Thursday, February 4th, 7:00 p.m.
The climate crisis is a subtle problem because it doesn’t manifest itself like weather, which changes from day to day. But 97 percent or more of climate scientists* tell us that human-caused climate change is real and getting worse, and the daily news seems to bear them out. The crisis is already too big for individual actions alone to make any difference in solving it. So how shall we respond, collectively? In a lively presentation with easily understood terms, ROBERT HAW, an engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, discusses the changes occurring in our world, such as sea level rise, ocean acidification, more floods and droughts, a changing balance among plants and animals, and the ways in which these changes affect us. Accumulating climate stresses will especially hurt those who are less fortunate, both here and around the world, and our children.
Such a future is not inevitable though, so Haw also describes several proposed policy options to slow these dangerous trends. The options are important to understand because different solutions lead to radically different outcomes. Find out more about these proposals and how they might help preserve a safe operating space on Earth for humanity. A question and answer period will follow the presentation, including a discussion of follow-up actions that you can take. If time permits, a summary of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris will also be presented.
A physicist by training and a graduate of Stanford University, Robert has been employed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for 25 years as a navigation engineer on exploration missions across the solar system. He's currently working on SMAP, an Earth-orbiting spacecraft designed to monitor soil moisture levels around the planet. In 2012 Robert co-founded the Pasadena Foothills chapter of the Citizens Climate Lobby, an organization exclusively devoted to building the political will for a livable planet. He has spoken frequently in Congressional offices to elected representatives and to public audiences in the Foothill communities about a practical & non-partisan solution to the climate crisis.
