April 4: Listen to one of the country's major experts on global climate change

Christopher Flavin President of Worldwatch Institute, discusses global climate change.

When: Wednesday April 4 -- talk 11-12, lunch 12:00-12:45

Where: North United Methodist Church, N. Meridian St. at 38th St.

How much are human practices contributing to sub-stantial and irreversible changes to the environment? What effect are changes to the climate having in different areas of the planet? What response can the inter-national community adopt to lessen the impact of dramatic climate change?

As President of Worldwatch, Christopher Flavin is the Institute’s chief executive officer, serves on its Board of Directors, and represents the organization before a wide range of international audiences. In his long career at Worldwatch, he has helped guide the Institute’s development, serving as vice president for research and later as senior vice president. He was appointed president in September 2000.Christopher is actively engaged in international climate change and energy policy discussions, and participated in the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the Climate Change Conference in Kyoto Japan in 1997, and the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002. He is a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences Board on Energy and Environmental Systems, the Climate Institute, and the Environmental and Energy Study Institute.

It's part of the Mid-North Shepherd Center's Great decisions series. Questions? Contact 317-924-0959 or mnscenter@aol.com

January 31: Find out what is causing global climate change, and what can be done

Electrical engineer Dick Davis discusses "Global Climate Change" as part of the Church of the Saviour's "Great Decisions" series

When: Wednesday January 31, 7:00 PM
Where: Church of the Saviour, 6205 Rucker Road Indianapolis

How much are human practices contributing to substantial and irreversible changes to the environment? What effect are changes to the climate having in different areas of the planet? What response can the international community adopt to lessen the impact of dramatic climate change?

If this event sounds interesting, you should check out All Gore when he comes to town in April, or just get a copy of "Inconvenient Truth." Even better will be to join in other discussions of climate change and the environment. As part of the ICWA's Great Decisions series, you can hear IUPUI climatologist Gabriel Filippelli February 6. Stanford scientist Stephen Schneider discusses "Can we measure, let alone solve, global warming" April 18.

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February 6: Discuss the science and politics of global climate change

Prof. Gabriel Filippelli--Chair Department of Earth Sciences at IUPUI and Associate Director of Center For Environmental Health at Indiana University -- discusses global climate change for the Great Decisions Series of the Indiana Council on World Affairs.

When: Tuesday, March 29 7:00-9:00 PM

Where: Butler University, Pharmacy Building

How much are human practices contributing to substantial and irreversible changes to the environment? What effect are changes to the climate having in different areas of the planet? What response can the international community adopt to lessen the impact of dramatic climate change?

These and other questions will be addressed by Prof. Gabriel Filippelli of IUPUI. Part of the reason why the public and policymakers seem confused about the topic of "global warming" (perhaps more precise would be to call the topic "massive human induced climate change") is that the science is hard. It isn't just that the math underlying the models is beyond our brains, there is also a matter of understanding the nature of the scientific method and the role of doubt.

Filippelli should be a valuable guide, a real live honest to goodness climate scientist who works hard to clarify issues for ordinary citizens. Here's how he describes his research agenda. Filippelli was featured in a WISH-TV feature about global climate change.

“When greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane go up in our atmosphere, because of physics, the atmosphere and the planet simply have to warm,” said Dr. Gabriel Filippelli, IUPUI. Proponents say they have proof. “We can prove this by doing this in a lab experiment in a beaker. You add more of these gases in, the beaker is going to be hotter with the same amount of incident light,” said Filippelli.

The only way to predict future climate is through computer models. “Weather models have a hard time forecasting weather conditions past a week or 10 days,” said Randy Ollis, Forecast 8 meteorologist. Researchers say climate models are
different. “The science behind understanding climate change is much more solid than it was even 10 years ago,” said Filippelli. “Climate models are extremely stripped down and they just deal with some basic aspects of atmospheric physics,” said Dr. Gabriel Filippelli, IUPUI. They’re basic in form, but complex in results. The models don't agree on future climate, but global warming proponents say, “Everyone that I have seen applied projects a warming,” said Filippelli. With that, Filippelli is comfortable enough to say, “If you are looking to buy real estate, Antarctica is I think a good deal right now.”

Prof. Filippelli will surely help connect this global issue to local concerns. We get a taste of this in a news article from last year.

If this event sounds interesting, you should check out the Church of the Saviour's Great Decision discussion of global climate change January 31. And hear a Stanford scientist ask whether we can even measure global climate change on April 18. That makes science sem pretty fuzzy ... so let's listen to the leading authority on the fuzziest of warped and bizarre science on March 7.

