As Hawaiʻi’s state delegation prepares for the upcoming United Nations climate summit, or COP26, in Scotland this November, the University of Hawaiʻi and the state climate commission are organizing a series of events to connect climate diplomacy with state and local action.
The first online event, Going All In: Levers for Climate Action, will be held on Thursday, September 30, at noon. The forum will breakdown steps the state can take to curtail emissions and prepare for storms, sea-level rise and weather changes. Panelists include Gov. David Ige; Kevin Chang, co-director of Kuaʻāina Ulu ʻAuamo, a community-based natural resources management group; and internationally acclaimed climate scientist Kim Cobb, director of Georgia Tech’s Global Change Program.
The event is open to the public. (Submit questions and register here.)
“Hawaiʻi may be a small state, but we’re having an outsized impact on developing climate solutions,” said Ige. “We are the only state committed to becoming ‘carbon negative’ by 2045. We also know there is more work to be done. I’m looking forward to this upcoming conversation connecting climate diplomacy to initiatives underway here in Hawaiʻi. We have to coordinate with other states and nations throughout the Pacific to have the impact we need and to get climate ready. This is the challenge of our time, and we have to get it right for the sake of Hawaiʻi’s keiki.”
“Addressing climate change effectively requires getting both the science and the policy right,” explained UH Mānoa Provost Michael Bruno. “I look forward to this conversation with Professor Cobb, who as a Pacific paleoclimatologist and geochemist collaborates actively with many of our faculty at Mānoa. She has devoted herself not just to advancing climate research but to communicating research findings more effectively to the public.”
Cobb is a lead author of the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report which indicates the planet has time to stave off the most catastrophic effects of global warming—but only if bold and coordinated action is taken immediately.
Victoria Keener, a senior research fellow at the East-West Center will moderate the online event.
More on Cobb
Cobb’s research has been published in Science and other top journals. She is the recipient of the National Science Foundation CAREER Award and the Hans Oeschger Medal from the European Geosciences Union.
This event is presented in partnership with the Hawaiʻi Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission, as part of the Hā O Ke Kai Collection.
The Better Tomorrow Speaker Series is a joint venture of the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation, Kamehameha Schools and UH Mānoa.
Event sponsors include the College of Social Sciences; East-West Center; Hawaiʻi Book and Music Festival, Hawaiʻi Community Foundation, Kamehameha Schools and the William S. Richardson School of Law.
For more information, visit the UH Better Tomorrow Speaker Series website or email btss@hawaii.edu.
