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NYT Reporter and UGA Grad Speaks on Climate Change

Climate change is "maybe the biggest of all human problems," says Justin Gillis.

New York Times environmental science and policy reporter Justin Gillis returned to Athens Friday to discuss the possible effects of global warming on the planet's future. The 1982 Grady College of Journalism graduate spoke on quite an appropriate day – Earth Day.

The self-proclaimed “bumpkin” from South Georgia – now arguably one of the leading environment and climate change journalists in the country – said the effects of climate change are “maybe the biggest of all human problems.”

Gillis, speaking in the UGA Chapel, presented the dire forecast that some scientists have concluded: rising sea levels, agricultural shortfalls and the extinction of some species.

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He said part of what makes climate change so alarming is the rate in which it is occurring. According to research he presented, global temperatures have increased 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit since 1880 and atmospheric carbon dioxide rates have increased by about 22 percent since 1960.

“Like it or not, this is your problem now,” he said.

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Gillis predicted the globe is still at the earliest stages of climate change, and that humans are still 30 to 40 years away from “the real action.”

“By the time young people in the audience are reaching retirement age, all hell will be breaking loose,” he said.

Some hell appears to be breaking loose already. He said there have recently been riots in 30 countries over the increase in food costs.

In a Gallup poll released today, 35 percent of participants from throughout the world blame global warming on human behavior – one point lower than the percent of people who were not aware of the existence of global warming. Nature is the culprit for 14 percent of respondents, and 13 percent say it's a mixture of both.

In the United States, 34 percent say humans are to blame and 47 percent say it's from natural causes. Interestingly, the respondents most likely to attribute warming to human behavior were respondents from developed Asia, at 76 percent.

Gillis said some scientists predict a wide range of possible temperature increases by 2100. Whether it's 5 degrees or 20 degrees, he said the effects could be catastrophic.

“How many of us an altered planet Earth would be able to support is really an open question,” he said.

Gillis said the solution rests in public education. He said emphasizing the importance of climate change can spur action – globally and on campus. An on-campus step he suggested is the dismantling of UGA's coal plant, a prospect that elicited cheers and applause from the audience.

Dr. Jackie Mohan teaches a class at UGA about the science behind climate change.

“The whole point is to communicate the science to the students,” she said. “It's essential information – this is more than politics. We're talking about life and death here and the fate of an entire planet.”

Mohan said she brings in guest speakers from within UGA to speak to the roughly 50 to 70 students she has enrolled in the Ecology 2100 course. Passionate about the planet, Mohan said even if humans lived to truly explore other planets, we would never find anything quite like Earth.

“We will never find a place with rain forests, with coral reefs,” she said. “That's the whole purpose: to teach the citizens of the world the science.”

UGA senior Amina Farooq came to the lecture because of  her interest in the science, particularly climate change's possible impact on other areas, including the global health of humans.

“It's a relevant issue, we're not all living in isolation anymore,” said the McDonough native, who is majoring in biology, ecology and Arabic.

“We've inherited a legacy, and we'll leave a legacy,” she said. “It's our responsibility to be informed so we can make responsible decisions.”

She added that sometimes it's as simple as exposing your own views to the beliefs of other people. From there, she said, change can come about.

“This sort of change is going to have to start at a grassroots level,” she said, adding that it's possible to “make a difference, one by one.”

 

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