Renowned Scientist to Lecture on Climate Change Nov. 19

Dr. Katharine Mach, co-director of science with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), will discuss climate change as a challenge in managing risks at a special lecture hosted by the Cañada College Center for Innovation and Excellence in Teaching and Learning.

The lecture will be held Tuesday, Nov. 19 at 3:10 p.m. in Building 3, Room 148 on the Cañada campus, 4200 Farm Hill Blvd., Redwood City. It is free and open to the public.

A draft report from the IPCC was leaked on the Internet earlier this month. It describes a planet in peril as a result of the human-caused buildup of greenhouse gases since the Industrial Revolution, where glaciers are shrinking and plants and animals have shifted their ranges in response to rising temperatures. The future, according to the report, is grim. Climate change will disrupt not only the natural world but also society, posing risks to the world's economy and the food and water supply and contributing to violent conflict. The formal report is expected to be released in March.

The IPCC is the leading international body for the assessment of climate change. It was established by the United Nation's Environment Programme and the World Meteorological Organization in 1988 to provide the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of knowledge in climate changes and its potential environmental and socio-economic impacts.

The IPCC reviews and assesses the most recent scientific, technical and socio-economic information produced worldwide relevant to the understanding of climate change. It does not conduct any research nor does it monitor climate related data or parameters. The organization has issued five major assessments of the science of climate change, each including a report on its effects. Hundreds of scientists from across the world collect and summarize thousands of peer-reviewed studies to come to a consensus every five or six years.

Mach, who earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard University and her Ph.D. from Stanford University, is currently researching the treatment of uncertainties in climate change assessments and decision making. Her past research involved marine biomechanics and ecophysiology, ecological consequences of wave-induced breakage in seaweeds, and the impacts of climate change for ocean ecosystems.