Carmel Green Initiative and the Carmel Clay Public Library are partnering to host a sustainable living seminar called “Climate Change in Indiana,” from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Sept. 27. The event is free and open to the public.
Melissa Widhalm, operations manager for the Purdue Climate Change Research Center, is the featured speaker.
“About a year ago the (center) undertook a statewide assessment effort to look at how climate change will be affecting and is affecting Indiana,” Widhalm said. “This seminar will really be focused on that assessment and some of the preliminary results of the assessment.”
There are many regional and national studies looking at how climate change will have an impact, but few are focused at a state level.
“That’s kind of the premise of this impact assessment, trying to contextualize the national and regional studies and some of the work going on here in Indiana and how can we put that in reports that really specifically focus here in the state and try to help people better understand how will changes in temperature and precipitation and other weather variables translate into impacts on issues that matter to them,” Widhalm said.
Some of those affects will become evident on a small scale, Widhalm said.
“This isn’t just an issue for the polar bears. This is an issue that affects us in our day-to-day lives. If people have asthma or allergies, climate change is going to affect that,” Widhalm said. “Are you a city planner who is tasked with making improvements to your drainage systems? Climate change is going to affect that. The impacts of it will show up in our daily lives, but that isn’t often talked about.”
For more, visit carmelgreen.org.
