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Global Warming and the Northeast

Monday, Nov. 15th, 7:00-9:30 PM

Brighton Town Hall, 2300 Elmwood Ave.

There will be a one-hour presentation on the specific ramifications of Global Warming on the Northeast. The speaker will be David W. Wolfe from Cornell University.

Some of the points, Dr. Wolfe will be discussing.

• Historical record of CO2 and other GH gases
• Direct CO2 effects on plants
• Evidence of climate change
• Evidence of biological responses
• Future projections
• Mitigation and policy implications

There will be time for questions and answers.

Below: Outline of a similar program by Dr. Wolfe, program on climate change and agriculture for Nov 17 in Ithaca, New York:

Climate Change and Northeast Agriculture:
Developing an Education Outreach Agenda
 

The most recent report of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that climate change is already upon us, and the impacts of this change will not be uniform across regions or species. This past summer was unusually wet in the Northeast, while drought conditions continued in much of the West. The Northeast’s average annual temperature has increased 1.8 F since 1900, and winters (December to February) show the greatest rate of warming (2.9 F over the last century). A recent study has documented that spring bloom dates of lilacs, apples and grapes in the Northeast are coming 4 to 8 days earlier today than they were in the 1960s. Crops and weeds are highly sensitive to the direct effects of rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations, as well as temperature and precipitation. Climate change and CO2 could favor some invasive species, and will alter important interactions between plants and pollinators, insect pests, diseases, and weeds.

In this General Session leading experts will review: the current state of knowledge regarding climate change; the potential impacts (positive as well as negative) for farmers, landscape managers, and home gardeners; and implications for pest, soil, and energy management in relation to farm profitability.

David W. Wolfe  Professor Research in environmental physiology and research/extension in soil and water management

BioSketch: David W. Wolfe (emphasis on climate change work)

Dr. Wolfe is Professor of Plant Ecology in the Department of Horticulture at Cornell University
-He is also a member of Cornell’s Biogeochemistry Program,
-co-chair of the Cornell Cooperative Extension Soil Health Program Work Team,
-and on the Advisory Committee for the NYS Water Resources Institute

His undergraduate work in Biology was at the University of California, Irvine
In 1984 he received his Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of California at Davis.
He has been a member of the Cornell faculty since 1984.

Much of David’s research program during the past 20 years has focused on the effects of climate change and rising atmospheric carbon dioxide on plants, soils, and ecosystems.

He is author of a recent award-winning popular science book on soil ecology entitled: Tales From the Underground: A Natural History of Subterranean Life, which has been featured on PBS/NOVA, NPR, and BBC radio programs.

Dr. Wolfe is a leading authority on plant responses to CO2 and temperature, with many peer-reviewed research publications and several book chapter reviews on the subject.

-In 1996 he organized a UN-sponsored international symposium on “Plant Acclimation to Elevated CO2”.
-During the Clinton administration he was very involved in the White House-sponsored regional climate change assessment process, and co-authored the agriculture and natural resources sector reports for the assessment of climate change impacts on the Northeastern US.
-Most recently, he organized an international symposium on “Climate Change Impacts on Horticulture” held in Providence, RI in October, 2003.

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