During the 2017-2018 academic year, The Riley Institute, The Shi Center for Sustainability, and the Institute for the Advancement of Community Health are partnering to initiate Furman’s year-long exploration of climate change: “Climate Change is Real: Now What?” The science is clear: climate change is real and it affects us all greatly. It impacts people’s health and livelihoods, cities and homes, ecological systems and even our nation’s security. What can we do?
Climate Change: A Year-Long Exploration
Calendar of Events
Numerous speakers will present on the topics of “Climate Change” and “Human Impacts to the Earth”
February 17, 2018
McAlister Auditorium
How to Let Go of the World (CLP)- Part 4 of the Climate Change Film Series
February 21, 2018 from 7-9 pm
Burgiss Theater, Trone Student Center
Alumni Climate Change Panel (CLP Pending). The three panelists will be Emily Wirzba, Kartikeya Singh, and Rory McIlmoil.
March 14, 2017 from 7-8:30 pm
Burgiss Theater, Trone Student Center
Jeffrey Ball, Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow, is the former environment editor and reporter for the Wall Street Journal. Ball’s writing also appeared in the Atlantic, Fortune, New Republic, Foreign Affairs, the New York Times, and Slate.
March 28, 2018 from 7-8:00 pm
Shaw Hall, Younts Conference Center
Previous Events
The first film of the series was “Before the Flood,” a nationally acclaimed and award winning documentary produced by National Geographic, staring Leonardo DiCaprio. The film highlights the science of climate change and its current impacts around the world. Viewers are taken on a visual climate change tour of the world’s changing landscape and its impacts to those who live there.
The second film of the series was “The Age of Consequences,” a documentary by Jared P. Scott. The film looks at global climate change impacts through a more social lens focusing on the role of climate change with regards to resource scarcity, political instability, and human population migration. The film discusses solutions and ways of mitigating the impacts of climate related stresses on human societies worldwide.
The third film of the series “Time to Choose” is a documentary by Charles Ferguson that looks at the impacts global energy and resource usage have had on the environment and humanity. The film discusses the impacts of fossil fuel use and explores options to alter these choices for more sustainable energy options. This film was chosen as the third in our four part series as it focuses on ways in which current technologies can help us reduce the impacts of climate change and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.
About 25 staff and faculty gathered at the Shi Center for Sustainability for an afternoon workshop on teaching climate change across the curriculum. Various strategies for presenting and engaging students around the science, the impacts, and the solutions for climate change were shared and discussed.
This two-day national conference presented evidence of climate change and discussed the health, economic, ecological, national security impacts of climate change and its associated sea rise, as well as potential solutions.
This conference featured Charles Bolden- former head of NASA, Sherri Goodman- former deputy undersecretary of defense and senior advisor of The Center for Climate and Security, and Bob Inglis- former U.S. Congressman and founder of RepublicEn.org.
This panel included Furman faculty from three different disciplines who each bring a unique perspective on climate change. The faculty members included: Brannon Andersen (Earth & Environmental Sciences), Elizabeth Holt (Health Sciences), Michael Corley (Political Science Department). Each faculty member highlighted the impacts of climate change from their disciplinary lenses, the role that their discipline can play in addressing the issue, and the need for interdisciplinary synergies between the disciplines moving forward to tackle the problem.
This panel included Furman faculty from three different disciplines who each bring a unique perspective on climate change. The faculty members included: Brannon Andersen (Earth & Environmental Sciences), Elizabeth Holt (Health Sciences), Michael Corley (Political Science Department). Each faculty member highlighted the impacts of climate change from their disciplinary lenses, the role that their discipline can play in addressing the issue, and the need for interdisciplinary synergies between the disciplines moving forward to tackle the problem.