Climate Change Economics Discussed by Internationally Known Economist at Colorado State Nov. 6

How will the recent financial meltdown affect our economic approaches to climate change? How should the next American president choose to approach these problems? Internationally known economist Charles Kolstad from the University of California-Santa Barbara Department of Economics and the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management will consider these and other issues at 7 p.m. Nov. 6 in Colorado State University’s Lory Student Center North Ballroom. His presentation, "Climate Change: Is Economics the Problem or the Solution," will be followed by an open discussion.  

The lecture, part of an ongoing program called Changing Climates @ CSU, is free and open to the public. Changing Climates seeks to increase public awareness and understanding of current science and research on climate change.

Kolstad, who is interested in the roles that information, uncertainty and learning play in environmental decision-making and regulation, does much of his applied work in climate change and energy markets. He heads the National Science Foundation funded Economics and Environmental Science doctorate program at UCSB. He was a lead author for the IPCC (co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize), and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences committee charged with evaluating the U.S. Climate Change Research Program. He is a former president of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, co-editor of the journal, "Review of Environmental Economics & Policy," and has written more than 100 publications, including the undergraduate text, "Environmental Economics."

Kolstad’s lecture is the third of seven public lectures running through the academic year that address global warming from a variety of perspectives, including policy and policy makers, effects on people, literature and creative writing and possible solutions. The series, "Climate Change: What We All Need To Know," draws on the breadth and depth of Colorado State’s involvement in climate change research by featuring national experts among its faculty as well as leading scholars and writers from other universities.

For more information, contact John Calderazzo in Colorado State’s Department of English at (970) 491-6896 or jcaldera@lamar.colostate.edu, or visit Changing Climates @ CSU on the Web at http://changingclimates.colostate.edu.

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