Astroblog: Climate Futures Seminar, Tuesday June 2.

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Climate Futures Seminar, Tuesday June 2.

Here's the notification of the latest climate futures seminar.

Join us this Tuesday for the twelfth and last instalment of the Climate Futures Seminar Series entitled ‘Climate Futures’ convened by Dr Steven Cork.

The overwhelming focus of public discourse about climate change over the past few years has been on predictions of where and how much climate might change globally and nationally. Now that consensus is being reached that climate change is happening, attention is turning to what it might mean in terms of the lifestyles and well being of humans and other species. If there has been uncertainty about how bio-physical processes might change in the future, there is much more uncertainty about how climate change might interact with other economic, social and ecological changes and how humans might respond to these interacting changes. Scenario planning is one tool that has been used to explore the range of plausible futures and their implications. This seminar will take attendees through the steps of a typical scenario planning process, looking at the drivers of change that could combine with climate change to produce major challenges and opportunities, then synthesise a number of scenario planning projects from around the world and Australia, and consider the implications for preparing Australia for plausible futures. Prominent among most scenarios about the implications of climate change are considerations of how changes in energy resources and policies might interact with carbon policies and how both might interact with changes in governance models nationally and globally.

‘Climate Futures’ will be presented on Tuesday 20 May at 6-8pm in the Horace Lamb Lecture Theatre, University of Adelaide North Terrace campus. Registration for this event is preferred.