EUGENE, Ore. -- (Aug. 25, 2010) - The University of Oregon will serve as host and chief collaborator next month for a gathering of experts on the effects of climate change on the world's oceans.
While the UO isn't usually thought of as a center of oceanic studies, law professor Richard Hildreth says the issue "is reaching us even as a non-ocean university." While the UO does operate the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology in Charleston, much of the state's ocean science research is done through programs at Oregon State University.
But Hildreth, who organized the one-day event, says preeminent scholars at the UO in ocean law and environmental politics will round out the Sept. 10 conference, "Ocean Impacts of Climate Change: Science, People and Policy." The result will be a collaboration of science, law and policy experts.
"I think that's what we bring to the table," says Hildreth, who has written three casebooks on ocean and costal law.
Other UO presenters at the conference will be Mary Wood, faculty director of the UO Environmental and Natural Resources Law Program; and Ronald Mitchell, a political science professor who specializes in environmental politics and international relations.
They will be joined by a total of 12 experts from OSU, the University of Hawaii, Stanford University, George Washington University, University of San Francisco, University of Victoria, University of Minnesota, University of Washington and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Fields of study for the visiting presenters include law, ocean and fishery science, marine and estuarine biology, atmospheric science, ocean changes and coastal ocean dynamics.
Mitchell, who is a member of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute Science Advisory Board, said carbon dioxide's effects on both global warming and marine acidification is creating "a double whammy on the oceans that is really going to have dramatic impacts."
In addition to direct effects on the oceans and their marine ecosystems, Mitchell said the ocean changes also are creating challenges for earth's human population. "So much food comes from the ocean for so many people in the world," Mitchell said. "There are big problems that need a lot more attention paid to them and thought given to resolving them."
Hildreth and symposium moderator Jack Barth, a professor in OSU's College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Science, plan to co-author a report on the seminar's findings and conclusions for publication in a scientific journal.
"This conference sounds the alarm about the impacts of climate change and the need for new international and domestic laws to protect the world's oceans," Hildreth said.
The symposium, which will run from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Knight Law Center, is sponsored by the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics and PISCO: Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans. It is co-sponsored the UO Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies, and the Oregon State University Foundation.
The conference, which is free and open to the public, has already drawn more than 100 registrants. For a full schedule or to register, go to www.waynemorsecenter.uoregon.edu.
About the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon is a world-class teaching and research institution and Oregon's flagship public university. The UO is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an organization made up of the 63 leading public and private research institutions in the United States and Canada. The University of Oregon is one of only two AAU members in the Pacific Northwest.
Contact: Abbie Stillie, communications coordinator, Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics, 541-346-3717, astillie@uoregon.edu
Media Contact: Joe Mosley, UO media relations, 541-346-3606, jmosley@uoregon.edu
Source: Richard Hildreth, Wayne Morse resident scholar, 541-346-3866, rghildre@uoregon.edu
Links: http://bit.ly/ckn2N2