International panel of scientists, writers, academics and communicators to speak at two-day UCI conference on climate change

 EVENT:                  The UCI Forum for the Academy and the Public presents, “Fire & Ice: The Shifting Narrative of Climate Change,” a two-day conference that will tackle the most serious threat to humanity today: climate change.

It will feature an interdisciplinary and international panel of scientists, writers, academics and communicators – including Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Kolbert, author of Field Notes from a Catastrophe and The Sixth Extinction, and Nathaniel Rich, whose book Losing Earth will be published in April. Climate activist Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature and 2014 recipient of the Right Livelihood Award, will be the keynote speaker.

WHEN/WHERE:   Friday, Feb. 8, and Saturday, Feb. 9, in the Crystal Cove Auditorium at the Student Center (bldg. 113, grid E8 on campus map: https://communications.uci.edu/documents/pdf/UCI_16_map_campus_core.pdf) and in Humanities Gateway 1800 (bldg. 611, grid E7 on campus map)

INFORMATION:  All events are free and open to the public. Parking is available in the Student Center Parking Structure (grid D9 on campus map) and in the Mesa Parking Structure (grid C7 on campus map) for $10 per day or $2 per hour. Media planning to attend should contact Pat Harriman at 949-824-9055 or pharrima@uci.edu.

HIGHLIGHTS:     Friday, Feb. 8 – Crystal Cove Auditorium, Student Cente

4 p.m.: Welcome and opening remarks by Amy Wilentz, UCI professor of English in the literary journalism program

4:15 p.m.: Keynote address by McKibben, “From the Front Lines of the Climate Fight”

5:45 p.m.: Panel discussion on “Creating Climate Change Narratives,” featuring Kolbert, Rich, McKibben and Manuel Pastor, professor of sociology and director of the Program for Environmental and Regional Equity at USC; moderated by Jon Wiener, UCI professor emeritus of history

Saturday, Feb. 9 – Humanities Gateway 1800

9 a.m.: Breakfast

9:30 a.m.: Talk on “Losing Earth: A Recent History,” featuring Rich

10:30 a.m.: Panel discussion on “Go-Go Industrialization and Climate Change,” featuring Isabel Hilton, a Scottish journalist and broadcaster based in London, who will focus on China; Kavita Philip, UCI associate professor of history, who will focus on India; Gabrielle Hecht, Frank Stanton Foundation Professor of Nuclear Security at Stanford University, who will focus on Africa; and Tun Myint, associate professor of political science at Carleton College, who will focus on Burma; moderated by Jeffrey Wasserstrom, UCI Chancellor’s Professor and chair of history

12:30 p.m.: Luncheon talk on “The Sixth Extinction,” featuring Kolbert, who’s also an environmental writer for The New Yorker, in conversation with David Ulin, former book critic at the Los Angeles Times

1:45 p.m.: Panel discussion on “Data and Denial,” featuring Eric Rignot, world-renowned glaciologist and UCI’s Donald Bren Professor and chair of Earth system science; Peter Gleick, co-founder and president-emeritus of the Pacific Institute; and Cathy Whitlock, professor of earth sciences at Montana State University; moderated by Erika Hayasaki, UCI associate professor of English in the literary journalism program

3:30 p.m.: Panel discussion on “Law, Justice, Sustainability,” featuring Alejandro Camacho, UCI professor of law and director of the UCI Law Center for Land, Environment and Natural Resources; Cara Horowitz, co-executive director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at UCLA’s School of Law; Doug Kysar, deputy dean and Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law at Yale Law School; and Paul Adler, professor of management & organization, sociology and environmental studies at USC; moderated by David Kaye, UCI clinical professor of law and director of the UCI Law International Justice Clinic

BACKGROUND:   The UCI Forum for the Academy and the Public is a collaborative project of the literary journalism program, the School of Humanities and the School of Law that bridges the university and the public via conferences and pop-ups that tackle the most pressing issues of our time. Led by Wilentz and Wasserstrom and international in scope, the forum has addressed such topics as freedom of expression, justice and incarceration, fake news and the future of the democratic ideal.  For a full schedule of events and speakers at the climate change conference, visit http://sits.uci.edu/fireandice. Using social media? Follow and use the hashtag #UCIclimate.