UMaine Speakers to Explore Climate Change and Civilization
Contact: Gretchen Faulkner, 581-1904
ORONO — The Climate Change Institute and Hudson Museum at the University of Maine are hosting two fall lectures that explore the impact of climate change on civilizations and the impact of humans on climate change — one of the foremost issues of our times.
On Tuesday, Oct. 13 at 7 p.m., Thomas McGovern of Hunter College, CUNY, will talk on “Two Views of Norse Greenland: Successful, Well Adapted, but Still Extinct” at Hutchins Hall in the Collins Center for the Arts.
The lecture is predicated on recent works in Norse Greenland and related parts of the North Atlantic that have significantly altered our understanding of the long term human ecodynamics of extinct settlements. Norse Greenland remains a fascinating and troubling worst case outcome of human interaction with climate, and our new understanding of the dilemma faced by their society serves to increase the relevance of this case to modern times.
On Tuesday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m., Dan Sandweiss, dean and associate provost for graduate studies and professor of anthropology and Quaternary and Climate Studies, will discuss “The Prehistory of El Niño in Ancient Peru.”
This lecture explores the climatic phenomenon known as El Niño, which changes weather throughout the world every few years. Sometimes the changes are positive, such as in the case of a reduction in hurricanes. El Niño, however, often is devastating, and nowhere more than in its heartland on the east coast of Peru. Professor Sandweiss explores the prehistory of El Niño over the 13,000 years that people have lived in coastal Peru, and will explain the methods used to track ancient El Niños and discuss how the phenomenon may have altered the course of cultural development in the region.
Both lectures are open to the public and free general admission tickets are available by calling 581-2190 or emailing climatechange@maine.edu.
The program is hosted by the Climate Change Institute and the Hudson Museum and is supported by the Collins Center for the Arts, the Anthropology Department, the Peruvian Archaeological Research Fund and the Distinguished Lecture Series and Cultural Affairs Committee.