The ongoing debate over climate change was addressed by the suspected causes and solutions in a lecture on Thursday night.
The talk 24 Hours of Climate Reality - Truth Into Action, from the Climate Reality Project, was presented at Emmanuel United Church in South Walkerville. The lecturer at the talk was Jane Dugan, a Windsor native who was trained in climate lecture by none other than the project's founder, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore.
Dugan, who has been a lecturer on climate change for over four years, covered a wide range of material, such as the effect warmer ocean water has on the atmosphere, shown by the devastation brought on by Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Temperature extremes were also looked at, with one example being record heat in an unlikely place, northern Siberia.
It was not all doom and gloom, though. Dugan exclusively told BlackburnNewsWindsor.com that some things are going on that will make a difference.
"A lot of solutions are solar and wind energy and creating jobs. It's a growing industry," said Dugan. "It's also green energy, so it's not trapping greenhouse gases such as coal and oil."
Coal use has declined worldwide over the past few decades, according to the presentation. At least 112 global banks and financial institutions around the world have decided not to fund enterprises in which coal is produced.
Climate change has become a massive issue over the past few years and was such an issue during the recent federal election. A small crowd attended the lecture Thursday night, and Dugan had a theory as to why the movement has not caught on before.
"People just really deny the fact that it's actually happening," said Dugan. "We get into our worlds and busyness, and if it doesn't affect us personally, we sort of have a shorter view of what's going on in the world."
The Climate Change Project is based in Washington, D.C. For complete information, visit their official website.
This chart shows the dramatic increase in ocean heat content since 1960, Emmanuel United Church, Windsor, November 21, 2019. Photo by Mark Brown, Blackburn News.