Global Climate change and Sustainable Development Initiative

Global warming has attracted increasingly serious interest among scientists, policy makers, politicians, journalists, and the general public around the world. Popular and academic articles, books, web sites, and television documentaries all provide dramatic and detailed examples of the serious consequences of ignoring the issue.

• If current climatic trends continue, the average temperature of the earth will be higher at the end of the 21st century than at any point in the past two million years.
• If temperature trends continue, over one million species could become extinct by 2050.
• Even if greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (CO2 and methane) could be kept at today's levels, the temperature of the earth would continue to increase for several decades because of the inertia in the climate system.
• The melting of over 250 million acres of sea-ice since 1979 and thawing of arctic permafrost has shifted the range of plant and animal species.
• If carbon dioxide levels continue to rise, serious drought could affect most of the world by the end of the 21st century.
• Of the 20 warmest years on record, 19 have occurred in the 1980s or later. The three warmest on record have all occurred since 1998.

As these examples illustrate, the effects of global warming/climate change are wide-ranging, frightening, and continuing, which point to the critical need to understand the human impact on climate change and what needs to be done for sustaining resources of the world - clean air, water, and soil. The time for analysis, conclusions, and action has arrived. Serious attention must be given to developing solutions for this complex and multi-faceted situation.

An institute located at UWM that draws on campus-wide interest and the expertise of faculty and staff, as well as participation by students, in issues associated with global warming can help to address these complex issues. This proposed Institute will represent a focused, multi-disciplinary approach to a complex and timely issue that demands serious attention. UWM, as an urban university with a strong community presence and deep and diversified academic excellence, is an ideal institution to launch this important new venture to help the academic, business, and industrial communities and the general public. The Institute will provide overall administrative and organizational coherence, including coordination of projects, assistance with funding, and a visible public manifestation of UWM's commitment to this serious issue.

The Institute will have two major components to its activity:

• Research
• Community outreach and education.

• Conducting research on biological, economic, political, sociological, technical, and other academic areas related to global warming and climate change.
• Producing academic and general interest publications.
• Hosting scientific and public policy conferences.
• Hosting visiting researchers from across the country and around the world.
• Developing educational programs and materials for undergraduate and graduate students, scientists, and engineers.
• Developing and presenting educational programs and materials for pre-college (K-12) students and teachers.
• Developing, presenting, and coordinating/sponsoring educational programs and materials for the general public.
• Serving as a technical resource for the business and industrial community.
• Developing collaborative projects with business, industry, government, and advocacy groups.
• Working with industry on a local, regional, and national level to improve manufacturing and business practices and to implement changes to reduce the impact on the environment.
• Using the UWM campus to promote best practices to minimize greenhouse gas emissions from campus activities and to showcase sustainable development initiatives.