Archived Lectures
Abstracts and Presentations
Take a look to the recordings of past events hosted and/or supported by PICS and other Faculties and Departments, part of the SFU Climate Action Initiatives.
Octopus's Garden: Planning for Sea Level Rise Series 2017
June 8, 2017, Plannig for Sea Level Rise - Local challenges and solutions
April 27, 2017, SFU Climate and Energy Research Day: Exploring climate, water and energy nexus
- Keynote speakers: Jonathan Wilkinson, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change; Andrea Reimer, City of Vancouver; Stephanie Smith, BC Hydro.
- Panel session with Stephanie Smith (BC Hydro), Andrea Reimer (City of Vancouver), Anil Hira (Political Science), Diana Allen (Earth Sciences), and Jonn Axsen (Resource and Environmental Management). Moderated by Zafar Adeel (Pacific Water Research Centre)
Public Carbon Talks - Spring 2017
March 28, 2017, Implementing the Pan-Canadian Framework on Climate Change
Click here to watch the recording of the event.
March 15, 2017, Towards a Circular City
Click here to watch the recording of the event.
February 16, 2017, Can British Columbia's Forests Help to Reduce Emissions?
SFU - PICS Public Talk
October 11, 2016, Laudato Si + 1: Faith, Business and Climate Change
Public Carbon Talks - Fall 2016
December 09, 2016, Is the Paris Agreement on Track?
Clikc here to watch the recording of the event.
November 24, 2016, Powering Prosperity: Achieving Local Support for 100% Renewable Energy in Canada
Click here to watch the recording of the event.
October 04, 2016, Climate Action in BC: Where do we go from here?
Click here to watch the recording of the event.
September 27, 2016, Low-Carbon Resilience: Integrating Adaptation and Mitigation Planning for a Resilient Canada
PICS Public Panel
March 8, 2016: Building a Strong BC Climate Leadership Plan: Your Chance to Contribute.
Public Carbon Talks - Spring 2016
June 7, 2016, Effective Climate Leadership in Cities: Lessons from Germany
Click here to watch the recording of the event.
March 23, 2016: Levelling the playing field as Vancouver implements its Renewable City Strategy
Click here to watch the recording of the event.
March 16, 2016: The Future of Canada’s Oil Sands in an Emissions Constrained World
Click here to watch the recording of the event.
January 27, 2016: Carbon Capture and Recovery: Opportunities, Challenges, and Potential
Public Carbon Talks - Fall 2015
December 17, 2015: Après Paris: A COP21 Debrief
Click here to watch the recording of the event.
November 2, 2015: Resilient Renewable Cities
Click here to watch the recording of the event.
October 1, 2015: The Economics and Politics of Carbon Pricing in Australia
Click here to watch the recording of the event.
September 2015: Climate, COP21, and Paris: Behind Closed Doors
SFU Climate and Energy Research Day
April 14th, 2015
The SFU Climate and Energy Research Day, hosted by the SFU’s Office of the Vice-President, Research, and the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions, provided an opportunity for SFU scholars with interest in energy and/or climate change research to engage with other scholars at SFU and share their research with the broader community. The areas of interest SFU researchers are involved include climate science, climate change impacts on ecosystems and human health, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, climate policy, sustainable energy systems, alternative energy technology, sustainable living among others.
Recordings of the event:
- Enlightening Talks and Climate and Energy Research Landscape - http://www.sfu.ca/video-library/video/1307/view.html
- Plenary Talk "Integrating Research from Natural to Social Science" - http://www.sfu.ca/video-library/video/1306/view.html
- Interdisciplinary Climate and Energy Research Landscape - http://www.sfu.ca/video-library/video/1308/view.html
PICS Special Lectures - Spring 2015
May 19th, 2015: Dealing with dragons: deciding if, when and how to intervene in ecosystems in a rapidly changing world
Dr. Richard Hobbs, leads the the Ecosystem Restoration and Intervention Ecology Research Group.
