Climate change and natural disaster night!

We inherited a climate system that allowed us to flourish. But we are ill-equipped to handle the one we are provoking. Science tells us that we need to up our game if we are to avoid serious consequences. We need to transform the way we power, finance, feed, organise and govern the modern world. Are we smart and determined enough to do It? If not, why not? And So What?

As the planet heats up, what will happen to the ecology of the world’s coldest regions? Globally, extinction rates are 1000 times above background levels - but is climate change to blame? We don’t know what is going to happen in the future. But we can look to the past, to periods when the climate was as warm and as unstable as it is today, to provide clues as to how species may react to abrupt climate change. I will unlock some of the mysteries through the lens of one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet: Lake Baikal - the oldest, deepest and most voluminous lake in the world.

We often hear that climate change will inevitably cause more disaster deaths. But does climate change really lead to the vulnerability which kills? This talk examines differences in men and women dying in disasters. It shows how and why assumptions about climate change and disasters bypass the real reasons for the deaths.