Human-caused climate change is a complex and urgent problem. Since the Industrial Revolution we have been releasing ever-greater amounts of C02 and other greenhouse gases to the earth\u2019s atmosphere. This is causing steady temperature increases.\u00a0 Polar ice is melting and sea levels are rising; storms and droughts have increased; and precious agriculture and species and ecosystems have declined.<\/p>\n
To build well-informed and practical responses to this situation, we assembled a three-day conference to explore the science of climate change, the ethical requirement to respond to this complex situation, and the practical considerations of adaptability, sustainability and national and international security.\u00a0 Notre Dame is a university guided by Catholic principles that compel us to show concern for creation and suffering peoples. Global warming is hardest on the poor of the global south, and has begun already to displace communities least able to adapt to changing conditions. Pope Francis acknowledged this in his first homily: \u201cPlease, I would like to ask all those with positions of responsibility in economic, political and social life, and all men and women of goodwill: Let us be protectors of God\u2019s creation, protectors of God\u2019s plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
This conference received the generous support of numerous colleges and institutes across the University.\u00a0 We are grateful for the support of the John J. Reilly Center for Science, Technology and Values, the Environmental Change Initiative, and the Center for Social Concerns in particular.\u00a0 We hope that the conference impelled all participants, and subsequent viewers of conference materials, to defend and protect life on the planet.<\/p>\n
2013 Conference Organizers:<\/strong><\/p>\n Ani Aprahamian – Professor, Experimental Nuclear Physics<\/p>\n Heather Asiala – Program Associate, Environmental Change Initiative<\/p>\n Jessica Baron – Outreach and Communications Coordinator, Reilly Center for Science, Technology and Values<\/p>\n Jessica Hellmann – Associate Professor, Biological Sciences<\/p>\n Rachel Novick – Education and Outreach Program Manager, Office of Sustainability<\/p>\n Suzi Spitzer \u2013 Notre Dame Class of 2013, Biological Sciences and Anthropology<\/p>\n Robin Darling Young – Associate Professor, Theology<\/p>\n Congratulations to our Poster Winner: Raymond Fung and Prashant Kamat<\/strong><\/p>\n Welcome to the website of\u00a0Climate Change and the Common Good:\u00a0 Security, Sustainability, Policy.\u00a0 This site\u00a0documents\u00a0a 2013 conference that brought together students, faculty and staff of the University of Notre Dame, together with our speakers and guests from the community and … Continue reading ![\"climate](\"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/climatechange\/files\/2012\/11\/climate-conference-Poster_final_edited_raymond-fung11.jpg\")
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