May 8th, 2015: Talking Climate: Why Facts are Not Enough with Dr. Katharine Hayhoe
Dr. Katharine Hayhoe is an atmospheric scientist who is an Associate Professor and director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University.
Click here to watch the recording of the event.
March 26th, 2015: FACTS Panel Discussion. A Political Discussion on the Road to the COP21
PICS UBC SFU LECTURE SERIES - 2014 - 2015
November, 2015: Balancing Act: Forest Fires, Ecology, Smoke and Health
Speakers: Meg Crawchuk, Department of Geograpy, SFU and Sarah Henderson, School of Population and Public Health, UBC.
Click here to watch the recording of the event.
January, 2015: Mapping extreme temperatures and their health risks in the Lower Mainland
Speakers: Anders Knudby, Department of Geography, SFU and Sarah Henderson, School of Population and Public Health, UBC.
Click here to watch the recording of the event.
November 20th, 2014: Using Digital and Social Media to Mobilize Climate Action: From Communities of Interest to Communities of Practice
Speakers: Maged Senbel, Professor, School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP) and UBC researchers Erik Blair and Victor Ngo.
Click here to watch the recording of the event.
October 14th, 2014: Changing Behaviours for a More Sustainable Future
Speakers: Kate White, UBC and Stephanie Bertels, SFU
Click here to watch the recording of the event.
September 23rd, 2014: Adapting to Climate Change: Global Knowledge, Local Action
Speakers: Stewart Cohen, Environment Canada, Lori Daniels, Faculty of Forestry, UBC and Jonathan O’Riordan, SFU - ACT. Moderator Tim Takaro, Faculty of Health Sciences, SFU.
Public Carbon Talks - Fall 2014/Spring 2015
March 10, 2015: Transit Vote Burnaby: Congestion, Health, and Livability
Click here to watch the recording of the event.
November 25, 2014: District Energy and the Role of the Private Sector
Click here to watch the recording of the event
September 26, 2014: Divest: Smart Strategy or Selling Out?
PICS Public Panel
September 18th, 2014: The Cleantech Edge: Canada's fastest growing industry in the age of climate change
Keynote speaker: Céline Bak– President, Analytica Advisors
Hosted by the David Suzuki Foundation and the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions
PICS CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH LECTURE SERIES - Spring 2014
April 24th, 2014: The Good Life, The Green Life Documentary Screening and Free Public Lecture
Speakers: Shannon Daub, CCPA and Shane Gunster, SFU.
Click here to watch the recording of the event
February 12ve, 2014: Planning Cities for Climate Change: Lessons Learned through Energy Modeling and Community Engagement
Speakers: Ronald Kellett, UBC, Cynthia Girling, UBC, Michael Wolinetz, Navius Research, Jeremy Moorhouse, SFU.
Public Carbon Talks - Spring 2014
June 24, 2014: Waste to Energy, Low-carbon Future?
Click here for a link to the webcast recording
April 08, 2014: Beyond the Politics: The Benefits of Moving in a Livable Region - Surrey
Click here for a link to the webcast recording
March 14, 2014: Beyond the Politics: The Benefits of Moving in a Livable Region - Vancouver
Click here for a link to the webcast recording
February 28, 2014: Small Steps in Ecological Footprinting
Click here for a link to the webcast recording
January 30, 2014: Living Forests and Oceans: BC's Supernatural Climate Allies
PICS CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH LECTURE SERIES - Fall 2013
October 2rd, 2013:
Meeting the Climate Change Challenge (MC3): Community responses to BC climate policy
Speakers: Drs. Ann Dale, John Robinson, Meg Holden, and Stephen Sheppard
Click here to watch the recording of the event.
September 18th, 2013: Engaging with Greenest City Conversations
Speakers: Drs. John Robinson and Alissa Antle and their research team members including Susanna Haas-Lyons (MA, UBC Social Media channel), David Maggs (UBC Performing Arts channel), and Jean Hebert (SFU Mobile Applications channel)
A presentation on the Greenest City Conversations project, an innovative, interdisciplinary research collaboration with the City of Vancouver, SFU, UBC, BC Hydro, GRAND NCE, and MITACS, aimed at developing multiple channels for public engagement on municipal sustainability policies.
