Would you like to be more informed about climate change? The Environmental Innovations Initiative's Climate 101 series provides "what you need to know" from some of Penn's leading experts. In an accessible format, both in person and online, these talks delve into how climate is interwoven with a variety of disciplines, helping to raise our climate literacy and prepare us to tackle one of the planet's greatest challenges. View recordings from past Climate 101 presentations below.
Climate 101 for Spring 2025
Join us for our Spring 2025 Climate 101 lineup! Hear from Howard Neukrug, Benjamin Lee, Chenyi Ma, and Kathleen Morrison, speaking about how their discipline is thinking about climate change. We are offering these events in an in-person and virtual format in partnership with the Annenberg School for Communication.
*if you experience challenges using our registration form, please email EII at contact@environment.upenn.edu
December 2024: Climate Change and Human Health: A presentation by Farah Hussain, MD
The climate crisis is a health crisis. Climate change can have negative effects on almost every organ system and can exacerbate patients' underlying medical conditions. In addition, the healthcare sector itself contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions across the globe. In this talk on December 18, 2024, Dr. Hussain, an EII Faculty Fellow, provided an introduction to a few of the health consequences of climate change and what we can do to mitigate them.
November 2024: Climate Change and Wildlife Health: A presentation by Julie Ellis
From habitat degradation to water quality, Julie Ellis, adjunct associate professor of pathobiology at Penn Vet, and the Wildlife Futures Program, and EII Faculty Fellow, reviewed how shifts in temperature and other climatic factors may directly affect land and water creatures.
October 2024: Climate Change and the Cryosphere: A presentation by Jon Hawkings
Jon Hawkings, assistant professor in the Department of Earth & Environmental Science in Penn’s School of Arts & Sciences and an EII Faculty Fellow offered a Climate 101 presentation on the impact of climate change on Earth’s cryosphere, the planet’s frozen regions such as the poles, glaciers, and permafrost.
April 2024: Beyond Despair: A Q&A with Michael Mann
Michael Mann, a member of EII's Internal Advisory Committee. In conversation with moderators from the Initiative—faculty director Kathy Morrison and staff director Katie Unger Baillie—he shared how to combat doomerism and despair when it comes to climate change and explained why he remains optimistic about our future.
Further reading:
- As the world warms how are young people faring? (Environmental Innovations Initiative)
- Penn Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media
- Understanding climate stories (Penn Today)