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February 8: Learn about what international public health was like before the World Health Organization

Theodore Brown, the country's leading historian of public health, helps us better understand the challenges of global public health in the 21st century by taking us back half a century

When: Thursday February 8, 4:00-5:00 PM
Where: IU Medical School Medical Science Library, Room IB 301 & 302

Theodore M. Brown, Professor in the Departments of History and of Community and Preventive Medicine at the University of Rochester, will talk about “International Public Health: Before the World Health Organization.” The History of the WHO cannot be fully understood without appreciating the often tangled background of international public health that existed in the years before the Second World War. When WHO came into being, it inherited a legacy that included many tensions, contests over organizational territory, and conflicts over priorities. This presentation will evaluate the key developments in international health in the period leading up to the chartering of WHO, and will pay particular attention to the Office Internationale d'Hygiene Publique and the League of Nations Health Organization.

Dr. Brown brings an important perspective, expressed in his 2004 article "A Role for Public Health History":

First, that international public health efforts are deeply influenced and critically shaped by their political context. Programs cannot be created in a vacuum or applied in isolation. They are of this world and, like it, they constantly change and thus need to be frequently renegotiated. Second, the culture of international health organizations must be acknowledged in order to understand what priorities will emerge at any particular time and which will survive intra- and interagency competition. Programmatic ideas are always contested and rise and fall with shifting political alliances.

Third, ideas are applied in a world governed by administrative and bureaucratic realities. The translation of plans into actual programs requires a great deal of persistence and negotiating skill to make them real and keep them functioning. Fourth, international health initiatives must reckon with deep-seated historical and cultural traditions, local realities, and global forces. All play roles in the success and failure of public health activities, and no success is likely to last forever, especially when the world changes in dramatic ways. Fifth, top-down initiatives cannot expect to succeed without real bottom-up support. Because people at the local level understand how programs need to function to address their particular needs, there can be no simple formula for international public health success. A single agenda or set of priorities cannot suit all circumstances.

Clearly, there is an important role for history in global public health. Studying history carefully and generalizing from its particulars may not necessarily help us avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, but by distilling the lessons of history, we can certainly learn more clearly where we have been and, as a consequence, become more aware of where we are.

More information

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March 7: Travel down "Warped Passages" with Lisa Randall

Super-scientist Lisa Randall speaks for Butler University's Woods Lecture Series

When: Wednesday, March 7th, 7:30 PM
Where: Butler University Clowes Hall

Lisa Randall, Professor of Physics at Harvard University will speak about her book, Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions. The book takes up the topics of particle physics, string theory, brane worlds, and extra dimensions in a way that is accessible and entertaining for a general audience.

Dr. Randall was the first tenured woman in physics at Princeton; the first tenured woman theorist in science at Harvard and at MIT. She's the most cited theoretical physicist in the world in the last five years. She is most known for two papers: "A Large mass Hierarchy From a Small Extra Dimension"; and and "An Alternative to Compactification." Both concern "Warped Geometry/Spacetime" and show that infinite extra dimension and weakness of gravity can be explained with an extra dimension.

Lisa Randall’s research in theoretical high energy physics is primarily related to the question of what is the physics underlying the standard model of particle physics. This has involved studies of strongly interacting theories, supersymmetry, and most recently, extra dimensions of space. In this latter work, she investigates "warped" geometries. The study of further implications of this work has involved string theory, holography, and cosmology. Lisa Randall also continues to work on supersymmetry and other beyond-the-standard-model physics.

Within a year of her work on extra dimensions, it was featured on the front page of the Science Times section of The New York Times. It has also been featured in the Economist, the New Scientist, Science, Nature, The Los Angeles Times, The Dallas Daily News, a BBC Horizons television program, BBC radio, and other news sources. She has also been also been interviewed because Science Watch and the ISI Essential Science Indicators have indicated her research as some of the best cited in all of science.

If this talk by Prof. Randall sounds interesting, you should check out the discussions of global climate change on January 31, February 6, April 18. The political controversies over what to do about climate change inevitably revolve around scientific uncertainty and doubt. It should be a healthy reality check to hear from Prof. Randall about the sorts of uncertainty she faces in her research.

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April 18: Ask “Can we define, let alone solve, global warming?”

April 18
Butler University Woods Lecture Series
Stephen Schneider: “Can we define, let alone solve, global warming?”
7:30pm
Butler University, Atherton Union Reilly Room
Stephen Schneider is Professor for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies and Professor of Biological Sciences at Stanford University. Dr. Schneider has written extensively on climate change, both science and policy, and will be addressing the question:
Can we define, let alone solve, global warming?