Public Carbon Talks - Fall 2013
November, 2013: A Vision for reducing BC's transportation Emissions
Click her for a link to the webcast recording
October, 2013: LNG: The Business Case and Global Environmental Picture
Click here for a link to the webcast recording
September, 2013: Running Campaigns, Winning Votes. Metro Vancouver transportation referendum
Click here for a link to the webcast recording.
Sponsored by the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions.
Green Tech Exchange Forums - Fall 2013
December, 2013: Enabling Energy Savings with the Rise of Cloud Computing
Speakers: Michael Hrybyk, BCNETand Aaron Rallo, TSO Logic
November, 2013: Best Practices in Reducing Carbon Emissions and Costs for SMEs
Speakers: Herman Poon - T&T Supermarket Inc.; Morten Schroder - Van Houtte Coffee Services BC
October, 2013: Galvanizing Innovative Carbon Capture Solutions from British Columbia
Speakers: Brett Henkel - Operations of Inventys Thermal Technologies, Patrick Dodd - Technology Officer of Mantra Energy Alternatives
September, 2013: Advances in the Electrification of Transportation: Design, Innovation and User Experience
Speakers: Jean-Michel (J-M) Toriel, Joey Jung, John Stonier, Mike Volker and Walter Cicha.
Sponsored by the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions.
PICS Public Forum
June 12, 2013: Canada's Energy Future
With Preston Manning and Jeffrey Simpson
How do we fulfill our energy demands for the next 50 years while meeting the climate Change challenge?
Green Tech Exchange Forums - Spring 2013
June 26th, 2013: Harmonizing Energy and Food - An Expert Panel on Bioenergy and Agriculture
May 22nd, 2013: Integrating Smart Technologies in a Distributed Environment - A Case Study on Energy Management
Speaker: Victor Goncalver, Director of Research & Advanced Development at Alpha Technologies
April 17th, 2013: Energy Storage: The Promises and Challenges of a Massive Market
Speaker: Dr. Peter Walters
Sponsored by the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions
PICS Special Lectures - Spring 2013
March 6th, 2013: Coal, Climate, Corn, Coral and Consequences: Connecting the Dots
Speaker: Dr. Tom Pedersen, PICS Executive Director
PICS UBC SFU Lecture Series Spring 2013
February 21st, 2013: 
"Electric Vehicles: Matching Low-Carbon Technology to People and Policy"
Click here for a link to the webcast recording
Dr. Jonn Axsen, Assistant Professor, Sustainable Energy, SFU.
For decaces, the promise of electric-powerd vehicles has inspired hope for a clean, low-carbon, petroleum-free transportation system. So where are these electric vehicles? Dr. Jonn Axsen draws from in-depth market and technical research to explore society's readiness for such a transition --and outline the policies required to get there.
January 29th, 2013: Fuel Cell Systems and Power Converters: Technology, innovation an aplications"
Recording available of the first part.
Dr. Erik Kjeang provided an overview of fuel cell systems as clean electricity generators for transportation and other uses. Highlighting the most recent innovations developed at SFU in collaboration with Ballard Power Systems.
Dr. Martin Ordonez gave an overview of UBC's research and development on power converters and effective system integration.
Public Carbon Talks - Spring 2013
July 22nd, 2013: High Tide on Main Street, Speaker: John Englander
Click here for a link to the webcast recording.
March 1st, 2013: A mayor's vision of how to fund regional public transportation, Speaker: Richard Walton
February 15th, 2013: 2 Degrees: The Built Environment and our Changing Climate
Speaker: Cole Roberts
Cole Roberts is the acclaimed author of "2 Degrees: The Built Environement and our Changing Climate". Join us for a lively dialogue on resiliency, adaptation and discover how we can beautify our communities even in the face of climate change challenges.
