SMU to host regional U.N. conference on Texas, Dallas-Fort Worth climate extremes
SMU is hosting a major conference on Texas climate extremes that will focus on impacts and solutions.
DALLAS (SMU) – SMU will host a major conference Sept. 17 on climate extremes in Texas and the Dallas-Fort Worth area that will focus on impacts and solutions.
| What: | SMU’s Hunt Institute for Engineering & Humanity in the Lyle School of Engineering will present the half-day program, “Climate Extemes: A Forum on Adaptation & Building Resilience in Texas.” The conference is affiliated with COP21 Paris, the upcoming United Nations conference on climate change. Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, the Consul General of France (Houston) and a Nobel Prize winner will speak at the SMU conference, which will be broadcast live at www.smu/live and will be archived. |
Watch the SMU Climate Extremes Conference at smu.edu/live beginning at 8:45 a.m. CDT Sept. 17. |
| When: | Thursday, Sept. 17, 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Registration opens at 8:15 a.m. http://www.climateextremes.com/program/ |
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| Where: | The Martha Proctor Mack Ballroom, SMU campus, 3300 Dyer Street, Dallas, TX 75205 |
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| Details: | Droughts, floods, extreme heat, bitter cold — weather extremes in Texas — are now a fact of life for state residents. How are people to adapt to these climate extremes and their impact on water supply, infrastructure, public resources and vulnerable populations? What strategies can the public and private sectors collaboratively engage to prepare for such seesawing climate extremes? What can individuals do to help address the underlying issues of climate extremes? |
The SMU Hunt Institute for Engineering & Humanity, along with sponsors and community partners, will present the half-day program — an official conference of COP21 Paris, the United Nations Conference on Climate Change scheduled for December 2015. The SMU conference is part of a series of preliminary sessions called “FACTS: French Ameri-Can Climate TalkS,” which are being organized by the Embassies of France in both Canada and the United States.
The conference focus is purposely inclusive of both the global and local scenes related to climate extremes. The Consul General of France in Houston, Sujiro Seam, and Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings will open the conference. Climate extremes experts will deliver brief talks in two panel discussions moderated by Dallas journalist Lee Cullum.
A featured panelist is Dr. Bruce McCarl, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Texas A&M University, who was part of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Lunch will include the introduction of a new research paper by Hunt Institute Director Eva Csaky on the topic of climate extremes, “The Inclusive Economy;” brief remarks by Trammell S. Crow, Founder of Earth Day Texas; and keynote speaker Patrick Caron, director general in charge of research and strategy at CIRAD, a French agricultural research and international cooperation organization.
More at www.climateextremes.com
About the SMU Hunt Institute for Engineering & Humanity
The Mission of the Hunter & Stephanie Hunt Institute for Engineering & Humanity at the SMU Lyle School of Engineering is to develop and scale sustainable and affordable technologies and solutions addressing the challenges facing the global poor. The SMU Hunt Institute is the home of the James Pratt Collection, E &H Week, the Hunt Institute Salon and the Hunt Institute Elders. More at www.smu.edu/lyle/institutes/huntinstitute.
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SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls approximately 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools.
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