UW-Fond du Lac offers global warming symposium

Fond du Lac, Wis.— A two-weekend campus and community symposium featuring experts from throughout the state of Wisconsin on the issue of Global Warming will be held at the University of Wisconsin-Fond du Lac, 400 University Drive, March 28-29 and April 4-5.

The symposium is free, but pre-registration is requested and there is a fee for optional meals which must be ordered in advance.

“Global Warming: Wisconsin and the Great Lakes Region” will explore the issue of climate change and human impact on that process from the perspective of atmospheric science, climatology, philosophy and ethics, political science, law and business. This symposium will be facilitated by UW-Fond du Lac faculty and staff.

The first weekend, March 28-29, will focus on perspectives on global warming.

March 28, 5 p.m. - The symposium kicks off with a presentation on “Sustainable Business Practices in an Age of Global Warming.” An optional buffet dinner can be reserved in advance for $10 when pre-registering.

The speaker, Paul Linzmeyer, is a former president of Bay Towel in Green Bay. He chairs both the Bay Area Workforce Development Board and the Wisconsin Global Warming task force industry committee. He is also one of the founders of New North, an eighteen county North East Wisconsin economic community.

Along with Dr. Steven Dunn, he has implemented the triple bottom line high performance strategies of Innovative Sustainability for Business (ISO), Inc. at his company.

In January, Linzmeyer assumed the role of general partner of ISO. He will represent the United States at the Organization of Environmental Cooperation conference to be held in Paris this spring.

March 28, 6:30 p.m. - Al Gore’s film “An Inconvenient Truth” will be shown in the Prairie Theater. A public discussion led by Linzmeyer, Dr. John Young, Dr. Mark Peterson and Dan Kohler will follow the film.

March 29, 8:30 a.m. - the “History of the Issue of Global Warming and its Emergence in Wisconsin” will be presented by Kohler who is director of Wisconsin Environment.

March 29, 10:30 a.m. - “Regional Change in a Chaotic Climate: the Complexity of Climate Change in Wisconsin” will be presented by Dr. Young and Dr. Ed Hopkins, both from the Wisconsin State Climatology Office, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at UW-Madison.

March 29, noon - An optional box lunch, which can be reserved in advance for $6 when pre-registering, is followed by “Is Global Climate Change a Moral Issue?” presented by Dr. Peterson, associate professor of philosophy at UW-Washington County.

The second weekend, April 4-5, will emphasize solutions on global warming.

April 4, 5 p.m. - “Global Warming in Wisconsin” presented by State Sen. Mark Miller (D-Monona), chair of the Wisconsin Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources and author of greenhouse gas legislation. An optional buffet dinner can be reserved in advance for $10 when pre-registering.

April 4, 6:30 p.m. - The film “Green: The New Red, White and Blue” will be shown followed by discussion featuring panelists Dr. Tom Eggert, Dr. Lakshman Guruswamy and Steve Brachman.

April 5, 8:30 a.m. - “Business Risk and Reward in the Global Warming Era” will be presented by Dr. Eggert, senior lecturer at the School of Business at UW-Madison and Eastern Wisconsin environmental assistance coordinator for Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

April 5, 10:30 a.m. - “Environmental Law and Climate Change: National and International Law Related to Global Warming” presented by Dr. Guruswamy, professor of international environmental law at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

April 5, noon - An optional box lunch, which can be reserved in advance for $6 when pre-registering, is followed by a world café discussion on global warming moderated by Brachman, UW-Extension waste reduction specialist.

The option to earn college credit is available to UW-Fond du Lac students, other college students, area high school students and community members attending the symposium. Those interested in the college credit option also attend pre/post symposium sessions and earn one credit for University Forum: Exploring Climate Change. Instructors for the course are UW-Fond du Lac professors Paisley Harris, history; Michael Jurmu, geography/geology and Carolyn Polodna, business.

This symposium is made possible by the generosity of these sponsors: Alliant Energy Foundation, Wisconsin Humanities Council, University of Wisconsin-Fond du Lac Student Life & Interest Committee, and the University of Wisconsin-Fond du Lac Fine Arts & Lectures Committee.

For more information or to register, call (920) 929-3622 or register online at www.fd.uwc.edu/ce . For written information about the one credit course options, call (920) 929-3622.

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