Understanding Climate Change

Why is the climate changing, and how? How do we know what the climate looked like in the past, and how can we say anything about the future? What are climate models and how do they work?

Get an overview of climate science with Dr James Renwick (winner of the 2018 New Zealand Prime Minister’s Science Communicator prize). No prior science knowledge is required!

This event is part of 'Te Wā Heke - Invent the Future'.

Bio:
James Renwick has nearly four decades’ experience in weather and climate research. His main field is large-scale climate variability and climate change, including such things as El Niño, the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds, and the impacts of climate variability and change on New Zealand and the Antarctic.

James was a lead author for the last two Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and is a Convening Lead Author for the new 6th IPCC Assessment.

He is a co-chair of the of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) CliC (Climate and Cryosphere) project, and was until recently the chair of the Royal Society of New Zealand Climate Expert Panel.

He was awarded the 2018 New Zealand Prime Minister’s Science Communicator prize by the Rt. Hon. Jacinda Ardern.
Topic: Ngā Takahuringā ō te ao: The effect of climate change on traditional Māori calendars.

Lisa McLaren (Coordinator of the Zero Carbon Act campaign, Generation-Zero).

Topic: Grassroots activism and the youth-led campaign for a Zero Carbon Act.