January 31st, 2013: Earth Hour City Challenge: meet the Canadian finalists
With more than 70% of the world’s CO2 emissions generated by cities, the Earth Hour City Challenge has been created to mobilize action and support from cities in the global transition towards a climate friendly one-planet future.
The challenge invites cities to submit inspiring and credible urban development plans that dramatically increase the city’s use of renewable energy. The plans and relevant data are submitted via an internationally recognized carbon reporting platform for cities, managed by ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability. Outreach and support to cities will be provided in collaboration with ICLEI and the final plans and data reviewed by an international jury.
PICS UBC SFU Lecture Series Fall 2012
September 25th, 2012: "Food Sovereignty models for "feeding the world and cooling the planet"
Dr. Hannah Wittman, Department of Sociology and Anthropology at SFU and Faculty of Land and Food Systems and the Institute for Resource, Environment and Sustainability at UBC; and Dr. Andrew Riseman, Faculty of Land and Food Systems at UBC. Click here for a link to the webcast recording
October 24th, 2012: Water Security: Governance and Climate Change Challenges from a Canadian Perspective
Dr Karen Bakker, Canada Research Chair, and Founding Director of the Program on Water Governance at UBC, Professor, UBC; and Dr. Diana Allen, Professor of Hydrogeology, Department of Earth Science, SFU. Click here for a link to the webcast recording.
PICS Special Lectures - 2012
November 2012: Bob Inglis: Prospects for a revenue-neutral tax swap in America presented by Bob Inglis, former Republican Congressman for South Carolina and current director of the Energy and Enterprise Initiative. To watch the recording click here.
March 2012: 
Storyomics: Proof that Scientists Evolved from Humans presented by Dr. Randy Olson, marine biologist, filmmaker and author of "Don't be Such a Scientist: Talking Substance in an Age of Style" (2009). To watch the recording click here.
February, 2012: The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars presented by Michael E. Mann, Penn State University. To watch the recording click here.
February, 2012: Why We Disagree About Climate Change. Presented by Mike Hulme, Professor of Climate Change, University of East Anglia, UK. To watch the recording click here.
Carbon Talks Series - Fall 2012
Series of dialogues hosted by Carbon Talks and PICS at SFU. Carbon Talks is a partnership with Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Dialogue, in collaboration with SFU’s Beedie School of Business, the School for Public Policy and the School for International Studies.
Novermber 20th, 2012:“Liquefied Natural Gas in BC: Risk or Reward?"
Opinions on what to do with BC’s massive gas deposits are divided. Some view it as a tremendous economic opportunity to exploit an abundant natural resource, which will propel BC forward into a new age of growth. Others view natural gas development as less than ideal from a greenhouse gas emissions perspective, but still a good “transition” fuel, which can be exploited responsibly. Still, there are many who view the extraction of natural gas as not only bad economics, but also illegal and immoral for the province to seemingly renege on its promise to be a leader in global climate change. To watch the recording click here.
November 6th, 2012: Provincial Climate Change Policy - Making Progress on Climate Action since 2008: Minister Terry Lake
Terry Lake is MLA for Kamloops-North Thompson and Minister of Environment. Previously, he was the Parliamentary Secretary for Health Promotion to the Minister of Health Services. He also served as Parliamentary Secretary for the Ranching Task Force to the Minister of Agriculture and Lands. He was elected MLA for Kamloops-North Thompson on May 12, 2009. Terry also served on the Selecting Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs, on Health, and on Legislative Initiatives. He was also a member of the Early Childhood Education Innovations Committee. To watch the recording click here.
October 3rd, 2012: Carbon Talk with Nicholas Heap - The Case for Wind Energy in BC
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Nicholas Heap, the BC Regional Director of the Canadian Wind Energy Association will present on the case for wind energy in BC, followed by a Q&A session with participants.
