Museum Events
Climate whiplash: What happens AFTER global warming?
Thursday, March 29 at 7:00 p.m.
in Room 100, D. P. Corbett Hall
Free and open to the public
Most debate over global warming looks only as far ahead as 2100 AD, but what happens after that? In his book "Deep Future: The Next 100,000 Years of Life on Earth," scientist-author Curt Stager argues that our fossil fuel emissions will interfere with climates for much longer than most of us, scientists included, yet realize. Even in the best-case scenario, the world won't fully recover for tens of thousands of years, and possibly much longer. What will life in that surprisingly deep future be like? Some will win and some will lose. On the bright side, we've already prevented the next nation-crushing ice age. But as the Earth finally starts to cool down again, "climate whiplash" will force people, animals, and plants to reverse their adaptive strategies. Losers may then become winners - but exactly how the future plays out is ultimately up to us today as we search for a sane, sustainable path forward in this new Anthropocene epoch, the "Age of Humans."
Biographical Information
Curt Stager is a paleoecologist, educator, and science journalist whose research has centered on the climatic history of Africa, Peru, and the Adirondack-Champlain region. He has published numerous technical articles in journals including Science and Quaternary Research, has written extensively for general audiences in periodicals such as National Geographic and Fast Company, and has co-hosted Natural Selections, a weekly science program on North Country Public Radio since 1990. He teaches natural sciences at Paul Smith’s College, NY, and is an adjunct professor at the University of Maine's Climate Change Institute. In his spare time, he plays guitar and banjo and co-directs the Mountain Arts Gathering, a summer music camp for adults in the Adirondacks.
Brian Fagan, "Ice Ages and Christmas Children: An Archaeologist Looks at Ancient Climate Change."
Friday, April 6, 2012 at 7:00 p.m.
in Hutchins Hall, Collins Center for the Arts
Free and open to the public
In recent years, a revolution in the study of ancient climate has thrown new light on how humans have adapted to climate change in the past. Brian Fagan takes us on a journey through cold snaps and warming intervals, through El Nino events large and small, and shows how the climatic lessons of the past have important relevance to the crowded, heavily urbanized world of today.
