Nicholas School Scientists to
Brief N.C. Legislature on Local Impact of Global
Climate Change
Global warming, if left unchecked, may bring
drastic changes to our state’s future economy,
public health and natural resources.
Friday, May 14, 2004 / DURHAM, N.C. – Climate
change linked to global warming could have profound
future impacts on North Carolina, affecting everything
from the respiratory health of the state’s citizens
to the physical shape of its shoreline and barrier
islands.
That’s the message four of the state’s leading
authorities on climate and climate change – including
two Nicholas School faculty members – will deliver
to members of the North Carolina General Assembly
and other invited state leaders in a panel discussion
and Q&A session, “Global Climate Change and
North Carolina,” on Wednesday, May 26, at the
North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh.
“Some may believe that the climate has always
been changing and that we don’t need to worry.
But the speed and extent of the climate change
caused by humans is unprecedented in the geologic
record,” said William H. Schlesinger,
dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment
and Earth Sciences and James B. Duke Professor
of Biogeochemistry.
“Our job, as scientists, is to inform policymakers
of these risks, and give them the scientific knowledge
they need to make smart decisions,” he said.
Schlesinger, a member of the National Academy
of Sciences, will be joined on the panel by Susan
Lozier, Truman and Nellie Semans Professor
of Physical Oceanography at the Nicholas School;
Sethu Raman, state climatologist and professor
of meteorology at North Carolina State University;
and Peter Robinson, professor of geography at
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Lozier will lead off the discussion with an overview
of climate change. “I’ll present the hows and
whys of climate change, and the role the atmosphere
and oceans play in it,” she said. She’ll describe
for legislators some of the changes scientists
are now observing, such as rising sea levels;
emerging patterns of extreme or changing weather
in many regions of the world; and changes in deep
ocean water salinity and temperatures in parts
of the North Atlantic.
Robinson and Raman will detail how these changes
have affected, or could affect in future years,
North Carolina’s climate.
Schlesinger will address climate change’s impacts
on public health, ecosystems and the economy.
“The policies we choose to enact and enforce,
and the choices we make about energy use, sustainable
development, agriculture and natural resource
management, will directly affect North Carolina’s
future,” Schlesinger said.
The forum is sponsored by the North Carolina
Climate Education Partnership, and will be moderated
by Bill Ross, secretary of the North Carolina
Department of Environmental Resources. For more
information, contact Maria Sadowski, at the N.C.
Museum of Natural Sciences, at (919) 733-7450,
ext. 305.
Media contact: Tim Lucas, 919/613-8084 or
tdlucas@duke.edu
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