An Antarctic research expert and a social psychologist from Victoria University of Wellington will be giving a free public lecture on climate change in Nelson as part of the University’s 2014 Public Lecture Series.
Professor Tim Naish, Director of Victoria’s Antarctic Research Centre and a principal scientist at GNS Science, and Dr Marc Wilson, an associate professor and Head of Victoria’s School of Psychology, will each be presenting at Rutherford Hotel Nelson on 6 August.
In his lecture, 9 billion people, global warming and climate change, Professor Naish will consider what Earth will look like in the year 2050, when it is estimated that the population will be as high as nine billion, and readily recoverable oil and gas reserves will be running out.
Professor Naish will discuss what a surface temperature increase of two degrees Celsius—above the United Nations threshold for dangerous human interference with the climate system—will mean for the melting of the polar ice sheets, global sea-level rise and the trend towards more frequent catastrophic storm events.
He will be joined by Dr Marc Wilson, a highly regarded researcher and teaching practitioner who has received a National Tertiary Teaching Award and a Victoria University Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award, who will talk about the psychology behind believing (or not believing) in climate change.
Using data from several large New Zealand-wide surveys, Dr Wilson will discuss about some of the personality, political, pathological and social factors associated with climate change belief. He will also talk about some of the biases in decision-making, which make it difficult to change strongly-held opinions.
The lectures will be presented at Rutherford Hotel Nelson on 6 August at 5.30pm. To attend this free talk email rsvp@vuw.ac.nz with ‘Nelson Lecture’ in the subject line or phone 04-463 6700 by Monday 4 August.