A year from now, the world’s wind turbines will produce more electricity than the entire Canadian economy consumes. Production from Canada’s existing wind farms is already sufficient to power every household in Greater Vancouver and Greater Victoria – that’s 60% of the total households in BC.
Development in British Columbia is still in its early stages, but it’s already clear that wind energy is a particularly good fit to the province and its needs. Learn more about the case for wind energy in BC, including the economic and environmental advantages that increased generation would bring to the province, as well as the remaining challenges to more implementation of this green technology. To watch the recording click here.
Coast to Coast Seminar Series: "Climate Delusions"
Dr. Mark Jaccard, School of Resource and Environmental Management. October 02, 2012. A recording of the seminar is available at The IRMACS Centre's. Click here to watch the video
"BC’s Carbon Tax Shift: Is it Working, and What Next?" Moderated by Nancy Olewiler, Director, School of Public Policy, Simon Fraser University. Four expert panelists delivered their perspectives on BC’s carbon tax.
- Stewart Elgie, Director, Institute of the Environment, University of Ottawa and Chair, Sustainable Prosperity
- James Mack, Head, British Columbia Climate Action Secretariat
- Nicholas Rivers, University of Ottawa Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and Chairholder, Canada Research Chair in Climate and Energy Policy
- Mikael Skou Andersen, European Environment Agency, Denmark
Event hosted by Carbon Talks and Sustainable Prosperity. To watch the archived lecture click here.
VIPS 2012 Summer Lunchtime Speaker Series on Climate Change
Institute for Values in Policy and Science (ViPS) fosters conversations about the social and environmental impact of recent developments in science. www.sfu.ca/~vips
Geoff Mann: "Climate Leviathan"
Wednesday, August 1st, Bennett Library 7200
Sam Black: "Philosophers on Climate Ethics: The Current Landscape"
Wednesday, July 25th, Halpern Centre 114
Britta Fluevog: "Moving Away from Tar Sands"
Wednesday, July 11th, Bennett Library 7200
Katya Petropavlova: "Responding to Climate Change: Difficulties and Opportunities"
Wednesday, July 4th, Halpern Centre 114
- Watch the recorded talk
- Talk slides (ppt 4.6 mb)
Michael Eikerling: "The Global Energy Challenge: Towards an Age of Electrochemistry"
Wednesday, June 27th, Bennett Library 7200
- Watch the recorded talk
- Talk slides (pdf 3.5 mb)
Peter Berg: "Fiat Currencies on a Finite Planet"
Wednesday, June 20th, Halpern Centre 114
Thomas Kadyk: "Changes in Sight: Limits of Growth, Climate Change, and Extreme Weather Phenomena"
Tuesday, June 12th, Halpern Centre 114
- Talk slides (pptx 4.7mb) (No recording is available for this talk)
GREEN TECH EXCHANGE FORUM
Greentech Solutions in the Food System- Addressing Food Security and Impacts on Agriculture, presented by Tara Moreau, Stephen Fane, Chris Bush, Herb Barbolet. A Green TechExchange Forum, co-hosted by GreenTech Exchange and PICS. To watch the archived lecture click here.
Brown Bag Lunch Dialogues, Spring 2012
Series of dialogues hosted by Carbon Talks and PICS at SFU. Carbon Talks is a partnership with Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Dialogue, in collaboration with SFU’s Beedie School of Business, the School for Public Policy and the School for International Studies.
April, 2012 Brown Bag lunch dialogues: An Economic Assessment of the Northern Gateway presented by Robyn Allan, Economist. To watch the archived lecture click here.
April, 2012: Brown Bag lunch dialogues: Win-Win Solutions: Smart Approaches to Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation? presented by Deborah Hartford, Adaptation to Climate Change Team (ACT), SFU. To watch the archived lecture click here.
February, 2012: Vancouver's Greenest City Action Plan presented by Sadhu Johnston, Deputy City Manager for the City of Vancouver. To watch the archived lecture click here.
