2021 College National Week of Deliberation | Climate Choices: How Should We Meet The Challenges of a Warming Planet?

Please join us for the Fall 2021 National Week of Deliberation online deliberative forum using Common Ground for Action (CGA) on Tuesday November 2, 2021 at 8:00pm EST/5:00pm PST on “Climate Choices: How Should We Meet the Challenges of a Warming Planet" 

The College National Week of Deliberation CGA college forum series connects college students from across the country to discuss and make choices together about today's most pressing, wicked issues. As more campuses become ideological bubbles, this initiative hopes to give students a space to talk across geographic and ideological divides to see what common ground we have to act on wicked issues.

Overiew of Climate Choices: How Should We Meet the Challenges of a Warming Planet"

All around is evidence that the climate is changing. Summers are starting earlier and lasting longer. Heat waves are becoming more frequent and intense. Dry regions are getting drier and wet regions are seeing heavier rains. Record cold and snowfalls blanket some parts of the country, while record fires ravage forests across the West.

The effects are being felt across many parts of the United States. Farmworkers in California’s Central Valley, snow-weary New England business owners, crab fishermen in Alaska, and cattle ranchers across the Great Plains have all seen uncommon and extreme weather. Occasional odd weather and weather cycles are nothing unusual.

But the more extreme and unpredictable weather being experienced around the world points to dramatic changes in climate— the conditions that take place over years, decades, and longer.

Climate disruptions have some people worried about their health, their children, their homes, their livelihoods, their communities, and even their personal safety. They wonder about the future of the natural areas they enjoy and the wild animals and plants that live there. In addition, there are growing concerns about our national security and how climate change might affect scarce resources around the planet and increase global tensions.

In our 90 minute deliberative discussion, we will discuss three options to act:

OPTION 1: Sharply Reduce Carbon Emissions We can no longer rely on piecemeal, voluntary efforts to reduce carbon emissions. The only way to protect ourselves and the planet is to tackle climate change at its source by taking coordinated, aggressive action to reduce the CO2 we put into the atmosphere—enforced by strict laws and regulations, and supported by significant investment.

OPTION 2: Prepare and Protect Our Communities Preparing for and coping with changing conditions must be our top priority. We should work together now to secure our communities and strengthen our resilience in the face of climate-related impacts.

OPTION 3: Accelerate Innovation Across the country and around the world, many private enterprises are already responding to climate change by seeing opportunity. Agricultural biotech companies Monsanto and Syngenta, for example, are poised to profit from newly patented drought-resistant crops. We should do more to support these corporations and efforts.

Check out the issue guide here for more information: https://www.nifi.org/en/issue-guide/climate-choices