MINOCQUA, WI – On Wednesday, October 7th at 6:30pm, guests at the Minocqua Brewing Company will be able to raise a pint and raise their hands to ask a Nobel Prize-winning scientist about one of the biggest issues of our time.
Jonathan Patz, director of the Global Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will be at the brewery for the monthly “Science on Tap-Minocqua” series, a science cafe that brings UW researchers to Wisconsin’s Northwoods and lets attendees start a conversation on everything from fisheries, to loons, to Vitamin D.
Patz’s talk, titled “Human Health and a Changing Climate” will start an important discussion on how a warmer world means more than melting ice caps and rising seas.
“Climate Change poses serious harms to our health,” says Patz. “Climate change actions, however, offer enormous health benefits. I’d go so far as to say that achieving a clean energy society may be the greatest public health opportunity we’ve had in more than a century.”
Patz, who spent 15 years as the lead author for the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), will touch on these topics, as well as field questions from the audience — an interaction that makes Science on Tap-Minocqua such an important extension of the Wisconsin Idea, says Susan Knight, interim director of Trout Lake Station.
“Science on Tap brings experts out of the lecture halls of academia to a setting where they can have a conversation with the public,” Knight says. “It helps the audience think beyond what is common knowledge and expand their understanding of a complex issue.”
While climate change news is so often in the news, Patz’s talk will offer a different perspective. “We’ve had presentations on the ecological aspects of climate change, but Dr. Patz will [speak about] the costs of climate change on people’s health. He’s the global expert on this topic,” she says.
In addition to bringing a world-renowned scientist to the Northwoods to talk about one of the biggest stories of our time, next Wednesday’s talk will also be a preview of Patz’s new Massive Online Open Course, or “MOOC,” entitled “Climate Change Policy and Public Health.” The MOOC is a series of online videos, discussion forums and learning activities offered by the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Patz hopes it will help engage and inform policy makers, practitioners and the general public about the crucial public health aspect of climate change.
The MOOC begins November 9th and is free and open to anyone with an Internet connection. Register here.
Anyone unable to make it to Minocqua on October 7th is encouraged to join in the discussion online – simply go here to watch the video stream and ask questions.
Science on Tap is sponsored by the University of Wisconsin-Madison through the Center for Limnology’s Trout Lake Station, and the College of Agricultural and Life Science’s Kemp Natural Resources Station, as well as the Wisconsin Alumni Association’s Lakeland Badger chapter, the Minocqua Public Library and, of course, our host, the Minocqua Brewing Company.
CONTACT:
Science on Tap organizers:
Adam Hinterthuer – hinterthuer@wisc.edu, 608-630-5737
Jonathan Patz Media Contact:
Ann Grauvogl – agrauvogl@wisc.edu, 608-265-9592