Image Credit: UTC.Edu
The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –
Publicly funded University of Tennessee Chattanooga (UTC) is hosting a climate change expert this week for two events on October 8th and 9th sponsored by UTC’s Environmental Studies program and Read2Achieve.
Kathleen Biggins, founder of C-Change Conversations will give a presentation on Tuesday evening at a “Climate Change Primer” in what is billed as a “rational, nothing-but-the-facts discussion.”
Biggens, who created her lecture series in 2014, is part of a team that travels all over the United States hoping to sway moderate and conservative audiences into taking the climate change agenda seriously with their “non-partisan, innovative, science-based presentation.”
On Wednesday, there is a panel discussion with Biggens and three local Chattanooga leaders: Natural Treasures Program Director John Bilderback of Thrive Regional Partnership, Philanthropic Advisor Marisa Ogles at Compass Consulting, and City of Chattanooga Department of Planning Director Erik Schmidt with the Office of Sustainability.
Climate policy is increasingly becoming a crucial issue for younger voters. UTC’s decision to host an event on this topic, with early voting starting just a week later, could be seen as an attempt to influence students before they take to the polls.
UTC believes that having Biggens address the general public on how “climate change impacts local communities” is of particular importance for the city as it “grapples with increasing climate risks.” The panel discussion on Wednesday aims to highlight what the city is already doing and how communities like Chattanooga “can lead on climate action.”
Multiple classroom sessions are planned with UTC students “who represent the next generation of voters and potential climate leaders.”
The Tennessee Conservative has previously reported on the City of Chattanooga having been selected as a pioneer for the World Economic Forum’s Smart City Technology Roadmap.
One of only two cities in the United States to be chosen for G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance, Chattanooga agreed to adopt policies governing cybersecurity accountability, increased broadband coverage and more.
The city has been working on building infrastructure to transform Chattanooga into a “Smart City” that will incorporate driverless vehicles, starting with a 1.2 mile stretch that has been outfitted with cameras, LiDAR, radar, and audio devices to test new technology.
Chattanooga’s city council also adopted a World Economic Forum driven Climate Action Plan last year.
About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
6 Responses
I’m not exactly sure what makes climate science “woke” (whatever the hell that’s supposed to mean). Climate change is one of the greatest existential threats to our comfortable civilization. This is not a matter of political opinion but of scientific fact. We have known about the physics of greenhouse gases for over a century. In developing a theory to explain the ice ages, a Swedish scientist named Svante August Arrhenius, in 1896, was the first to use basic principles of physical chemistry to calculate estimates of the extent to which increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) will increase Earth’s surface temperature through the greenhouse effect. Physics also tells us that for every single degree Celsius the atmosphere warms, it is capable of holding seven percent more moisture. How these increases are affecting the climate and weather patterns is something we really have no frame of reference for, and computer modeling can only tell us so much.
The way the powers-that-be keep kicking the climate can down the road is dismaying. I’m 65 with no dependents, and I won’t live long enough to see the worst of it, but my nieces and nephews are having kids of their own, and I know the world is going to be a far, FAR more unpleasant place if and when they get to be my age. At the root of the problem is uniquely human narcissism and greed and excess, which is why I’m not hopeful we’ll be able to mitigate climate change before a full scale ecological collapse is underway.
But if none of this matters to you, and all you really care about is your own comfort and convenience, don’t pretend you give a sh|t about the world your grandkids and great-grandkids inherit, because you obviously do not.
I disagree. I do not believe in climate science. There as many if not more scientist who do not agree with you. No matter how much money you throw at it. You can’t fix it. Yes the global community wants the US to pay for it all ( as usual ) but reality is you will never get third world countries to do their part. China, India, Iran, and many more would not participate. The earth has gone through ice ages, heating and cooling. Stop thinking money can cure anything.
You make it sound like the United States is the ONLY country paying attention to climate change. ALL countries are paying attention. They know what the future holds. All the nations of the world know that climate change can only be mitigated collectively. It’s not a matter of forcing the U.S. to pay for it. As a species, we can VOLUNTARILY make sacrifices. But if we keep kicking the climate can down the road, our hand will be forced.
For instance, there is no doubt that coal is a much cheaper (if non-renewable) energy source than newfangled, futuristic sources like solar and wind. Certainly we could lower energy bills by cancelling any investment in renewable energy sources. After all, even though the fossil fuels will eventually dwindle away, hey, that’s something for FUTURE generations to worry about, not US!
In the Appalachians, some people may remember Walker Machinery billboards that read, “Yes, COAL. Clean, carbon-neutral COAL.” But you don’t see those billboards anymore, probably because the coal industry realized that to make coal clean and carbon-neutral would be expensive. Carbon capture and sequestration remains a technological pipedream, and even if it could be deployed today, it would raise electric bills by 40%, according to one estimate. So let’s not worry about it, OK? It’s far cheaper to just let those billions of tons of carbon to go straight up into the atmosphere. Even if it means melting icecaps, retreating glaciers, and dwindling fresh water supplies, at least your electric bill will be smaller!
Hey, wanna know how to make coal even cheaper? Just stop scrubbing those particulates out of coal smoke! I mean, when given a choice between clean air and prosperity, I’m sure most people would choose PROSPERITY. I just hope they don’t use all that extra money to invest in beachfront property.
I suppose people COULD lower their energy bills by conserving energy whenever possible: Lowering the thermostat a bit more in winter, raising it a bit more in summer, investing in EnergyStar appliances, and maybe trading in those huge, gas-guzzling luxury SUVs for something more efficient, but that would be so darned inconvenient, wouldn’t it? And when it comes to luxury and being able to squander as much energy as possible, well isn’t that your God-given RIGHT? Aren’t you WORTH IT?
I get it. You think climage change is a hoax. I’ll wager you also think evolution is a hoax.
Yup, lucifer’s cities, people and universities, pushing their garbage on us all. I well remember lucifer’s Al Gore guaranteeing an ice age. Wonder what happened?
https://heartland.org/opinion/how-al-gore-built-the-global-warming-fraud/
Al Gore never, EVER “guaranteed” an ice age.