Though most of us are away from campus, a group of Birmingham-Southern students, faculty, and staff continues to discuss and research the effects of climate change.

BSC’s Climate Change Interest Group has been hosting teach-ins on various climate change topics, each one led by a different faculty or staff member. For the time being, these have been moved to Microsoft Teams as virtual discussions.

In addition to the teach-ins, members use the Moodle course (one of the College’s online learning platforms) and email list to share articles and other news to learn about the issues. The group brings people together from across departments and disciplines with the leadership of Associate Director of International Programs Anne Ledvina and Biology Professor Dr. Scot Duncan.

In October of 2018, Ledvina had read the 2018 United Nations special report on climate change and knew the U.S. report would be released that November. When it was released on Black Friday, she was disturbed by the silence in her community and on campus. The message in both reports presented a dire warning if we did not limit CO2 emissions.

In response to the silence, Ledvina reached out to BSC science faculty to learn what was being done on campus to talk about climate change. She received multiple replies, including one from Duncan, whose research expertise includes ecology, conservation biology, and environmental studies. During his most recent sabbatical, he began research for an upcoming book and spent more time on climate change than he expected.

“If we continue to burn lots of fossil fuels to generate the energy that we need, by the year 2030, we will have unloaded enough carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere to push Earth to the tipping point, where the changes to our planet are beyond our control,” Duncan says. “We have 10 years to pull off a huge societal transformation.”

Their partnership brought together a faculty and staff group to discuss possible actions related to climate change. While Duncan is well researched on the scientific side, Ledvina has more experience with climate justice.

“As Scot and I bring together different sides of the issue, we wanted to see who else on our campus was concerned about these issues,” Ledvina says.

Faculty from urban environmental science, political science, religion, psychology, and foreign language departments are participating. Many of these faculty have led or are planning to lead a teach-in on a climate change issue specific to their disciplines.

Ledvina and Duncan hope to see more courses address climate change to raise awareness and explore the interdisciplinary approach to learning about the issues and finding solutions. In November, Ledvina planned BSC’s International Education Week with a climate change focus to explore climate change as a global issue.

Duncan is currently working with two students who have incorporated climate change studies with another discipline: senior applied computer science major Chris Sucic is studying climate change effects on migratory bird patterns for his Harrison Honors Project, and senior health sciences major Jadaria Thomas is studying the history of redlining and heat-related illness in Birmingham in relation to climate change for her Distinction in Public Health.

Studies in climate change present important research topics for students and can prepare them for new and innovative careers in the field. As the interest group grows, Ledvina and Duncan hope to connect with students and faculty at other colleges for larger discussions.

“The hopeful thing is that if we do what we need to do for the planet, we would be living in a better place,” Ledvina says. “It’s an ideal moment where everyone can prosper, where we don’t have to see the human rights abuses that our local and global neighbors are facing. We can see human beings evolve to a much better place and protect our planet and its biodiversity.”

How to Get Involved

To get on the Climate Change Interest Group’s email list and Moodle site, email [email protected] or [email protected]. The virtual teach-ins are held through Microsoft Teams and are also recorded and posted to be viewed later. Students, faculty, staff, and alumni are encouraged to participate.

On May 7 at 11 a.m., Ledvina and Psychology Professor Dr. Lynne Trench will lead a virtual teach-in on climate justice with readings from “Climate Justice” by Mary Robinson, the seventh and first female president of the Republic of Ireland.

One great resource for those interested in learning more about climate change is this conversation hosted by The New York Times. Important climate change leaders gathered to discuss what issues have improved and which have worsened on the 50^th anniversary of Earth Day. Find more resources like this in the Moodle course.