James Hansen, Ph.D., internationally recognized global climate change expert, will speak at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Feb. 1.
James Hansen, Ph.D., internationally recognized global climate change expert, will speak at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Feb. 1.
Hansen comes to UNC as the Frey Foundation Distinguished Visiting Professor in the College of Arts and Sciences. His lecture, “Global Climate Change: What Must We Do Now?” at 7 p.m. in Memorial Hall, is free to the public and no advanced tickets are required.
A public reception and book signing will follow the lecture. Hansen’s new book is “Storms of My Grandchildren: The Truth About the Coming Climate Catastrophe and Our Last Chance to Save Humanity.”
In 2006, Time magazine named Hansen one of the world’s most influential people. He is director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and adjunct professor at Columbia University’s Earth Institute. His Congressional testimony on climate change in the 1980s made him an early scientific voice that helped raise broad awareness of global warming. He created one of the first models of climate change about 30 years ago and has used it to predict much of what has happened since. Elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1995, he has been an active researcher in planetary atmospheres and climate science for nearly 40 years, with the last 30 years focused on climate research.
The Frey Foundation Professorship was established in 1989 to bring to campus distinguished leaders from government, public policy and the arts. Alumnus David Gardner Frey chairs the foundation established by his parents, Edward J. and Frances Frey of Grand Rapids, Mich.
Parking for the lecture is available in the Morehead Planetarium visitor’s lot on Franklin Street and in commercial lots on Rosemary Street.
For more information, visit http://college.unc.edu.
Book Web site: www.stormsofmygrandchildren.com
Photo: http://uncnews.unc.edu/images/stories/news/science/2010/hansen_lowlibrary_forpublic.jpg
College of Arts and Sciences contact: Dee Reid, (919) 843-6339, deereid@unc.edu
News Services contact: Patric Lane, (919) 962-8596, patric_lane@unc.edu