SACPA Session - Hell, High Water, and High Hopes

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The Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs (SACPA) presents a session with University of Lethbridge philosophy professor Dr. Kent Peacock as he discusses climate change and its link to global weather events.

Hell, High Water, and High Hopes

Date:              Thursday, Sep 28, 2017
Time:              12 - 1:30 p.m. (30 minutes each for presentation, lunch and Q & A)
Location:       Country Kitchen Catering (Lower level of The Keg) 1715 Mayor Magrath Dr. S
Cost:               $12 (includes lunch) or $2 (includes coffee/tea) RSVP is not necessary

Hurricanes, typhoons, killer heat waves, droughts, floods, wildfires — these things seem to be getting worse all the time.  Are these events caused by global warming?  Or are they just bad weather?  Climate scientists are careful to explain that one cannot attribute any particular storm or wildfire to climate change alone.  But there is strong evidence that global warming is steadily increasing the chance that the intensity and sometimes the frequency of such disasters will occur.

Climate is complex, but the simple fact is that there is more heat than there used to be in the atmosphere and oceans and all that heat has to go somewhere. And go it will, whether or not there are people with their vulnerable infrastructures in the way.

Is the human species doomed?  The speaker will say that reports of our imminent extinction are greatly exaggerated.  But there is no hope of getting through our present ecological bottleneck without acknowledging the reality and the seriousness of the self-induced survival challenges our species faces today. The speaker will sketch some of the reasons why he thinks we still have a good chance of seeing our way out of this jam, with special reference to priorities here in Alberta.

Speaker:         Dr. Kent Peacock

Dr. Peacock attained his PhD in Philosophy from the University of Toronto in 1991. In 1996, he joined the University of Lethbridge. His special interests are professional ethics, environmental issues, logic and foundations of physics. These interests impelled his inquiry into issues related to acquiring and applying energy to the needs of modern global society.

Moderator:   Tad Mitsui

For more information on the Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs, visit the SACPA website.


Contact:

Trevor Kenney | trevor.kenney@uleth.ca | 403-329-2710 | sacpa.ca