CLIMATE CHANGE AND OUR THREATENED OCEANS: AN ECONOMIST WITH SOLUTIONS

Hurricane Irene hit the New England coast as a tropical storm almost six years to the day after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Louisiana coast. These destructive events are raising concerns over damaging tidal surges and seacoast flooding.  They also place the spotlight squarely on the impact of climate change on the world’s oceans – from rising temperatures and water levels that affect weather to environmental practices that are destroying ocean life and ecosystems. How can we counter the risks of climate change and implement achievable solutions that save our oceans?

On September 29, environmental economist Alice LeBlanc will be the featured speaker at the Ocean Environment Lecture Series hosted by the Marine Environmental Research Institute (MERI) in Blue Hill. Dr. LeBlanc, formerly Senior Economist at the Environmental Defense Fund, is now Founder and Director of Environmental and Economic Consulting in New York. She will discuss “Global Sustainability: Climate Change, Ocean Impacts and Policy Solutions”.

A recognized leader in global finance, LeBlanc’s work focuses on balancing corporate interests with sustainable growth and the knowledge that our planet’s impending sixth great extinction will be the first to be induced by a single species – us! She is an expert on the economics of sustainability such as carbon trading and her talk will provide perspectives on environmental sustainability using economic mechanisms as tools.

With more than 20 years’ experience in economics and climate change research, she helped pioneer the use of market-based solutions to environmental problems. While the trajectory of the decline of our oceans is steep, Ms. LeBlanc suggests that changes in human behavior can be part of the solution. She advocates changing the economic incentives behind how we produce goods to stem the decline and is a strong advocate of the power of local efforts – town by town, village by village – to push for results at the business, national and even global level.

Ms. LeBlanc is also a climate change expert for the World Economic Forum working group on reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD), which account for a large portion of greenhouse warming. She has testified before Congress and is a member of the New York City Panel on Climate Change, an advisory board for Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and consultant to governments, the private sector and NGOs on climate change strategies, environmental credit brokerage, risk management and carbon market issues.

The lecture begins at 7 p.m., preceded by a reception at 6 p.m. All lectures in the series are held in the MERI Center, 55 Main St. Blue Hill and are free and open to the public.

< Back to Lecture Series