A Community-Building Approach to Understanding and Addressing Climate Change Impacts

About This Event

In 2008, a small group of scientists and natural resource managers met to develop a community-building approach for understanding and adapting to the impacts of climate change in Wisconsin: the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts (WICCI). Over the next three years, WICCI’s community-building approach grew to include more than 200 individuals and 70 organizations around Wisconsin, and by now it is nationally known and recognized as a model for understanding and adapting to climate change impacts. In this talk, Dr. Daniel Vimont will use WICCI’s community-building approach to highlight parallels between concepts of sustainability in complex-adaptive systems and a Jesuit approach to institutional change. In doing so, he hopes to highlight the importance that a Jesuit education can play in addressing the kinds of complex problems that increasingly present themselves in our rapidly evolving world.

About the speaker: Prof. Daniel J. Vimont is a Professor of Climate Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with research interests that focus on mechanisms and impacts of climate variation and climate change. His work spans the development of theoretical models of ocean-atmosphere interaction, predictive models of climate variation, and on-the-ground community-based efforts at addressing impacts of climate change. Throughout his career Dan has served as Director of the Nelson Institute Center for Climatic Research and Co-Director of the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts; and in advisory and steering roles for numerous regional and national efforts for understanding and adapting to climate change impacts. As a graduate of Gonzaga University, Dan is strongly motivated and guided by a Jesuit approach to research and education. Dan is a proud dad to three children (including a current Gonzaga Bulldog!), an avid fly-fisherman, outdoor enthusiast, and local food enthusiast.