Dorothy J. Killam Memorial Lecture Series

2002 Lectures

Climate Change: Truth and Consequences

• October 9, 2002: Global Warming: How Uncertain is the Look into the Future?
• October 15, 2002: Cumulative Effects of Climate Change and Human Use on Freshwater Communities
• October 23, 2002: Climate Change: Does Global Warming Warrant a Health Warning?

Imagine the largest uncontrolled and unintended "experiment" ever to be implemented on earth. It may well be happening now! Many believe that humankind is firmly committed to a path of fundamental change in the earth's climate during the next century. Despite huge uncertainties in making reliable long-term predictions of the global climate, the balance of evidence points to changes during the 21st century that will be without precedent in many millennia.

Whatever the truth really is, there is no doubt that global climate change is capturing enormous attention in scientific and policy circles. Climate change will affect every Canadian, including every Nova Scotian and Haligonian, in profound ways. In October 2002, three world-class experts on climate change and its potential consequences were in Halifax to identify and discuss relevant issues that we will have to wrestle with in the upcoming decades.

Global Warming: How Uncertain is the Look into the Future?   

Date: October 9, 2002
Speaker: Dr. Thomas Stocker

Do scientists understand the climate system well enough to support the IPCC prediction that the global mean temperature will rise between 1.4 and 5.8 degrees C by the year 2100? The latest climate-system models give a clear message: most of the observed warming over the last fifty years is attributable to human activities. The lecture will explore the nature of uncertainties in such climate modelling, as well as some key implications of unabated warming in northern regions.

Dr. Thomas Stocker is Professor of Climate and Atmospheric Physics at the University of Bern, Switzerland. He studied environmental physics at ETH Zurich and was a postdoctoral fellow at University College (London), McGi11 University, and Columbia University. In his current research, he develops climate-system models to understand past and future climate changes at time scales of decades to hundreds of thousands of years. Dr. Stocker recently served as a Coordinating Lead Author and Contributor for the Third Assessment Report (2001) of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Cumulative Effects of Climate Change and Human Use on Freshwater    Communities

Date: October 15, 2002
Speaker: Dr. David Schindler

Climate warming and human uses will lead to severe problems with freshwater quantity, quality and biodiversity. With warmer air and little change in precipitation, the increased evaporation can lead to large decreases in river flows. Concomitantly, lake levels decline, wetlands dry up, and groundwater availability declines. Associated water quality problems include eutrophication, acidification, exposure to UV radiation, pollution with pathogens and toxins, and invasions of alien species. Destruction of wetlands and riparian areas, along with other land-use changes, will further exacerbate the freshwater problem. Comprehensive watershed planning and water conservation measures are urgently needed to protect freshwaters in the remainder of the 21st century.

Dr. David Schindler is Killam Memorial Professor of Ecology at the University of Alberta, Edmonton. From 1968 to 1989, he directed the Experimental Lakes Project in Northwestern Ontario, conducting interdisciplinary research on the effects of eutrophication, acid rain, climate change and other human insults on boreal aquatic ecosystems. Dr. Schindler now focuses his research on effects of climate warming, alien fish stocks, airborne contaminants and other human impacts on freshwaters of the Rocky Mountains. He has received numerous awards for his research, including the Volvo International Environment Prize in 1998 and the NSERC Gerhard Herzberg Gold Medal for Science and Engineering. In addition, he holds seven honorary doctorates from Canadian and US universities.

Climate Change: Does Global Warming Warrant a Health Warning?   

Date: October 23, 2002
Speaker: Dr. Tony McMichael

What consequences might we expect for human health due to continued global warming? While humans are better buffered against environmental stressors than any other species, we are still vulnerable to the wide spectrum of environmental hazards influenced by climate change. The lecture will touch on a wide range of human-health impacts ranging from severe weather events, heat waves, infectious diseases and altered water quality, to economic dislocation and population displacement. Most of the health impacts will be adverse. Adaptive policies and practices are needed immediately to lessen human vulnerability to the potential ravages of climate change.

Dr. Tony McMichael studied medicine at the University of Adelaide in South Australia. Today he is Director of the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health at the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. From 1994 to 2001, he was Professor of Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. His current research deals with occupational diseases, diet and cancer, and environmental health hazards. Since 1994, Dr. McMichael has chaired the assessment of human-health risks for the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.