Climate Speaker Series
Overview
The Climate Speaker Series is generously sponsored by Don & Jennifer Holzworth. The Climate Speaker Series brings in leading experts from a variety of backgrounds to explore the creative solutions needed to address humanity’s most pressing problem.
Program Sponsors/Underwriters
2023 Schedule
Program: World on a Plate: The fragility of the world’s food systems and how to fix them amid a changing climate
Lisa Palmer is the National Geographic Research Professor of Science Communication at the School of Media and Public Affairs. She is also an award-winning environmental and science journalist, author of HOT, HUNGRY PLANET: The Fight to Stop a Global Food Crisis in the Face of Climate Change (St. Martin’s Press; 2017), and senior editor and education lead at Planet Forward.
Palmer actively participates in the national and international discourse on science, sustainability and the environment through writing and publishing, speaking, developing and leading seminars, and providing analysis.
Program: An Indigenous View on Climate and Environment; a Call to Action
Darren Parry is the former Chairman of the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation. Darren serves on the Board of Directors for Utah Humanities and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Utah. He attended the University of Utah and Weber State University to receive his Bachelor’s Degree in Secondary Education. Darren is the author of “The Bear River Massacre; A Shoshone History” and teaches Native American History at Utah State University. He lectures around the country on Native American issues related to history and Indigenous views on sustainability. He recently gave a lecture at the University of Copenhagen discussing Indigenous views on Climate and Environment. His passions in life are his wife Melody, 7 children and 17 grandchildren, and his Tribal family. He wants to make sure that those who have gone before him are not forgotten.
In January 2019, Will Toor joined the Colorado Energy Office (CEO) as its Executive Director appointed by Governor Jared Polis. In this role he has helped coordinate the development and implementation of the state’s Greenhouse Gas Roadmap, which serves as an action plan to achieve the state goals of a 50% reduction in GHG pollution from 2005 levels by 2030 and a 90% reduction by 2050.
Prior to becoming CEO, Will was Transportation Program Director at the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project (SWEEP). Will served as Boulder County Commissioner for eight years and served as Mayor of Boulder for six years. Will served on and chaired the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG). He served on the Air Quality Control Commission and the state oil and gas taskforce. Will spent 12 years as Director of the University of Colorado Environmental Center, where he developed campus sustainability programs. Will holds a BS in Physics from Carnegie Mellon University and a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Chicago.
March 22, 2022
Code Red
Communicating the Urgency and Opportunity of Climate Action
January 27th, 2022
How can we end the global plague of human-caused air pollution?
New findings connecting air pollution, climate change, wildfires, energy, and health
February 24th, 2022
Perspectives from the Headwater State
Hydrology, Science, and Policy of the Colorado River
