University of Iowa alumnus and climate scientist James Hansen will deliver a lecture on lessons from Iowa and global climate policies as he returns to the UI campus.
Hansen's lecture, "Speaking Truth to Power: Lessons from Iowa and Relevance to Global Climate Policies," will be Thursday, Oct. 16, from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Main Lounge of the Iowa Memorial Union.
The lecture is one in a series of events in the UI Public Policy Center’s “Meeting the Renewable Energy Challenge” symposium.
Though Hansen's lecture is free and open to the public, those interested in attending the Oct. 16 symposium events need to register by the end of Monday, Oct. 13. The cost is $25 for general public, free for students without lunch, and $10 for students with lunch.
Details on other symposium events can be found at the center’s website.
The public lecture will also be streamed live at the following link: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/university-of-iowa
The “Meeting the Renewable Energy Challenge” series of events is sponsored by the following: Iowa NSF EPSCoR, Iowa Energy Center, UI School of Urban and Regional Planning, the Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research, the UI Lecture Committee, the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, and the UNI Center for Energy and Environmental Education.
Hansen is widely considered a climate science pioneer, as he has studied Earth’s climate for nearly four decades. A former director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, he was one of the first scientists to forecast global warming and raise awareness to climate change, in particular during his testimony to Congress in the 1980s.
Hansen currently directs a program in Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions at Columbia University’s Earth Institute. He has also been visible in the public arena, outlining actions the public must take to protect the future of young people and other life on our planet.
Born and raised in Denison, Iowa, Hansen earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in physics from the UI. He studied under the legendary UI space scientist James Van Allen.
He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1995 and was designated by Time Magazine in 2006 as one of the 100 most influential people on Earth.
He has received numerous awards including the Carl-Gustaf Rossby and Roger Revelle Research Medals, the Sophie Prize and the Blue Planet Prize.
Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all UI-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires an accommodation in order to participate in this program, contact Leslie Gannon in advance at 319-335-6817 or leslie-gannon@uiowa.edu.