Archived Lectures
Abstracts and Presentations
Greentech Solutions in the Food System- Addressing Food Security and Impacts on Agriculture, presented by Tara Moreau, Stephen Fane, Chris Bush, Herb Barbolet. A Green TechExchange Forum, co-hosted by GreenTech Exchange and PICS. To watch the archived lecture click here.
Storyomics: Proof that Scientists Evolved from Humans presented by Dr. Randy Olson, marine biologist, filmmaker and author of "Don't be Such a Scientist: Talking Substance in an Age of Style" (2009). To watch the archived lecture click here.
The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars presented by Michael E. Mann, Penn State University. Link to webcast recording.
PICS Lecture: Why We Disagree About Climate Change. Presented by Mike Hulme, Professor of Climate Change, University of East Anglia, UK. To watch the archived lecture click here.
Brown Bag Lunch Dialogues, Spring 2012
April, 2012 Brown Bag lunch dialogues: An Economic Assessment of the Northern Gateway presented by Robyn Allan, Economist. To watch the archived lecture click here.
April, 2012: Brown Bag lunch dialogues: Win-Win Solutions: Smart Approaches to Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation? presented by Deborah Hartford, Adaptation to Climate Change Team (ACT), SFU. To watch the archived lecture click here.
February, 2012: Vancouver's Greenest City Action Plan presented by Sadhu Johnston, Deputy City Manager for the City of Vancouver. To watch the archived lecture click here.
January, 2012: International Climate Change Diplomacy: Where To From Durban? presented by Elizabeth May, Leader-Green Party of Canada. Her perspectives on the recent COP17 summit in Durban and on the future of international climate change diplomacy. To watch the archived lecture click here.
PICS SFU & UBC FALL 2011- 2012 SERIES
January, 2012: Limit Climate Change and Stay Healthy presented by Kirsten Zickfeld, SFU Geography and Erica Frank, UBC School of Population and Public Health. Link to webcast recording.
November 24th, 2011: "Harnessing Technological Innovation for a Carbon-free Future"
David Wilkinson, Professor (Canada Research Chair), Chemical and Biological Engineering and Director, Clean Energy Research Centre, UBC and Elicia Maine, Associate Professor, Beedie School of Business. To watch the archived lecture click here.
October 20, 2011: "Climate policies for real-world politics"
Mark Jaccard, Professor, Faculty of Environment, SFU and Kathryn Harrison, Professor of Political Science at UBC. To watch the archived lecture click here.
September 14, 2011: "Engaging BC in Sustainability Education"
David Zandvliet, Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, SFU and Alejandro Rojas, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Land and Food Systems , UBC. To watch the archived lecture click here.
June 2011
PICS Lecture: Merchants of Doubt
Speaker: Dr. Naomi Oreskes, Professor of History and Science Studies, University of California San Diego and author of Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming, and co-authored with science historian Erik Conway, is an outstanding investigative report in terms of exposing the well-organized campaign to distort and misrepresent key scientific findings about the dangers of DDT, tobacco smoke, acid rain, and global warming. To watch the archived lecture click here.
PICS Lecture Climate Change: Why do we know that we know?
Speaker: Dr. Thomas Stocker, University of Bern and Co-Chair, Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change To watch the archived lecture click here.
May 2011
Climate Change and Health: Acting to reduce risks and vulnerabilities".
Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing humanity. Along with other environmental changes brought about by global population and economic growth, it will put increasing strain on our health systems. Environmental health expert, Dr Carlos Corvalan from the Panamerican Health Organization, PAHO/WHO talked on how climate change is already impacting people around the world, how the international public health sector is addressing the problem, and what action is needed to protect our health into the future. To watch the archived lecture click here.
April 2011
PICS, SFU & UBC Lecture Series Climate Change and its Impacts: Fire and Rain.
Dr. Phil Austin (UBC) and Dr. Charmaine Dean (SFU) were our special guest speakers. Dr. Austion presentation was about on the atmospheric side of precipitation and drought, looking in particular at satellite observations and climate model forecasts. Dr. Charmaine Dean from SFU talk was on “Climate Change Impacts on Forest Fires in Canada” To watch the archived lecture click here.
Presented by Dr. Sonja Klinksy, PICS Fellow and Post-doctoral Researcher, Department of Economics, Cambridge University, UK. A recording of the presentation is available. Click here for a link to the poster.
March 2011
PICS, SFU & UBC Lecture Series:"Public Health and Climate Change" Video
Dr. Mike Brauer and Dr. Tim Takaro were our special guest speakers. Dr. Brauer's presentation was about“Fires, smoke and heat: a good news bad news story?” and Dr. Takaro followed with the presentation “Local and global challenges for public health: Water resources and disease in a world of shifting populations.” Click here for a link to the poster
Global Warming Seminar Series. Lecture 6: Responding to the Climate Change Challenge Video
Speaker: Thomas Pedersen, Professor and Director of the Pacific Institute for
Climate Solutions, University of Victoria, B.C.