January, 2012: International Climate Change Diplomacy: Where To From Durban? presented by Elizabeth May, Leader-Green Party of Canada. Her perspectives on the recent COP17 summit in Durban and on the future of international climate change diplomacy. To watch the archived lecture click here.
PICS, UBC & SFU 2011- 2012 Lecture Series
March 28th, 2012: "Shaping Communities as if Sustainability Mattered"
Ron Kellet, School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, UBC and Dr. Mark Roseland, School of Resource and Environmental Management, SFU. Archived version will be available soon. Link to the webcast recording.
January 25th, 2012:
Limit Climate Change and Stay Healthy presented by Kirsten Zickfeld, SFU Geography and Erica Frank, UBC School of Population and Public Health. Link to webcast recording.
November 24th, 2011: "Harnessing Technological Innovation for a Carbon-free Future"
David Wilkinson, Professor (Canada Research Chair), Chemical and Biological Engineering and Director, Clean Energy Research Centre, UBC and Elicia Maine, Associate Professor, Beedie School of Business. Link to the webcast recording.
October 20th, 2011: "Climate policies for real-world politics"
Mark Jaccard, Professor, Faculty of Environment, SFU and Kathryn Harrison, Professor of Political Science at UBC. Link to the webcast recording.
September 14th, 2011: "Engaging BC in Sustainability Education"
David Zandvliet, Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, SFU and Alejandro Rojas, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Land and Food Systems , UBC. Link to the webcast recording.
PICS Special Lectures - 2011
June 27, 2011: PICS Lecture: Merchants of Doubt presented by Dr. Naomi Oreskes, Professor of History and Science Studies, University of California San Diego and author of Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming, and co-authored with science historian Erik Conway, is an outstanding investigative report in terms of exposing the well-organized campaign to distort and misrepresent key scientific findings about the dangers of DDT, tobacco smoke, acid rain, and global warming. To watch the archived lecture click here.
June 7, 2011: PICS Lecture Climate Change: Why do we know that we know? prsented by Dr. Thomas Stocker, University of Bern and Co-Chair, Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change To watch the archived lecture click here.
April 8, 2011: When are the Americans coming? Prospects for the WCI and a Brief Structural Comparison with the EU-ETS presented by Dr. Sonja Klinksy, PICS Fellow and Post-doctoral Researcher, Department of Economics, Cambridge University, UK. A recording of the presentation is available. To watch the archived lecture click here.
May 25, 2011: . Climate Change and Health: Acting to reduce risks and vulnerabilities" Hosted by SFU Gerentology Centre and PICS at SFU.
Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing humanity. Along with other environmental changes brought about by global population and economic growth, it will put increasing strain on our health systems. Environmental health expert, Dr Carlos Corvalan from the Panamerican Health Organization, PAHO/WHO talked on how climate change is already impacting people around the world, how the international public health sector is addressing the problem, and what action is needed to protect our health into the future. To watch the archived lecture click here.
PICS, UBC & SFU Lecture SERIES 2010 - 2011
April, 2011: Climate Change and its Impacts: Fire and Rain. Dr. Phil Austin (UBC) and Dr. Charmaine Dean (SFU) were our special guest speakers. Dr. Austion presentation was about on the atmospheric side of precipitation and drought, looking in particular at satellite observations and climate model forecasts. Dr. Charmaine Dean from SFU talk was on “Climate Change Impacts on Forest Fires in Canada” To watch the archived lecture click here.
March, 2011: "Public Health and Climate Change" Dr. Mike Brauer and Dr. Tim Takaro were our special guest speakers. Dr. Brauer's presentation was about“Fires, smoke and heat: a good news bad news story?” and Dr. Takaro followed with the presentation “Local and global challenges for public health: Water resources and disease in a world of shifting populations.” To watch the archived lecture click here.
February, 2011: "Sustainable Systems as if People Mattered" presented by Drs. Robert Woodbury, Lyn Bartram from SFU and Dr. Stephen Shepard from UBC were our guests speakers for this lecture. To watch the archived lecture click here.
