Antarctica’s response to a warming world—living in the age of consequences

Professor Nancy Bertler discusses how Antarctica’s ice sheets revealed critical insights into our future and why the response is a matter of urgency for us all.

In 1990 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its first assessment report warning of human-induced, global climate change impacts, requiring immediate and coordinated action. Subsequent IPCC warnings grew more urgent as evidence became clearer and understanding of the risks deepened. More than a century of uncontrolled burning of fossil fuels, unsustainable agricultural practises, and staggering land-use changes have caused global temperatures to now soar to 1.1°C above preindustrial levels, moving society from projecting climate change to experiencing the consequences. Climate change is affecting every region across the globe, incurring exorbitant costs and intolerable trauma to communities.

Antarctica—magnificent, vast, timeless, and elusive—plays a critical role in how Earth’s climate will evolve.

In this lecture, Professor Nancy Bertler will discuss how Antarctica’s ice sheets revealed critical insights into our future and why the response is a matter of urgency for us all.

Professor Nancy Bertler, flanked by two other academics, at her inaugural lecture
From left: Professor Robert McKay, Professor Nancy Bertler, and Professor Margaret Hyland

Our public lecture series gives you the opportunity to engage with the latest thinking on the world’s major issues. To stay informed of upcoming public events and lectures at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, sign up to the public lecture mailing list.