Duluth, MN– UMD is hosting a conference aimed at directing Minnesota’s next steps for dealing with climate change in Minnesota. “Our Climate Futures: Meeting the Challenge in Duluth” is Tuesday, March 19 and Wednesday, March 20. The conference is free and open to the public.
Sixteen sessions and a keynote address are being held over the course of the two days. Panelists include representatives from academia, government, and businesses.
Central to the conference are conversations about future planning and how communities can adapt to climate change in Minnesota. “Minnesota has already begun climate mitigation techniques such as using alternative energy and reducing its carbon footprint,” says Patrick Schoff, a research associate at the Natural Resources Research Institute. “This conference will be invaluable as the consequences of climate change become increasingly apparent.”
Julie Etterson, professor of biology in UMD’s Swenson College of Science and Engineering, says, "Native Minnesotans, like myself, realize that climate change is already upon us. We know that lake ice is forming later and going out earlier. We know that spring comes earlier and that we can grow tomatoes and actually hope to get some ripe ones by the end of summer! In contrast, in other regions in the U.S., it is possible that unbearable weather and coastal flooding will set off a wave of human migration seeking more tolerable conditions."
The conference is free and open to the public. The media is invited to cover any of the program sessions.
About the Keynote Speaker, Dr. Jesse Keenan
Dr. Jesse Keenan is a member of the faculty of the Graduate School of Design at Harvard. His work is focused on climate change adaptation and the built environment, including aspects of design, engineering, financing and planning.
"In an age of climate migration, we tend to focus on displacement and not necessarily the economic mobility associated with changing consumer preferences,” he says. “In one iteration of a climate future, Duluth may be well positioned to accommodate a diverse influx of people, culture and capital associated with a national redistribution of people and places.”
Keenan explains that environmental scientists, community agency personnel, and the public are convening for discussions that cover an economy that minimizes waste and resources, energy mitigation efforts, alternative energy sources, adaptive infrastructure, and climate refuge areas. Central to the conference are conversations about future planning and how communities can adapt to climate change in Minnesota.
“The question for Duluth moving forward is whether strategic economic development and marketing can be mobilized under a set of community-drive values that, together, paint a vision of a shared climate future."
Keenan is a member of the United States delegation to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. He has advised on matters concerning the built environment for agencies of the U.S. government, governors, mayors, Fortune 500 companies, technology ventures, community enterprises and international nongovernmental organizations.
About the Keynote
Keenan’s “Our Climate Futures: Meeting the Challenge in Duluth” keynote presentation is at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 20 in the Marshall Performing Arts Center, 1215 Ordean Court, Duluth, Minn.
It’s being followed by a panel discussion featuring Emily Larson (City of Duluth Mayor), Karen Diver (College of St. Scholastica and member of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa), Al Rudeck (Allete Clean Energy), with Andrea Schokker (UMD) as moderator.