January, 2011: "Creating a Climate for Change" presented by Dr. Alex Clapp from SFU and Dr. Simon Donner from UBC. Lecture 4th was about the scientific and social factors that influence the public’s uncertainty about climate change, including socio-cultural barriers such as long-held beliefs that weather is beyond human control. To watch the archived lecture click here.
October, 2010: "THREATENING SEAS - Sea-Level Rise, Coastal Flooding and Erosion" presented by Dr. John Clague and Dr. Hadi Dowlatabadi spoke at our new, free Public Lecture Series presented by the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS), in collaboration with SFU and UBC. The second in the series, this lecture explored our Threatening Seas, including an overview of sea-level rise, coastal flooding and erosion. To watch the archived lecture click here. Click here for a link to the poster.
September, 2010: "Smart Energy on an Urban Scale" Dr. Nancy Olewiler, SFU, and Dr. John Robinson, UBC, explore smart or integrated energy systems. The presentations shed light on how such systems offer sustainable solutions at the urban scale to reduce GHGs and promote a more livable region. To watch the archived lecture click here.
Global Warming Seminar Series. Febrary - March 2011
Series sponsored by the SFU Faculty of Science with PICS SFU supports.
For information about the abstracts click here.
Global Warming Seminar Series. Lecture 6: Responding to the Climate Change Challenge Video
Speaker: Thomas Pedersen, Professor and Director of the Pacific Institute for
Climate Solutions, University of Victoria, B.C.
Host Department: Chemistry and Earth Sciences (Tim Storr and Gwen Flowers).
Global Warming Seminar Series. Lecture 5: The CLOUD Experiment at CERN
Speaker: Jasper Kirkby, Head of the CLOUD Experiment, CERN, Geneva.
Host Department: Physics (Igor Herbut ).
Global Warming Seminar Series. Lecture 4: The Role of Clouds and Water Vapor in Climate Change
Speaker: David Randall, Professor, Department of Atmospheric
Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado.
Host Department: Physics (Mike Plischke).
Global Warming Seminar Series. Lecture 3: The Role of the Oceans in Climate Video
Speaker: Kevin Trenberth, Senior Scientist and Head of the Climate Analysis Section, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado.
Host Department: Biosciences (Wendy Palen).
Global Warming Seminar Series. Lecture 2: Climate Change and the Melting Polar Ice Caps Video
Speaker: Kenneth Golden, Professor of Mathematics and Adjunct Professor of
Bioengineering, University of Utah.
Host Department: Mathematics (Nilima Nigam).
Speaker: Francis Zwiers, Director of the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium (PCIC), University of Victoria, B.C.
Host Department: Statistics (Richard Lockhart).
March 2011
Special Talk: Taking Responsibility for a Low Carbon Economy Video
Presented by Mr. Bob Elton, Chair of Simon Fraser University Board of Governors and Advisory Board member of the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions. A lecture sponsored by PICS SFU. Click here for a link to the poster.
January 2011
"Climate Response to Climate Emissions: Characteristics and Policy Implications" video. Faculty of Environment Spring 2011 Lecture Series
With the development of coupled climate-carbon cycle models new insights into the response of the climate system to anthropogenic CO2 emissions are emerging. Dr. Kirsten Zickfeld (Assistant Professor, Geography Department, Simon Fraser University) presented results of climate-carbon cycle simulations showing that: (1) CO2-induced climate change is largely irreversible on timescales of centuries to millennia, even after complete elimination of emissions;(2) ongoing regional climate changes after elimination of CO2 emissions are significant, despite almost constant global mean temperatures; and (3) the persistent warming from past emissions is proportional to cumulative CO2 emissions. These findings have important implications for climate policy, as they suggest (i) the millennial legacy of anthropogenic CO2 emissions, and (ii) the challenge of reversing global warming, should the actual level of atmospheric CO2 concentrations turn out to be "dangerous".