Don Wilhite, professor and climatologist, is organizing a one-day brainstorming session as part of the Climate Impacts Collaborative (CIC) national program that will promote the work on climate impacts currently underway in SNR and across UNL.
"The emphasis of the brainstorming session will be, in particular, to focus on the impacts of climate variability and change on the agricultural sector in Nebraska and the surrounding region," Wilhite said.
The goals of the CIC are:
-- Understanding and sharing information on the immediate impacts of climate change and how they are affecting communities at the front-lines of change.
-- Highlighting local and regional impacts to ensure that media, policy makers and other stakeholders are well-informed of the impacts and the needed responses.
-- Ensuring that officials at all levels have the information they need to take effective steps to meet the challenge of climate change.
The SNR session organized by Wilhite will take place from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., April 24 in Hardin Hall 901. Those interested in attending should contact Wilhite at dwilhite2@unl.edu or 472-4270.
The CIC exists because communities throughout the nation are experiencing worsening climate impacts. The CIC is a national partnership, guided by the Union of Concerned Scientists and the World Resources Institute with facilitation support provided by the Meridian Institute. The CIC connects groups to share information and strategies around climate impacts and leverages the collective resources of various institutions to elevate local impacts to the national level in order to advance the national dialogue on climate change.
The objective of the CIC is to provide a learning and discussion space for sharing information and collaborative opportunities to highlight and respond to climate impacts. The CIC has created three working groups (coastal, western impacts and federal outreach) to foster discussion amongst the diverse and growing group of individuals, organizations, scientists, local government officials and communicators who share common goals.
— Mekita Rivas, Natural Resources