Dennis Dimick, executive editor of National Geographic Magazine, speaks to students Thursday.

Officials sift for climate solutions

By: CLAIRE MILLER

Posted: 2/1/08

Wind power, solar energy and mass transit options are possible solutions to curb global warming, as discussed during this week's two-day Focus the Nation teach-in.

This national event brought together students, staff and interested community members for lectures and performances centering on identifying causes of and solutions to global warming.

"I love the idea of focusing to get some real information so that (global warming) is not a big scary monster," said Chris Cuomo, a women's studies professor who has conducted research in northern Alaska. "It's a problem we can address."

The event began Wednesday night when about 50 people, including Mayor Heidi Davison, gathered in the Memorial Hall Ballroom for the "2% Solution" Web cast. Due to technical problems, the Web cast didn't work - but this didn't stop Cuomo and Ron Carroll, a professor in the school of ecology, from moderating a discussion about global warming causes and solutions.

"It's an interesting problem because we know what the problem is ... and we know what to do," Cuomo said. "We need to reduce consumption, clean up our messes and find ways to have less dirty garbage."

Both moderators discussed the problems with people's dependency on oil, and Shell Oil's drilling in South America and off Alaska's coast.

"It's not a matter of putting blame on the individuals," Cuomo said. "Shell wouldn't be getting rich off oil if we weren't addicted to it."

Cuomo and Carroll talked about America's dependence on cars and the interstate highway system, a topic of concern that National Geographic Executive Editor Dennis Dimick discussed at the Charter Lecture Thursday.

"We have to stop building a civilization that requires you to get into a car to get where you're going," Dimick said to a full auditorium at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education.

While showing pictures from previous issues of National Geographic, Dimick said one of the major problems we have is the amount of carbon trapped in the atmosphere.

Without some carbon in the atmosphere, we would freeze, he said.

"It's a balancing act," Dimick said. "What's happening is the system is out of balance."

And as the amount of carbon increases, so does the sea level and the earth's temperature. This, he said, explains why vast areas of ice in the Arctic Circle are melting.

"Vast areas of the frozen north ... are starting to thaw," he said. "It's a signal that the system is changing."

Although the picture seems bleak, there are things people can do to stop global warming, Dimick said. Looking into using ethanol and biofuels can help wean people off oil, he said.