5 speakers to discuss climate change Thursday, including Nobel Laureate, mayor

Five speakers from IU and the City of Bloomington will present “Community Actions Against Climate Change,” a forum that will bring the heated global talks addressing climate change to a local level.

The seminar will take place at 2 p.m. Thursday in Alumni Hall in the Indiana Memorial Union and will address how the Bloomington community should react to this global initiative.

Sponsored by Sycamore Land Trust, a non-profit organization based in southern Indiana that works on conserving natural resources and sustainability, the three-hour seminar will invite speakers from various institutions to share their views on how to maintain a healthy planet.

The guests will include Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom, Sustainability Coordinator for Bloomington Jacqui Bauer, Monroe County Commissioner Iris Kiesling, IU Provost and Executive Vice President Karen Hanson and SLT Executive Director Christian Freitag.
Erin Hollinden, outreach coordinator at SLT, said the seminar will provide a timely chance for people in the community to get together and seek solutions to make Bloomington more sustainable.

“This forum will share what people are doing right here, right now, to try to avert ecological disaster,” Hollinden said. “The presenters will give ideas for how each of us can join city efforts, county efforts, campus efforts and land trust efforts here where we live, today and next week and next year.”

Hollinden said Ostrom, who has been supporting the land trust since 2001, contacted the organization about hosting a seminar regarding climate change, and as the keynote speaker, Ostrom will talk about the active efforts the communities are making to sustain the resources and the challenges they are facing.

Bloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan will address the opening of the seminar. He said the seminar is an impressive effort that will bring many diverse people and perspectives to the table, discussing “where we are, where we’re headed, and how we get there.”

— Kevin Wang