Posted by William Nunnelley on 2006-10-16

What does climate change have to do with beach real estate along the Gulf Coast? With Alabama's water supply as a whole? How does Alabama's changing climate impact public health and agriculture?

National and local experts will address these questions and others as they explore the impact of Alabama's changing climate at Samford University's Christenberry Sciencenter on Saturday, November 4. Samford University's Vulcan Materials Center for Environmental Stewardship and Education is hosting the Alabama Environmental Education Consortium's (ALEEC's) Fall conference on "Climate Change and Alabama: Prospects and Options," a free-admission conference.

Topics will include:

  • Impact of Climate Change on Alabama's Water Resources;
  • Potential Effects of Climate Change on Alabama's Plant and Agricultural Life;
  • Climate Change and the Real Estate Sector: Uncertainties, Impact on Insurance, and Future Development Trends;
  • Strategies for Coping with Climate Change;
  • Producing Zero Emissions Energy from Fossil Fuels; and,
  • Creating University Campus Sustainability in the U.S.

Conference speakers include Judith Curry, Chair, School of Earth and Atmospheric Science at Georgia Tech; Jason Kirby, UAB department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering; Ed Passerini, University of Alabama, Brandon Armstrong, Tennessee Alumni and Students for Sustainable Campuses, Charles Goodman, Sr. Vice President, Southern Company Generation and Chairman of FutureGen, Department of Energy, and Larry Davenport, Samford University Plant Taxonomist.

Dr. Paul Blanchard, director of the Vulcan Materials Center for Environmental Stewardship and Education, said "this conference presents timely and weighty issues by some of the best energy experts the region and the country has to offer. There is scant debate in the scientific community that climactic changes are occurring in the southeastern U.S. and in Alabama itself. The ALEEC program is set up expressly for multilateral cooperation among a wide selection of universities for just this purpose – to have public exposure to the latest research and thought on these issues."

"Climate Change and Alabama: Prospects and Options," will be held in the Christenberry Sciencenter on the Samford campus on Saturday, November 4. The conference is free and open to the public. For more information, or to register for the conference, call (205) 726-4246, or email vnbrown@samford.edu.

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 6,101 students from 45 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.