Walter Orr Roberts Public Lectures
Each year, AGCI holds a series of free public lectures in honor of Walter Orr Roberts, noted humanitarian, scientist, and founder of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).
Several talks are presented throughout the summer, featuring some of the foremost scientific experts in the country who are participating in the AGCI summer science workshops.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 66 records
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After Rio+20: Science and Governance for our Future Earth |
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Speaker: Dr. Diana Liverman
Presented on 7 August 2012 |
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Changing the Script on Climate Change: Transformative Views on Humanity's Role |
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Speaker: Dr. Karen O'Brien
Presented on 22 May 2012 |
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| Sea-level rise, extreme weather, mass extinction, ravishing disease. The current script on climate change is a dreary one, making these outcomes seem unavoidable and casting humans as the primary villain. But, what if we were to change the script and transform our understanding of the problem as well as our role in the solution? Fortunately, a wealth of recent scholarship is helping us do just that! In this talk, entitled, "Changing the script on climate change: transformative views on humanity's role,” Dr. Karen O’Brien will share highlights from research that is leading to new ideas about how individuals, organizations, and whole societies can make decisions and change habits that lead to a more sustainable, thrive-able future. View |
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If we can't predict weather beyond 10 days, why can we predict the climate beyond 10 years? |
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Speaker: Dr. Ben Kirtman
Presented on 28 June 2011 |
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| This lecture describes the distinction and the scientific underpinnings for weather and climate prediction. Specific examples include El Nino, persistent drought in the western US, decadal climate variability and climate change. Dr. Kirtman also comments on the current advances in climate prediction and prospects for the development of improved predictive capability critical in agriculture and resource management. View |
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Our Eye on the Sun: The Solar Dynamics Observatory and its Important Insights for Life on Earth |
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Speaker: Dr. Tom Woods
Presented on 15 June 2010 |
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| We have a new eye on the Sun. NASA launched the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) on February 11, 2010, and SDO is continuously observing the Sun with unprecedented resolution. The solar instruments aboard SDO have 16 Megapixel cameras, more than eight times better resolution than High Definition (HD) TV. These instruments obtain images and spectra every 10 seconds, 24/7, and are revealing new results about solar storms. The solar output is critical to life on Earth as the Sun provides the majority of energy for our Earth environment, and our ever-growing technology is sensitive to the large solar storms. At this lecture, Dr. Tom Woods, a Principal Investigator for SDO will offer an overview of the solar influence on Earth and present dazzling new movies of the Sun from SDO. View |
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Agriculture After Norman Borlaug |
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Speaker: Dr. Tim Crews
Presented on 1 October 2009 |
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| Norman Borlaug (1914-2009), the "father of the Green Revolution," is said to have affected more people's lives than any one human in the 20th century, and yet he has almost no name recognition. In the 1960s, Borlaug led the scientific crusade to breed high yielding wheat, which required prodigious applications of synthetic fertilizers. In this lecture, Dr. Tim Crews sets the achievements of Norman Borlaug in context by exploring how humanity managed soil fertility before Borlaug's Green Revolution, and he unfolds some fundamental sustainability challenges facing humanity in Borlaug's wake. In the conclusion, Crews addresses whether organic agriculture can feed the world. View |
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The Colorado River in the Face of Climate Change |
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Speaker: Dr. Eric Kuhn
Presented on 22 September 2009 |
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| Climate change is projected to have significant impacts on regional water resources over the next century. As longtime Colorado River water manager Eric Kuhn will discuss, science predicts that the future of the Colorado will include more severe droughts, changed precipitation patterns, altered hydrographs, greater demands, and reduced supplies. Kuhn will explain the differences between traditional conservative and popular conservative approaches to water management and argue why the popular conservative approach that disregards climate change could have dire consequences for the West. View |
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What will it take to feed the world sustainably? |
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Speaker: Dr. Rosamond Naylor
Presented on 24 October 2008 |
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| With the world's population growing toward 9 billion--coupled with rising incomes, expanding meat consumption, and increased allocation of cropland for biofuels--the goals of meeting basic food needs, reducing global hunger, and preserving the health of the planet will become ever more challenging. In this public talk, Dr. Rosamond Naylor, fellow at Stanford University's Institute for International Studies, examines this challenge in the context of key countries, food-feed-fuel connections, and increased instability in commodity and financial markets. View |
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Forecast 2030: Planning for a changing climate |
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Speaker: Dr. Lisa Goddard
Presented on 25 June 2008 |
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| This Walter Orr Roberts public lecture addresses the important intersection between climate change and climate variability. Dr. Lisa Goddard, research scientist with the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), describes the processes, principally in the ocean, that give rise to decadal-scale variability, the current and future prospects for predicting that variability, and the utility of such predictions in planning for uncertainty. View |
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