Society faces increasingly complex problems as the world population grows and makes larger demands of the planet's finite resources. The spring 2020 EarthTalks series, "Societal Problems, EESI Science towards Solutions," features scientists from Penn State's Earth and Environmental Systems Institute (EESI) and explores the human impacts on the global environment and how to apply this knowledge to decision-making.
Topics of these technical talks range from climate to energy to limits on natural resources. The talks, which are free and open to the public, begin at 4 p.m. every Monday through April 27 in 112 Walker Building at University Park.
EarthTalks is a semester-long interdisciplinary seminar series that seeks to engage the University and broader community in examining some of the complex environmental challenges facing the world today. The talks feature distinguished researchers and practitioners from Penn State and other universities, government agencies and nonprofit organizations.
The tentative schedule is as follows:
- Feb. 3: Jim Kasting, "Global warming, human heat stress, and recommendations for energy/climate policy"
- Feb. 10: Christopher H. House, "Positive societal impacts of origin of life and space sciences research"
- Feb. 17: Erica Smithwick, "Firescapes of the mid-Atlantic"
- Feb. 24: Richard Alley, "Collapsing ice sheets?"
- March 2: Ken Davis, "U.S. methane emissions: What do we know? What can be done?"
- March 16: Seth Blumsack, "How renewable energy really gets on the power grid (or doesn't)"
- March 23: Chris Forest, "Embracing uncertainty in earth system modeling to assess climate change risks"
- March 30: Roman DiBiase, "Geologic and climatic controls on the resilience of headwater watersheds"
- April 6: Klaus Keller, "Designing projections of the coupled natural-human systems to inform climate risk management"
- April 13: Laifang Li, "Oceanic moisture supply to extreme summer precipitation in the U.S. Midwest"
- April 20: Dave Yoxtheimer, "Shale energy development trends and challenges"
- April 27: Julie Cosmidis, "Phosphate recycling from human waste: developing new microbial strategies"
The spring 2020 EarthTalks series is supported by the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute.
