Science and Ideas Group Presents: Climate Change & Social Consequences

Presenter: L. Dismore (Diz) Swift, PhD, Geology
Description of talk: Since the Fourth Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007, the scientific evidence for human caused climate change has become incontrovertible. In spite of warnings and many promises to address climate change since then, the two major greenhouse gases - CO2 and methane - are still rising, reaching levels not seen for about 60 million years.
The inexorable increase in global temperature is leading to dangerous changes, some irreversible in the human time frame. These so-called “tipping points” include accelerating loss of ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, slowing or even collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), and thawing of permafrost in the Northern Hemisphere, which releases methane and carbon dioxide, setting up a cycle of increasing greenhouse gases.
The warming climate is causing changing weather patterns, agricultural disruption, extinctions, migrations of people and animals, and political instability. The US Defense Department has long recognized climate change as a defense threat multiplier. The interrelationships are complex and difficult. The combinations of the climate consequences are having a major effect on society, and will continue to become even more serious. The action necessary is at the policy and government level. The longer we wait, the more negative consequences we’ll see.
Short biography: Diz Swift has a PhD in geology and worked in the energy sector for most of her career. After early retirement she began studying climate change and advocating for action. She lectures widely on climate science, action and policy, including five years as a guest lecturer at the NYU Stern Business School. She is currently Director of Natural Resources for the League of Women Voters of California where she advocates with the League for climate and related legislation. She founded and is co-chair of the national League of Women Voters Climate Interest Group with 1,600 members spearheading grass-roots climate action in nearly all 50 states. Still interested in geology, she is also working on a sapphire mine in Montana.
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Live transcript available here: drive.google.com/file/d/1b_7o...