/
Organising Committee
The Evening on Climate Change at UCC is organised by University College Cork, Environmental Protection Agency and the Environmental Sciences Association of Ireland.
Dr Paul Bolger (ERI Manager and ESAI Chairperson)
Dr Brian O’Gallachoir (ERI Lead PI, Energy Policy & Climate Change thematic area)
Prof John O’Halloran (Chair of Green Campus Committee)
Dr David Dodd (Environmental Protection Agency)