Co-Production of Humanities Institute, School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, and Philosophy Department
STONY BROOK, N.Y., Oct. 27, 2008 — Three Stony Brook departments are presenting a conference titled “Changing Climates, Changing Minds: Storms, Trust and Public Perception” on November 12-14, 2008. This interdisciplinary event is predicated upon the belief that changing societal attitudes and practices is key to responding to the urgent issue of climate change, and to other challenges that lie at the interface of science and society. This event will bring leading scientists together with humanists and writers to discuss better ways of resolving controversies such as climate change that involve issues of trust and distrust between government, science, and society.
“I consider it of the utmost importance for humanists to contribute by bringing our unique perspectives to bear on an urgent global problem while working with relevant scientists,” said E. Ann Kaplan, Director of the Humanities Institute at Stony Brook. The conference “will be the first of its type that brings together some of the most authoritative scholars from academia, the government, and leading research laboratories to discuss the theory of hurricanes and winter storms, including their future changes under global warming,” said Minghua Zhang, Professor of Marine Sciences and a co-winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. “This unique conference touches on frontier areas where the sciences and humanities meet,” commented Robert Crease, Chair of the Philosophy Department at Stony Brook. “Several talks, for instance, address the role of trust and distrust in shaping controversies between scientists, politicians, and the public,” he added.
Dr. Spencer Weart, the author of The Discovery of Global Warming, will give a talk entitled “Warm Weather and Heated Debate: A Short History of Beliefs about Global Warming” in which he traces the history of global warming and its surrounding debate. Dr. Kerry Emanuel, a hurricane scientist listed as one of the world’s 100 most influential people in 2006 by Time magazine and the author of What We Know About Climate Change, will give a pair of talks. In one of them, “Recent Advances in Hurricanes,” he will examine the physics behind the rare development of tropical cyclones over land, and what we have come to understand about the interaction between hurricanes and climate change. Carl Safina, President of the Blue Ocean Institute, will give a talk titled “Bringing Public Trust to the Sciences: Why Do Scientists Cling Stubbornly to Explaining Data Rather than Telling a Story?” In this talk Safina will attempt to bridge the divide between scientific proof and public understanding and acceptance of climate change and related issues. Dr. Heidi Cullen, a climate expert at Princeton University and The Weather Channel, will close the conference with a talk entitled “Seeing the Climate, Believing the Change” in which she will explore the difficulties of communicating the science of climate change and look at the current state of public perception.
A conference banquet, on Thursday, November 13th, will feature a talk by Patti Wood, a Long-Island based community activist, author and Executive Director of Grassroots Environmental Education. She will introduce her new initiative, “How Green is My Town?”
Other conference speakers will include Peter Adler, Paul Kocin, Burrell Montz, Richard Rotunno, Gary Sanders, Glenn Sandiford, Chris Thorncroft and Louis Uccellini. A panel on climate change and public policy will include the participation of Alan Belensz, Malcolm Bowman, Brian Colle, Kerry Emanuel, Stephen Leatherman, Carl Safina and Jeff Waldstreicher.
For the full program of events and biographies of all participants please visit www.stonybrook.edu/humanities.
Registration is required. All events are free and open to the public, with the exception of the banquet on Thursday evening with dinner speaker Patti Wood. The fee for the banquet is $25, payable by cash or check. The conference will be held in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences and the Humanities Building. The banquet will be in the J-Club in the Wang Center.
To register or for more information please contact Olivia Mattis, Humanities Institute at Stony Brook, olivia.mattis@stonybrook.edu or (631) 632-9957.
This event is being sponsored by SUNY Conversations in the Disciplines, the John Templeton Foundation, the Office of the Provost, the Office of the Vice-President for Research, the Office of the Dean and the Humanities Institute at Stony Brook.
