Dr. Shugart provides insight into how the Earth's carbon cycle works and into what still remains unknown about this essential Earth life support system. He discusses the unique importance of Russian forests in the global carbon cycle and presented the unexpected results indicating that climate change might alter the Russian forests in ways that may promote further warming. Dr. Shugart concludes by making the surprising point that Russian compliance with the Kyoto Protocol (by re-growing forests) might, in fact, produce further warming, combating the intent of the protocol.

Temperature observations during the 20th century reveal a warming trend unlike any other in many millennia. As one of the preeminent scientists looking for an explanation of this phenomena, Princeton University professor V. Ramaswamy provides an overview of existing climate models and explains in an accessible manner how various natural and anthropogenic variables potentially bring about climate change. Through his summary of available research, Ramaswamy argues that human-induced variables, particularly greenhouse gas emissions, appear to be primarily responsible for the warming trend of the 20th century.

The realization that society's reliance on fossil fuels is resulting in alarming changes to the Earth's climate is forcing people to evaluate a host of issues concerning energy consumption and its effect on the environment. This public event addresses these issues and endeavors to educate concerned citizens about the challenges that lie ahead. In the first half, David Keith, an expert on energy and professor at Carnegie Mellon University, describes the world's current consumption of fossil fuels and suggests future options for energy that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Keith presents the surprising idea that fossil fuel consumption can continue without its harmful side effects provided energy companies pursue carbon sequestration technologies, which Keith argues are both possible and practical. In the second half, Stanford University professor Steve Schneider talks about the challenging policy dilemmas presented by climate change in both the developed and developing world. As a possible model for pursuing environment-friendly policies, Schneider offers the case of Bhutan, a developing country that has favored environmental and cultural production over the material benefits of Western-style industrialization. This event is part of the Walter Orr Roberts Public Lecture Series. Recorded on July 25, 2000 in Aspen, Colorado.

This public lecture is taken from a scientific meeting on the topic: "Global Change and Natural Hazards." In this talk, Dr. William Hooke, director of the US Weather Research Program Office at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, explores extreme events, which include geophysical phenomena, ecosystem events, and societal extreme events. He discusses how the research community and government programs approach this "cycle of disaster."

About 20 stations have been established along the coastline of Antarctica, but only two are maintained year-round on the interior plateau: the Russian station at Vostok and the U.S. station at South Pole. In this entertaining and informative slideshow, Antarctic researcher Stephen Warren vividly illustrates the logistics of living at the South Pole. In addition, Dr. Warren discusses the results of the scientific research that brought him to the coldest place on Earth.

Climate change gets the lion's share of media attention, but it is not the most certain, not the least reversible, and not the most significant (to date) of human-caused changes to the earth system. This talk , given by Stanford professor Dr. Peter Vitousek, examines the major components of human effects on Earth, with emphasis on the changing composition of the atmosphere, the transformation of Earth's surface by human activity, and the loss of biological diversity.

Computer models are currently relied upon to provide estimates of possible future changes in the Earth's climate. Results from these models were at the center of the global warming debate at the recent Earth Summit in Brazil. There was a great deal of controversy about whether modeling can yield insights into the planet's future. In this talk, Dr. Warren Washington, researcher at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, comments on the climate research community's views and the skeptical response.

Climate change is a force with global implications as well as unique regional effects. In this lecture, Dr. Norman Rosenberg, manager at the Battelle Pacific Northwest National Lab, explains the evidence for global climate change and then addresses the specific effects of a changing climate on the American Mid-West.