Washington University in St. Louis will present “Reflections on Climate Change,” a free public workshop featuring Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton and key leaders in policy, advocacy and industry, Saturday, Sept. 29.
Climate change is one of the most pressing issues of the 21st century, and Washington University students, faculty and staff are working together to find solutions to energy and environmental challenges.
The university recently joined 16 other leading research universities that comprise the University Climate Change Coalition (UC3). This network of institutions from across North America is committed to leveraging its combined institutional strength to foster a robust exchange of best practices and research ideas in pursuit of accelerating climate solutions.
In that spirit of collaboration, the university’s International Center for Energy, Environment and Sustainability presents “Reflections on Climate Change” from 1-4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29, in Knight Hall’s Emerson Auditorium.
One key environmental leader taking part in the event is Christiana Figueres, the former United Nations executive secretary who led negotiations for the Paris climate agreement in 2015. Figueres recently spoke at the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco, which five Washington University students and alumni were chosen to attend.
In addition, some recent graduates will offer personal reflections Saturday from their experiences attending the Conference of the Parties climate negotiations in Paris.
The featured speakers are:
- Figueres, founding partner of Global Optimism, convener of Mission 2020 and former executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change;
- Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club; and
- Jeff Seale, agricultural environmental strategy lead and associate science fellow at Bayer Crop Science.