Humanist Society of New Zealand Seminar - 2007

The annual Seminar and AGM was held on Sunday 14 October 2007 at the Wellington Public Library. The subject of the seminar was 'Climate Change, Global and NZ''.
The Free seminar was funded by the Humanist Trust and featured the prominent New Zealand scientist Dr David Wratt who spoke on the science of global warming and the urgency to take action to avoid disastrous changes. He emphasised that global warming from human acitivity is now scientific fact and that the best we can hope for is to contain temperature rise to a further 1.5 degrees centigrade above the 0.5 degrees we already have from the industrial age. The illustrated talk showed that although different models yield different levels of temperature rise, they all show temperature rise from human acitivity that cannot be ignored. Some of the consequences from even the most modest estimates of temperature rise were shown to be worrying.

The seminar took place within days of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), of which Dr Wratt is a member, winning a Nobel Prize.

Pictured are Dr David Wratt, the gathering of the crowd, an introduction by president Kent Clark, the post-talk gift by Gaylene Middleton, and part of the enthusiastic post-talk discussion with David Wratt on the left. Question time had to be curtailed from an excess of enthusiasm. Not shown is Mark Fletcher's introduction.

The original publicity for the seminar said the following:
A public talk about the important issue of global warming in a New Zealand context. This discussion is by climate scientist David Wratt, who has participated in the recent assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. We will look at how serious climate change is and at options for what we can do about it. David will also discuss the role of science in clarifying public misunderstandings and informing policy decisions.

1.30 pm
Sunday 14 October 2007
Mezzanine Room (by Clark's Cafe)
Wellington Central Library
Wellington