Maritime Awards Society of Canada

The second talk in the 2009 Killam Public Lecture Series on Oceans and Global Change will be held November 26th, 2009 at 7:00 pm in the Ondaatje Auditorium, Marion McCain Arts and Social Sciences Building at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. A reception will follow. The address is 6135 University Avenue. The Lecture is entitled “The Arctic meltdown: an alarming symptom of global fever”.
The speaker is one of the world’s foremost Arctic scientists, Dr. Louis Fortier, who holds a Canada Research Chair on the response of arctic marine ecosystems to climate warming and is the leader of ArcticNet, which brings together Arctic specialists in the natural, social and health sciences with the aim of anticipating the impacts of climate warming and modernization in the Arctic on the health and economy of northern communities and on the economy of Canada in general.

While leaders deluded by overly optimistic climate scenarios procrastinate on actions to reduce greenhouse gases emissions, the Arctic meltdown confirms that societies must brace for the full impacts of climate change within the present century. From the potential extinction of the arctic animals to the opening of the North West Passage, from the threatened Inuit culture to the destabilisation of northern infrastructure, Dr. Louis Fortier reviews the negative and sometime positive impacts of arctic warming. He describes Canadian-led international efforts to elucidate the mysteries of the transforming Arctic world. Exotic images and videos will bring to you the excitement of scientific adventure in the High Arctic.

The annual Dorothy J. Killam Memorial Lecture Series brings together the university community, the general public and renowned scholars and thinkers from around the world. The Killam lectures present important and topical issues with an aim to stimulate public support for pre-doctoral and post-doctoral research.