2008 Global Environment Speaker Series focuses on climate change and Amazonia

The University of Richmond's environmental studies and international studies programs present the 2008 Global Environment Speaker Series on three evenings this semester—February 25, March 19 and April 9. The topic of this year’s series is Climate Change in Amazonia.

The Speaker Series features leading researchers including Dr. Kenneth Young from the National Science Foundation, Dr. J. Timmons Roberts from The College of William and Mary and Dr. I. Foster Brown from The Woods Hole Research Center.

Participants will learn to place a unique and globally important region in the context of a rapidly changing world. The Amazon rainforest is the world’s largest contiguous rainforest with the highest diversity of plants and animal life on earth. The Amazon also contains 20 percent of the earth’s freshwater flow, over 300 unique human cultures and a vast amount of carbon suspended in trees, plants and soils.  The loss of these resources would have global ramifications.

All talks will take place in the Gottwald Science Center Auditorium and are free and open to the public.

February 25 at 7 p.m.
Amazon Dreams: Environmental Change in the Amazon Basin 
Dr. Kenneth Young, NSF

March 19 at 7 p.m.
Climate Change, Deforestation and the Fate of the Amazon
Dr. J Timmons Roberts

April 9 at 7 p.m.
Amazonia: A Fiery Future Ahead? 
Dr. I Foster Brown

Posted February 19, 2008