Challenges in the Air:
Facing the Issue of Global Climate Change
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George Mount, Ph.D. Director WSU Center for Environmental Research, Education, and Outreach Professor Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering College of Engineering and Architecture |
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Brian Lamb, Ph.D. Regents Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Boeing Distinguished Professor, Laboratory for Atmospheric Research College of Engineering and Architecture |
Climate change affects all life on Earth, but no single answer or approach addresses every pressing concern. Questions and confusion about the topic swirl around government offices, community centers, boardrooms, and editorial desks as conflicting interests complete for attention.
How do we untangle the issues and shed the inaccuracies surrounding this hot topic?
During the past 25 years, the pace of research on climate change has quickened because of concern that human activity—not just climate change—could cause alterations of atmospheric temperatures leading to irreversible global damage.
To address this issue, atmospheric engineers Brian Lamb and George Mount created state-of-the-art instruments to measure climate change in hopes of reversing current global trends. From ground explorations to determine how much CO2 is sequestered by forests, to measuring the greenhouse gases emitted from crops and animal operations, to satellite views of atmospheric change, the scientists can reliably model climate change and its effects on future air pollution levels. The satellite work, funded by NASA, allows them to pinpoint the sources of pollutants, following them as they move through the atmosphere.
Professors Lamb and Mount oversee a regional air-quality model called AIRPACT, tracking and predicting urban air pollution in the Pacific Northwest. They also use computer modeling to study how global warming will affect air quality in the region and throughout the country.
What will have the greatest impact on air quality during the next 45 years—increased greenhouse gas emissions or climate change? Efforts to monitor and improve air quality forecasting will have a significant impact on our understanding of the changes occurring in regional air quality in the near-term future.
Wednesday, September 5
The Rainier Club
820 4th Avenue
Seattle
Registration: 11:30 a.m.
Lunch Program: Noon-1:30 p.m.
Reservations: $30 per person (includes lunch)
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