NOVA Climate Change Symposium

In lieu of posting pretty photos this Friday, I'm putting in a plug for an exciting event going on in Northern Virginia (and across the country, actually). It's a Climate Change Symposium being held on the campuses of Northern Virginia Community College from January 31st to February 1st, and you should definitely participate. Our own Callan Bently of NOVA Geoblog will be hosting the Annandale portion of the events. Here's an excerpt from the main event webpage:

"How worried should we be? How sound is the science? What changes is the planet already “committed to”? How much has Earth's climate changed in the past? What can we expect? What can we do?

"As you may have heard in this week’s news, 2007 was the second warmest year on record, and the eight warmest years on record have all occurred since 1998. Global warming is one of the great challenges that humanity will face in the coming centuries. For three days, events on NOVA campuses will explore human-caused climate change and what it means for our society. These events are part of the larger national day of learning about Climate Change called "Focus The Nation." Experts from our faculty and from area universities, government, media, and NGOs will be on hand to answer your questions about climate change.

"Start off by joining the Annandale campus' RPK Society for a live webcast of "The 2% Solution" on Wednesday night. On Thursday, the Alexandria, Loudoun, Manassas, Medical Education, and Woodbridge campuses will be hosting individual events. Return to Annandale on Friday afternoon for the big event: a series of short talks by experts on different aspects of climate change, followed by a roundtable discussion emphasizing audience questions.

"Join us to explore the largest challenge of the coming years."

I highly recommend attending if you're in the DC metro area; or, if you're not, to find one of the other nationwide events going on as part of the "Focus the Nation National Teach-In". (In light of a Republican Senate staffer's apparently uninformed opposition of the recent AGU climate change statement, this is definitely an important set of events to help promote!)

I hope everyone will get out there and attend one of the events closest to you. I'll be at NOVA Annandale on February 1st!