Host Department: Chemistry and Earth Sciences (Tim Storr and Gwen Flowers). Seminar Series sponsored by the Faculty of Science with PICS supports.
Special Talk: Taking Responsibility for a Low Carbon Economy Video
Presented by Mr. Bob Elton, Chair of Simon Fraser University Board of Governors and Advisory Board member of the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions. A lecture sponsored by PICS. Click here for a link to the poster.
Global Warming Seminar Series. Lecture 2: Climate Change and the Melting Polar Ice Caps Video
Speaker: Kenneth Golden, Professor of Mathematics and Adjunct Professor of
Bioengineering, University of Utah.
Host Department: Mathematics (Nilima Nigam). Seminar Series sponsored by the Faculty of Science with PICS supports.
Global Warming Seminar Series. Lecture 3: The Role of the Oceans in Climate
Speaker: Kevin Trenberth, Senior Scientist and Head of the Climate Analysis Section, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado.
Host Department: Biosciences (Wendy Palen). Seminar Series sponsored by the Faculty of Science with PICS supports.
Global Warming Seminar Series. Lecture 4: The Role of Clouds and Water Vapor in Climate Change
Speaker: David Randall, Professor, Department of Atmospheric Sciences,
Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado.
Host Department: Physics (Mike Plischke). Seminar Series sponsored by the Faculty of Science with PICS supports.
Global Warming Seminar Series. Lecture 5: The CLOUD Experiment at CERN
Speaker: Jasper Kirkby, Head of the CLOUD Experiment, CERN, Geneva.
Host Department: Physics (Igor Herbut ). Seminar Series sponsored by the Faculty of Science with PICS supports.
February 2011
PICS, SFU & UBC Lecture Series "Sustainable Systems as if People Mattered"
PICS, SFU & UBC Free Public Lecture Series. Lecture 5th Speakers: Robert Woodbury, Lyn Bartram from SFU and Stephen Shepard from UBC were our guests speakers for this lecture.
Please click here for more information about the speakers and abstract.
Seminar Series sponsored by the Faculty of Science with PICS supports.
Speaker: Francis Zwiers, Director of the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium (PCIC), University of Victoria, B.C.
Host Department: Statistics (Richard Lockhart). Click here for a link to the poster
January 2011
PICS, SFU & UBC Lecture Series "Creating a Climate for Change"
PICS, SFU & UBC Free Public Lecture Series. Lecture 4th was about the scientific and social factors that influence the public’s uncertainty about climate change, including socio-cultural barriers such as long-held beliefs that weather is beyond human control. Link to the poster
"Climate Response to Climate Emissions: Characteristics and Policy Implications" Faculty of Environment Spring 2011 Lecture Series
With the development of coupled climate-carbon cycle models new insights into the response of the climate system to anthropogenic CO2 emissions are emerging. Dr. Kirsten Zickfeld (Assistant Professor, Geography Department, Simon Fraser University) presented results of climate-carbon cycle simulations showing that: (1) CO2-induced climate change is largely irreversible on timescales of centuries to millennia, even after complete elimination of emissions;(2) ongoing regional climate changes after elimination of CO2 emissions are significant, despite almost constant global mean temperatures; and (3) the persistent warming from past emissions is proportional to cumulative CO2 emissions. These findings have important implications for climate policy, as they suggest (i) the millennial legacy of anthropogenic CO2 emissions, and (ii) the challenge of reversing global warming, should the actual level of atmospheric CO2 concentrations turn out to be "dangerous".
October 2010
PICS, SFU & UBC Lecture Series "THREATENING SEAS - Sea-Level Rise, Coastal Flooding and Erosion"
Dr. John Clague and Dr. Hadi Dowlatabadi spoke at our new, free Public Lecture Series presented by the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS), in collaboration with SFU and UBC. The second in the series, this lecture explored our Threatening Seas, including an overview of sea-level rise, coastal flooding and erosion. Click here for a link to the poster.
September 2010
PICS, SFU & UBC Lecture Series: "Smart Energy on an Urban Scale"
Dr. Nancy Olewiler, SFU, and Dr. John Robinson, UBC, explore smart or integrated energy systems.
The presentations shed light on how such systems offer sustainable solutions at the urban scale to reduce GHGs and promote a more livable region. Click here for a link to the poster
IMC Colloquium Series: "The Risky Business of Modeling Impacts of Climate Change on Groundwater Systems"
Dr. Diana Allen is a Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences in the Faculty of Science and is a member of the Climate Change Impacts Research Consortium (CCIRC). Her current research focuses on climate change impacts on groundwater systems, groundwater resources in mountainous and coastal regions, and low temperature geothermal (aquifer thermal energy storage) systems and thermal modeling. To watch the archived lecture click here.