At URI, literature major Elizabeth Kolbert sounds alarm on climate change | Education | projo.com | The Providence Journal

SOUTH KINGSTOWN — For seven years Elizabeth Kolbert has been researching the consequences of climate change by documenting melting glaciers in Greenland and dwindling sea ice in the Arctic. She wrote prize-winning stories for The New Yorker magazine and a highly acclaimed book, Field Notes From a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change.

Asked what surprised her the most during all that time, Kolbert said: “With the accumulation of evidence and the growing public consciousness — the lack of tangible results. I expected a little bit of action by now. But I don’t see any action.”

Kolbert was the first speaker, Tuesday night, of the University of Rhode Island’s Fall 2008 Honors Colloquium, called “People and Planet — Global Environmental Change,” and the turnout looked more like that of a rock concert than a science lecture.

The parking lot outside of Chafee Auditorium filled as people streamed inside. When the auditorium’s capacity of 530 was quickly reached, an auditorium next door was opened, and its 200 seats filled. Then, people sat in the aisles.

University President Robert L. Carothers opened the event by quipping that he wanted to quell the rumor that Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin would soon arrive to offer her views. Palin has said she doesn’t believe climate change is man-made.

“It ain’t going to happen,” said Carothers.

Kolbert then spent the next hour and a half explaining how much science has done to show that those who share Palin’s views are simply wrong and that mankind is unequivocally causing climate change on an unprecedented scale.