September 21, 2015

Academics unite to increase awareness of climate change

More than 260 academics (updated 13 October) in 38 countries across six continents have joined a unique global initiative to increase people’s awareness and understanding of climate change and its impact.

Known as Global Climate Change Week (GCCW), the movement aims to mobilise academics across all disciplines and to encourage them to connect with their students and communities on climate change action and solutions.

GCCW will be held annually in the third full week of October in the build-up to the annual United Nations Conference of the Parties meeting. In 2015, GCCW will be held from 19 to 25 October, in the lead-up to the UN meeting in Paris in December.

During this week, academics will alter their programs to coordinate their teaching on some aspect of climate change. Participants will also host a range of activities aimed at capturing the attention of students, policy-makers, and the wider community, and demonstrating the need to take action against climate change.  Such action is particularly urgent in relation to climate policy, which GCCW organisers say is inadequate compared to the scale and potentially catastrophic nature of the risks posed by climate change.

• Follow GCCW at UOW on Facebook for regular updates about events in Wollongong 
   

GCCW is a first of its kind of collaboration and is open to academics from all fields; each week more academics are joining the cause. As a senior editor at the monthly Nature Climate Change (NCC) journal, Bronwyn Wake said in a recent NCC article: “Momentum is building, and the variety of people and activities is well on the way to making this first GCCW a success”.

The movement is led by a group of Australian academics primarily based at the University of Wollongong.

Wollongong based climate scientist Dr Helen McGregor said: “It’s not just climate scientists that need to contribute to climate change solutions. I support Global Climate Change Week because it embraces all disciplines and sends a strong message that urgent action is needed.”

UOW philosophy lecturer Dr Keith Horton said: “Climate change is a major threat to humanity and the ecosystems that support it. Every aspect of society will be affected and we need to bring as many perspectives as possible to the table to deal with the challenges ahead.”

Dr George Takacs, a lecturer in physics at UOW, said: “Dealing successfully with the significant challenges of climate change will require a flexible policy approach that allows for adaptive management. This in turn will require an informed and engaged community, and this is where academics can and must play a role.”

Dr Samuel Wilson, Research Fellow at the Swinburne Institute said: “Addressing the super-wicked challenge of climate change requires leadership across all sectors of the community. As academics, we have a special responsibility to show leadership on climate change and we’re encouraged to see many academics getting behind GCCW.”

Wollongong Events

NB: UOW's Global Challenges program is a supporter of GCCW.