Ohio University academics gathered this week to listen to one of their peers warn about the far-reaching implications of global warming.
Michael Glantz, director of the Consortium for Capacity Building at the University of Colorado, held a lecture Wednesday attended by about 20 people. He cautioned that climate change is occurring faster than predicted.
“It’s all about if climate history has a future,” Glantz said. “Because we crossed the century and millennium mark I fear things published before 2000 are suddenly less relevant.”
Glantz implored students to look closely at the changing climate and not to ignore its impact on society. He said he feared the same climate-related problems continue to recur because there is a hesitancy to act on them, particularly by the developed nations contributing the most.
“We have a G-20, why not a C-20?” Glantz said, “Or a C-2? Get the U.S. and China together and that will be half the problem.”
Glantz said he thought that real change trickles down to the individual, imploring any level of commitment such as academia or picking up litter on the street.
“The academic answer is to say everyone should take classes, understand they’re part of a larger system,” he said. “People ask, ‘I want to help, but what can I do?’ You’re an environmental committee of one. Do whatever you can, but do something.”
Daniel Weiner, an OU professor of geography and executive director for the Center for International Studies, said that he fears food and oil scarcities related to weather patterns today are similar to those 30 to 40 years ago, adding that he feels public concern has shifted from how these have been impacting the climate.
“The physical and social science communities have been talking about resource scarcities for the past half a century. It’s happening now, and we can’t afford to avoid it any longer,” Wiener said. “Climate change is happening faster than scientists predicted.”
Glantz said he is hopeful the younger generation of academics will help make an international change.
“Everyone born after 1985 I call the ‘eco generation’ because everyone born in that generation have been brought up hearing nonstop about how Earth is going to hell,” Glantz said. “The young people now are the ones who want to do something about it. The youths are going to kick-start this thing. Otherwise it really is going to hell.”
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