2010 Annual Members’ Meeting Forum
The 2010 Annual Member’s Meeting marks the end of UCAR’s 50th Anniversary year of celebration, and reflects the following 50th Anniversary themes:
- Honoring a half-century of accomplishments and service to the scientific community
- Science in service to society
- Scientific research and sustainability
- Individual and community responsibility for the health and future of our planet.
The UCAR 2010 Annual Members’ Meeting Forum is part of a series of three meetings that aims to explore the challenges facing atmospheric scientists as they are increasingly invited to participate in political and policy-related matters concerning climate change.
One challenge is how to connect to a diverse society, especially around an issue that has become polarized. Another comes as individual scientists and institutions wrestle with the connection between their own political, social, and scientific values, and the role of scientists in policy decisions and public discourse.
The 2009 Annual Meeting presented examples of how UCAR member faculty could partner with local and regional planners to ensure their community’s resilience to climate change. This year’s meeting will explore how we can communicate about climate change to a wide variety of different audiences, and also work with our colleagues in the arts and humanities to communicate more effectively about climate change in a variety of roles and settings. Finally, next years’ Annual Meeting will explore how we develop a next generation of scientists with the skills and ethical framework to participate in climate resiliency issues.
While most of our community agrees with the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change findings -- warming is unequivocal and likely due to observed increase in anthropogenic GHG concentrations -- we realize that not everyone fully supports this or will be comfortable advocating on this issue. Recognizing this diversity, our meeting will not take a strong value position on either climate change or the proper role of a scientist in policy related-issues. Instead, we will be exploring different ways to communicate about climate science, associated weather, and sustainability issues via science and art partnership projects; presenting a series of models for scientific engagement.
We recognize that our discipline specific educational approaches aren’t well suited for the interdisciplinary nature of dealing with these issues. Our traditional weather and climate departments will have to forge new relationships with departments such as agriculture, engineering, law, humanities and arts, to adequately address this pressing national issue and attract students to this complex and challenging field.
We hope to provide to our members new tools and approaches to incorporate in their classrooms and communities.
UCAR Forum Events
| Please take a minute to fill out a survey before the Annual Meeting. It closes on Sunday noon, 3 October. It is a short 9 questions to know your views on climate change (your response will be confidential). The survey results will be presented during Raj Pandya’s introduction. |
- Rajul Pandya, UCAR’s Director of UCAR’s Community Building Program, will provide the background for a luncheon talk and two panel discussions.
- Our luncheon speaker, Chris Jordan, will present his thought-provoking images which provide a perspective on our roles as good citizens.
- Our first panel will focus on different ways to talk to the public about climate science. The panelists will talk about why communicating climate science is a challenge; what needs to be done; and what each panelist has found to be most effective from their work's vantage point regarding communicating about climate change and sustainable solutions - especially tools that others can use. Moderator: Jim Hurrell. Panelists: Lisa Dilling, Marda Kirn, Mark McCaffrey, Victoria Rosoff and Josh Wolfe. Their biographies are posted below:
Jim Hurrell (Moderator) |
Lisa Dilling |
Marda Kirn |
|
Victoria Rosoff, |
Josh Wolfe |
- The second panel will focus on interdisciplinary academic approaches to communicating science of climate change. Panelists will discuss how they have found that teaching about science in an interdisciplinary way is more effective than in a single discipline setting. Moderator: Steven Ackerman. Panelists: John Calderazzo, Sue Ellen Campbell, Michelle Ellsworth, Jason Neff, and Dan Wildcat. Their biographies are posted below:
Steven Ackerman |
John Calderazo |
Sue Ellen Campbell |
University of Colorado, Boulder |
Jason Neff |
Dan Wildcat
|
ECS Panel Discussions/University Member Panelists:
|
|
|
ECS Panel Discussions/NCAR Member Panelists:
|
|
|
