January 9:\u00a0Climate in the Age of Empire: Three Centuries of Canadian Weather Observations<\/a><\/h3>\n7 PM Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre, 355 Cooper St., Ottawa<\/em><\/p>\nVictoria Slonosky, McGill University<\/p>\n
![\"event](\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/Speaker-Poster-4-160x247.jpg\")
<\/a>Canada has a long\u00a0scientific heritage in weather and climate observations. Letters, diaries and weather records from the 18th and 19th centuries tell us not only about the weather, but about the people, \u00a0relationships and networks that existed in North America and Europe. They reveal the history of theories\u00a0about\u00a0weather and climate change in Canada as far back as the 1740s.<\/p>\nThese records are not only interesting for the history of science: they\u2019re also used in current scientific research. Millions\u00a0of weather observations have been transcribed thanks to citizen science during the 2010s: analysis of these observations for the St-Lawrence Valley region reveals some surprising results for climatic change and variability, extreme events and hazardous weather.<\/p>\n
Biography:<\/h4>\n
Victoria Slonosky is an historical climatologist. She is currently leading McGill\u2019s Data Rescue: Archives and Weather (DRAW) interdisciplinary citizen science project and is an affiliated member of McGill\u2019s Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Montreal. Her book,\u00a0Climate in the Age of Empire: Weather Observers in Colonial Canada<\/em>, tells the story of Canada\u2019s scientific heritage in the field of climatology.<\/p>\nJanuary 16:\u00a0Observation Nation<\/a><\/h3>\n7 PM Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre, 355 Cooper St., Ottawa<\/em><\/p>\nAlan MacEachern, Western University<\/p>\n
![\"event](\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/Alan-MacEachern-poster-492-smaller-size-160x241.jpg\")
<\/a>When the Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC) was founded in 1871, it saw its principal duty as enlisting an army of ordinary Canadians in daily weather\u00a0observation<\/em>, with the long-term goal of a steadily improved understanding of the nation\u2019s weather and climate. But the government and public were so enticed by the possibilities of weather\u00a0prediction<\/em>\u00a0that the MSC was soon drawn into that. Meanwhile, the observers continued jotting down both quantitative data (temperature, precipitation, etc.) and qualitative remarks (about the changing seasons, extreme weather, etc.) \u2026 but the MSC never found a way, or the time, to use the qualitative ones. With the Environment Canada meteorological collection now at Western University,\u00a0Alan MacEachern\u00a0is studying what these records can tell us about Canada\u2019s weather, climate, and people.<\/p>\nBiography:<\/h4>\n
Alan MacEachern\u00a0teaches history at Western University. He is the author of\u00a0The Miramichi Fire: A History<\/em>\u00a0(McGill-Queen\u2019s, 2020) and co-author of\u00a0The Summer Trade: A History of Tourism on Prince Edward Island<\/em>\u00a0(McGill-Queen\u2019s, 2022). He is writing a book about the first century of the MSC\u2019s observation program.<\/p>\nJanuary 23:\u00a0Resilience and Adaptation in the History of Climate and Society<\/a><\/h3>\nOnline lecture<\/em><\/p>\nDagomar Degroot, Georgetown University<\/p>\n
![\"event](\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/Dagomar-Degroot-Poster-3-reduced-160x247.jpg\")
<\/a>The cause and likely magnitude of today\u2019s global warming have no parallel in human history. Yet Earth\u2019s climate has changed repeatedly over the 300,000-year history of our species. This talk will explain how and when it has changed \u2013 and how researchers know it has. It will then introduce the History of Climate and Society (HCS), an interdisciplinary field that considers how human populations responded to past climate changes. It will describe popular case studies in the field that identify vulnerability to climate change in past populations and focus on examples of crisis and collapse. It will then introduce new research in the disciplines of archaeology and history that uncovers examples of resilience to climate change in past populations. It will describe a series of strategies that these populations used to endure, adapt to, and even exploit past climate changes, and it will consider the extent to which we can learn from them.<\/p>\nBiography:<\/h4>\n
Dagomar Degroot is an associate professor of environmental history at Georgetown University. His first book,\u00a0The Frigid Golden Age<\/em>, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2018 and named by the\u00a0Financial Times<\/em>\u00a0as one of the ten best history books of that year. His next book,\u00a0Ripples in the Cosmic Ocean<\/em>, is under contract with Harvard University Press and Viking. He publishes equally in historical and scientific journals, including\u00a0Nature<\/em>\u00a0and the\u00a0American Historical Review<\/em>, and writes for a popular audience in, for example, the\u00a0Washington Post<\/em>,\u00a0Aeon Magazine<\/em>, and\u00a0The Conversation<\/em>. He maintains popular online resources on the history of climate change, including the podcast Climate History. He has shared the unique perspectives of the past with policymakers, corporate leaders, and journalists in many countries, from Wuhan to Washington, DC.<\/p>\nFebruary 6:\u00a0Climate Diplomacy and its Histories: Inside the IPCC<\/a><\/h3>\n7 PM Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre, 355 Cooper St., Ottawa<\/em><\/p>\nRuth Morgan, Australian National University<\/p>\n
Victoria Slonosky, McGill University<\/p>\n
