Planet U: The Human Story of Climate Change

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign




Conference Schedule

Wednesday, April 8 (Illini Union)

9am-1pm Roundtable Discussion: Illinois Sustainability Vision (Illini Rooms B&C) Office Web Portal
1-2pm Bruce Rittmann: "Microbial Bioenergy Options: Promising Perspectives on Society's Energy Challenge" (Room 210)
5-5:30pm Welcome
Steven Sonka, Vice-Chancellor for Public Engagement
Performance Piece:"Light weight: Sky bit"
Students of Jennifer Monson, Dept. of Dance, the Graduate String Quartet and Hee Yun Kim, School of Music
5-8pm Poster Presenters
5:30-6:45pm Reception (buffet dinner)
6:45-7pm  Welcome Aboard Planet U:
Bill Sullivan, Director, The Environmental Council, University of Illinois
7-8:30pm Keynote Address:
Brian Fagan—“The Silent Elephant in the Climatic Room” 

Thursday, April 9 (Beckman Institute)

8-9am   Breakfast
9-10am Session #1: The Invention of Weather: A Cultural History
Speakers:
Jan Golinski (Univ. New Hampshire): “The Climate of Enlightenment”
Stephanie LeMenager (UC Santa Barbara): "Post-Seasonal Affective Disorder: The Environmental Imagination in the Era of Climate Change"
10-10:15am Break
10:15-11:45am Session #2: Climate Change and the Media
Speakers:
Andy Revkin (New York Times)
Dan Vergano (USA Today)
Michael Hawthorne (Chicago Tribune)
12-1pm  Lunch
1-2pm Special Presentation: Visualizing the Story of Climate Change Science
Speakers:
Don Wuebbles (Illinois)
Donna Cox, and the Advanced Visualization Team, NCSA (Illinois) 
2-2:15 pm Break
2:15-3:30pm Session #3Climate and Civilizations
Speakers:
Bill Ruddiman (Virginia): "Early Agriculture Prevented Climatic Cooling"
Lisa Lucero (Illinois): "History Lessons: Climate Change and the Maya Collapse"
Gillen Wood (Illinois): "The Tambora Project"
3:30-4pm Afternoon Tea
4-5:15pm Session #4: Thinking Climate: The Ethics of Change
Speaker:
Calvin DeWitt (Wisconsin): "Climate Ethics: Winds of Change"
Respondents: Bill Sullivan (Illinois)
Susanne Moser
5:15-6:15pm Hors d’oeuvres
6:15-6:30pm Introduction to The Environmental Change Institute
Wes Jarrell (Illinois)
Introduction to the Office of Sustainability
Dick Warner (Illinois)
6:30-8pm Keynote Address:
Eugene Linden: "Climate Stimulus: What the Financial Meltdown Can Teach Us About Tackling Global Warming"

Friday, April 10 (Beckman Institute)

8-9am Breakfast
9-10:15am Session #5: Controlling Climate: Past and Present
Speakers:
James Fleming (Colby): "The Checkered History of Climate Control"
Michael Schlesinger (Illinois): "The Illinois Climate Change Advisory Group: Policies for Reducing Emissions"
10:15-10:30am Break
10:30-11:45am Session #6: Climate Impacts on Health, Security and Population
Speakers:
Stanley Ambrose (Illinois): "Volcanic Winter in the Garden of Eden?"
Dan Ferber (Science): "Healing An Ailing Planet"
Jurgen Scheffran (Illinois): "Climate and Conflict: Security Risks and Societal Instabilities of Global Warming"
12-1pm Lunch
1-2:15pm  Session #7: Climate Change and Chicago
Speakers:
Suzanne Malec-McKenna (Commissioner, City of Chicago Department of Environment)
Don Wuebbles (Illinois)
Respondent: Michael Hawthorne (Chicago Tribune)
2:15-2:30pm Break
2:30-3:45pm Session #8: Changing Landscape, Changing Crops
Speakers:
Peter deMenocal (Columbia): "Green Sahara: Climate Change and the Cultural Evolution of North Africa"
Stephen Long (Illinois): "Adapt or Starve: The SoyFACE Project and Other Experiments in Climate Change and Grain Crops"
3:45-4:00pm Break
4:00-4:45pm Plenary Address:
Susanne Moser—“Creating a Climate for Change: U’r Planet, U’r Future”
Closing Remarks:
Linda Katehi: Provost and Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs
4:45-6pm Cash Bar