A nationally renowned climatologist will be the next Heuermann Lecture speaker in the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Anthony Leiserowitz, a research scientist and director of the Yale Project on Climate Change Communications at the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University, will speak at 3:30 p.m. March 10 in Hardin Hall. The title of Leirserowitz’s talk is “Climate Change in the American Mind.”

Leiserowitz is a widely recognized expert on American and international public opinion on global warming, including public perception of climate change risks, support and opposition for climate policies, and willingness to make individual behavioral change. His research investigates the psychological, cultural, political, and geographic factors that drive public environmental perception and behavior.

He has conducted survey, experimental and field research at scales ranging from the global to the local, including international studies, the United States, individual states (Alaska and Florida), municipalities (New York City), and with the Inupiaq Eskimo of northwest Alaska. He also conducted the first empirical assessment of worldwide public values, attitudes, and behaviors regarding global sustainability, including environmental protection, economic growth and human development.

Leiserowitz has served as a consultant to the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, the United Nations Development Program, the Gallup World Poll, the Global Roundtable on Climate Change at the Earth Institute at Columbia University and the World Economic Forum. Leiserowitz will report on recent trends in Americans’ climate change knowledge, attitudes, policy support, and behavior and discuss strategies for more effective public engagement.

Heuermann Lectures are funded through a gift from B. Keith and Norma Heuermann of Phillips, long-time university supporters with a strong commitment to Nebraska’s production agriculture, natural resources, rural areas and people. The lectures focus on providing and sustaining enough food, natural resources and renewable energy for the world’s people, and on securing the sustainability of rural communities where the vital work of producing food and renewable energy occurs.

The lectures stream live at http://heuermannlectures.unl.edu and are archived at that site soon after the lecture. They’re also available on NET2 World at a date following the lecture.