The Future of Climate: What Three Generations of Scientist Revealed

×

Expand

Credit: Tom Mozdzer

Global Change Research Wetland

Speakers: Dr. Bert Drake, Dr. Pat Megonigal and Jaxine Wolfe (SERC)

In 1987, the Smithsonian launched a futuristic experiment that would transform how we think about climate. Inside small experimental chambers, a few scientists doubled the amount of carbon dioxide to see how wetland plants would cope. Today, that project is the world’s longest-running experiment on plants and rising carbon dioxide. And its home, the Global Change Research Wetland, now has six long-term experiments simulating different future climate scenarios, from higher carbon dioxide and hotter temps to sea level rise.

On Feb. 18, join us for a special panel with three generations of scientists at the Smithsonian. Meet Bert Drake, creator of the 1980s experiment that began it all; Pat Megonigal, the current director of the Global Change Research Wetland; and Jaxine Wolfe, a technician studying wetland “blue carbon” around the globe. Find out what we know for certain, what mysteries remain, and why wetlands may be one of Earth’s greatest hopes for a resilient future.