Lecture Explores The Consequences Of Global Warming And The Impact Of Rising Sea Levels April 25

Chestertown, MD, February 5, 2003 — Washington College's Center for Environment and Society and Chapter of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, present “Global Climate Change and the Impact of Rising Sea Levels,” a lecture by Stephen Leatherman, Ph.D., Director of the International Hurricane Center at Florida International University, on Friday, April 25, 2003, at 4:30 p.m. in the College's Hynson Lounge. Originally scheduled in February but cancelled due to inclement weather, this event is free and open to the public.

Dr. Leatherman is an internationally recognized authority on coastal storm impacts, beach erosion, and the effects of sea level rise. His talk will address the effects that global warming will have on weather patterns, storm severity and coastal areas that might experience rising sea levels. He has authored or edited 16 books and over 200 journal articles and technical reports on coastal issues, and was the on-screen host and co-producer of the “Vanishing Lands” documentary film that won three international awards.

A faculty member of Florida International University's Department of Environmental Studies, Dr. Leatherman also directs the university's International Hurricane Center, (IHC), an interdisciplinary research center focused on the mitigation of hurricane damage to people, the economy, communities and natural environment. The IHC promotes an interdisciplinary, large-scale disaster research agenda to address this vulnerability, involving disciplines such as architecture, business, economics, engineering, finance, geosciences, insurance, political science, sociology, and urban planning in a long-term, integrated research program to help coastal regions mitigate hurricane exposure.

Mahlman to Explore the Facts, Fictions and Implications of Global Warming

Chestertown, MD, March 2, 2001 — Dr. Jerry Mahlman, one of the world's leading experts on global climate change and former director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Lab, will address the topic "Global Warming: Myth or Reality?" on Thursday, March 22, 2001, at 6 p.m. in Washington College's Casey Academic Center Forum.

Dr. Mahlman's research has focused on modeling, diagnosing and understanding the behavior of the atmosphere and its implications for global climatic change. In addition, Dr. Mahlman has worked to clarify the controversy between those who believe human activity is primarily responsible for global warming and those who attribute it to natural causes such as fluctuations in the sun's radiation. His research has shown there is little remaining doubt that increasing greenhouse gases due to human activities are partly responsible for global climate changes, now and for centuries to come.

"We know that it takes decades to centuries to produce a large buildup of greenhouse gases," Dr. Mahlman has reported to Congress. "Much less appreciated is that a 'return to normal' from high carbon dioxide levels would require many additional centuries."

Mahlman has observed that effects of global warming are more than just changing weather patterns--they are economic and societal. Governments will have to develop policies and programs for nations facing the effects of increased drought and summer heat indexes, erosion and loss of coastline from rising sea levels, and human causalities and property damage caused by increased tropical storm intensities.

The talk is sponsored by the William James Forum, and the public is invited to attend.

Author/Environmentalist Myron Arms speaks at Washington College Oct. 13

Chestertown, MD — Myron Arms, author of Riddle of the Ice and Cathedral of the World, will discuss his sea experiences and global warming at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 13, at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland.

In Cathedral of the World, published in 1999, Arms writes, "The ocean's wounds can cause a sailor to weep, not for what humanity may have lost in terms of natural beauty or raw materials or food production but for the ocean itself complete and alone . . . " He suggests, "We need the forests and the oceans as they are if we are to have a planet that is habitable, not only for fish and birds and monkeys and spiders, but for human beings as well."

Arms has voyaged more than 100,000 sea miles and has led seven sail-training expeditions to northern Canada, Greenland, and the Arctic. His writing about the sea has been likened to that of naturalist John Muir, who wrote about America's forests, and writer Edward Abbey, who lived in and wrote about the western deserts.

Arms and his wife, Kay, live on a farm overlooking the Sassafras River. The free slide presentation and lecture will take place in Hynson Lounge and is open to the public. Arms' appearance is sponsored by Washington College's Society of Junior Fellows.