UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The nations that sent representatives to the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, pledged to take actions to keep global temperatures from rising above 1.5 degrees Celsius. Penn State attendee and COP26 presenter Erica Smithwick, distinguished professor of geography, will discuss key takeaways from the climate conference and the need to change the climate narrative during a talk at 4 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 24. The talk will take place via Zoom.
Smithwick is a landscape and ecosystem ecologist who studies how disturbances, especially fire, affect how ecosystems function and how to apply indigenous and western knowledge to address forest sustainability under a changing climate. She serves as associate director of Penn State’s Institutes of Energy and the Environment, is founding director of the Center for Landscape Dynamics and is an associate of the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute at Penn State.
Smithwick’s talk is part of the spring 2022 EESI EarthTalks series, “Energy and Climate Policy, Part 2: Strategies for Getting to Net Zero.” The series is presented by Penn State’s Earth and Environmental Systems Institute.