These records are not only interesting for the history of science: they\u2019re also used in current scientific research. Millions\u00a0of weather observations have been transcribed thanks to citizen science during the 2010s: analysis of these observations for the St-Lawrence Valley region reveals some surprising results for climatic change and variability, extreme events and hazardous weather.<\/p>\n Victoria Slonosky is an historical climatologist. She is currently leading McGill\u2019s Data Rescue: Archives and Weather (DRAW) interdisciplinary citizen science project and is an affiliated member of McGill\u2019s Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Montreal. Her book,\u00a0Climate in the Age of Empire: Weather Observers in Colonial Canada<\/em>, tells the story of Canada\u2019s scientific heritage in the field of climatology.<\/p>\n 7 PM Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre, 355 Cooper St., Ottawa<\/em><\/p>\n Alan MacEachern, Western University<\/p>\n Alan MacEachern\u00a0teaches history at Western University. He is the author of\u00a0The Miramichi Fire: A History<\/em>\u00a0(McGill-Queen\u2019s, 2020) and co-author of\u00a0The Summer Trade: A History of Tourism on Prince Edward Island<\/em>\u00a0(McGill-Queen\u2019s, 2022). He is writing a book about the first century of the MSC\u2019s observation program.<\/p>\n Online lecture<\/em><\/p>\n Dagomar Degroot, Georgetown University<\/p>\n Dagomar Degroot is an associate professor of environmental history at Georgetown University. His first book,\u00a0The Frigid Golden Age<\/em>, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2018 and named by the\u00a0Financial Times<\/em>\u00a0as one of the ten best history books of that year. His next book,\u00a0Ripples in the Cosmic Ocean<\/em>, is under contract with Harvard University Press and Viking. He publishes equally in historical and scientific journals, including\u00a0Nature<\/em>\u00a0and the\u00a0American Historical Review<\/em>, and writes for a popular audience in, for example, the\u00a0Washington Post<\/em>,\u00a0Aeon Magazine<\/em>, and\u00a0The Conversation<\/em>. He maintains popular online resources on the history of climate change, including the podcast Climate History. He has shared the unique perspectives of the past with policymakers, corporate leaders, and journalists in many countries, from Wuhan to Washington, DC.<\/p>\n 7 PM Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre, 355 Cooper St., Ottawa<\/em><\/p>\n Ruth Morgan, Australian National University<\/p>\n<\/a>Canada has a long\u00a0scientific heritage in weather and climate observations. Letters, diaries and weather records from the 18th and 19th centuries tell us not only about the weather, but about the people, \u00a0relationships and networks that existed in North America and Europe. They reveal the history of theories\u00a0about\u00a0weather and climate change in Canada as far back as the 1740s.<\/p>\nBiography:<\/h4>\n
January 16:\u00a0Observation Nation<\/a><\/h3>\n
<\/a>When the Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC) was founded in 1871, it saw its principal duty as enlisting an army of ordinary Canadians in daily weather\u00a0observation<\/em>, with the long-term goal of a steadily improved understanding of the nation\u2019s weather and climate. But the government and public were so enticed by the possibilities of weather\u00a0prediction<\/em>\u00a0that the MSC was soon drawn into that. Meanwhile, the observers continued jotting down both quantitative data (temperature, precipitation, etc.) and qualitative remarks (about the changing seasons, extreme weather, etc.) \u2026 but the MSC never found a way, or the time, to use the qualitative ones. With the Environment Canada meteorological collection now at Western University,\u00a0Alan MacEachern\u00a0is studying what these records can tell us about Canada\u2019s weather, climate, and people.<\/p>\nBiography:<\/h4>\n
January 23:\u00a0Resilience and Adaptation in the History of Climate and Society<\/a><\/h3>\n
<\/a>The cause and likely magnitude of today\u2019s global warming have no parallel in human history. Yet Earth\u2019s climate has changed repeatedly over the 300,000-year history of our species. This talk will explain how and when it has changed \u2013 and how researchers know it has. It will then introduce the History of Climate and Society (HCS), an interdisciplinary field that considers how human populations responded to past climate changes. It will describe popular case studies in the field that identify vulnerability to climate change in past populations and focus on examples of crisis and collapse. It will then introduce new research in the disciplines of archaeology and history that uncovers examples of resilience to climate change in past populations. It will describe a series of strategies that these populations used to endure, adapt to, and even exploit past climate changes, and it will consider the extent to which we can learn from them.<\/p>\nBiography:<\/h4>\n
February 6:\u00a0Climate Diplomacy and its Histories: Inside the IPCC<\/a><\/h3>\n
![\"event](\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ruth-Morgan-Poster-38-160x247.jpg\")
<\/a>A planetary challenge such as climate change suggests the logic of an international collaborative response. The climate diplomacy that emerged at Fukuyama\u2019s \u2018end of history\u2019 was founded on the notion that its technocratic internationalism, underpinned by climate expertise, offered a politically neutral alternative to liberalism. These origins encouraged the expectation that climate diplomacy would neatly follow scientific advances, and produce multilateral solutions to the climate problem. That this process has proven to be more complicated warrants further inspection. In the wake of the conclusion of the IPCC\u2019s Sixth Assessment cycle, this paper reflects on this organisation\u2019s turn towards the humanities and social sciences in its efforts to inform the climate diplomacy of the early twenty-first century.<\/p>\n