{"id":20215,"date":"2016-07-06T16:09:52","date_gmt":"2016-07-06T20:09:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/?p=20215"},"modified":"2024-08-09T07:42:20","modified_gmt":"2024-08-09T11:42:20","slug":"art-science-global-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/2016\/art-science-global-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"The Art and Science of Global Climate Change"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n The Art and Science of Global Climate Change\n <\/h1>\n \n \n <\/header>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

Concerns over global climate change have been mounting for roughly three decades and 2015 was framed as a watershed year in our understanding of the severity of the issue and, perhaps more importantly, in our search for strategies to reduce the impacts of human activities on earth system processes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two important milestones from 2015 in the global climate change journey include Pope Francis\u2019 Encyclical on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement that emerged from the 21st United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change of the Parties. Both documents emphasized the growing global consensus that we are living in the anthropocene, a period where human activities are exerting substantial pressures on earth system processes. These documents helped reframe how we perceive climate change issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his Encyclical, Pope Francis exhorted, \u201cWe are not faced with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather one complex crisis which is both social and environmental. Strategies for a solution demand an integrated approach to combatting poverty, restoring dignity to the underprivileged, and at the same time protecting nature.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Paris Agreement draws similar conclusions and recognizes \u201cthat climate change is a common concern of humankind. Parties should, when taking action to address climate change, respect, promote and consider their respective obligations on human rights, the right to health, \u2026.\u201d It is now well recognized that durable climate solutions intended to safeguard the planet and human well-being will need to embrace environmental, social, economic and ethical issues. Researchers in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences are actively engaged in exploring the \u201cArt and Science of Global Climate Change.\u201d
\nI had the opportunity to discuss global climate change with two FASS colleagues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Prof. Mike Brklacich<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor Elyn Humphreys<\/strong><\/td>Professor Noel Salmond<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Elyn Humphreys<\/a> is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies<\/a>. She holds a PhD and MSc in Soil Science from the University of British Columbia. Her research interests are in microclimatology and carbon cycle science with an emphasis on soil-plant-atmosphere interactions. At 杏吧原创 University, she teaches courses in soil science, weather, microclimatology, and biogeochemical cycles. She is also currently an Associate Editor for Hydrological Processes and Arctic Science<\/em>.<\/td>Noel Salmond<\/a> is Associate Professor in the College of the Humanities<\/a> and the Program in Religion<\/a>. He holds a doctorate from McGill University in Religious Studies specializing in Asian religions, where he has also been trained in Christian theology. For the past decade he has done research and teaching at the intersection of religion and environmental thought.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n
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\u201c…climate change is a common concern of humankind…\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

How is the climate change challenge framed within your research field?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Humphreys<\/strong>: In my research field, there is a focus on the need to understand natural system feedbacks to climate change. The planet\u2019s ecosystems naturally absorb and emit greenhouse gases including carbon
\ndioxide and methane, but it is uncertain how a warming climate will impact these exchanges. My colleagues and I are working to better understand if tundra and peatland ecosystems will contribute to climate change by emitting more greenhouse gases in a warmer climate or will help alleviate it, by taking up more carbon dioxide, for instance. To study this, we measure the continuous exchange of these gases between the surface and the atmosphere. Our longest running site has operated since 1998 at the nearby Mer Bleue bog in the National Capital Greenbelt. We also have sites in the Hudson Bay Lowlands and on the tundra in NWT and Nunavut. My students and I get to know the workings of these specific sites really well. But equally important are the insights we gain through collaboration in national and international research networks where our field measurements can be used in synthesis studies and in testing and validating models. In this way, we can contribute to the larger efforts to better understand global carbon budgets and refine the models that can be used to predict future climate change and its impacts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Professor
Professor Humphreys\u2019 Arctic research site (with birds overhead)
in Northwest Territories, Canada. Photograph by Mike Treberg<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Salmond<\/strong>: I work in this area under the rubric of \u201cReligion and Ecology\u201d which has become a well-established (indeed burgeoning) subfield within Religious Studies. According to the American Academy of Religion, \u201cthe subfield critically and constructively explores how Human-Earth relations are shaped by religions, cultures, and understandings of nature and the environment.\u201d So this field recognizes that climate change responses in societies are based on more than rational deliberations on scientific data; they are shaped by world views and these in turn are often shaped, often unconsciously, by implicit theologies of nature. I remember hearing leading British climate scientist Mike Hulme speak here at 杏吧原创 in November of 2014. He made the point that it was na\u00efve of the then head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to believe that the world community would act simply on the presentation of more (and more dire) quantitative data. Instead, Hulme suggested, more compelling modalities are needed and one of these can be religion. This wasn\u2019t in any way dismissive of the vital importance of rational deliberation on hard scientific data\u2014it was, however, an acknowledgment that that alone is unlikely to create the necessary political will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n