Policy for the Real World Augsburg College, 2009 Sverdrup Visiting Scientist - April 14, 2009 Click here for video viewing tips Steve Schneider was invited to Augsburg College as the 2009 Sverdrup Visiting Scientist to give undergraduate students, faculty and the general public throughout the Twin Cities area the opportunity to interact with and learn from a prominent scientist on the cutting edge of their discipline. In the Student Convocation, Steve addresses the short-term problems of overcoming institutional and political commitments to business-as-usual dependence on carbon based fuels, although vigorous research, development and deployment of more efficient systems and low carbon emitting sources is certainly feasible over the next few decades. He discusses adaptation and mitigation strategies, emphasizing the many actions that individuals, groups, businesses, cities, states, and countries can do to reduce global warming, while at the same time providing sustainable jobs and reduced dangers from importing oil from unreliable foreign sources. Hawaii Pacific University: Public Lecture - April 1, 2008 Click here for video viewing tips Steve discusses the findings of the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of the UN-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize). Working Group I, reporting on the assessment of the Physical Science Basis states that warming is "unequivocal," it is "very likely" that human activities are responsible for most of the warming of recent decades, and warming to 2100 is "likely" to be 1.1 - 6.4 degC. In Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, Working Group II says 1.5 - 2.5 degC warming has about a 50% chance to commit 20-30% of known species to extinction. So, what is settled? Some projections are well established, some have competing explanations, yet others are speculative. Thus, policy is a risk management judgment. If we continue business-as-usual, doubling or tripling atmospheric CO2, the risk of negative impacts increases, many of which will disproportionally affect poorer, warmer places, high mountains and polar regions or "hurricane alley." Local, regional, and international actions to put adaptation and mitigation policies in place are already beginning, but much more could be done if there were the political will to substantially reduce the magnitude of the risks. Hawaii Conservation Conference Public Lecture - July 29, 2009 Click here for video viewing tips   Hawaii Conservation Conference Keynote - July 28, 2009 Click here for video viewing tips   EPA of Taiwan - October 6, 2009 Click here for video viewing tips