How Changes in the Arctic are Affecting the Rest of the World

On June 15, 2006, the Royal Norwegian Embassy and Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) held a transatlantic symposium on rapid and dramatic climate changes in the Arctic Region, how these changes are affecting the rest of the world, including the costs of climate change impacts upon the United States, and the urgency for action being expressed by leading climate scientists.

The agenda for the symposium includes:

Transformation in the Arctic, Impacts Beyond the Artic

• ​Knut Vollebaek, Norwegian Ambassador to the United States
• Jonas Gahr Stoere, Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Chair, Senate Committee on Indian Affairs

The Arctic as Bellwether for Climate Change

• Dr. Robert Corell, Chair, ACIA, and Senior Policy Fellow, Policy Program of the American Meteorological Society
• Dr. Louis Fortier, Canada Research Chair on the Response of Arctic Marine Ecosystems to Climate Change and Professor, Université Laval
• Dr. Katey Walter, Research Program Manager, Prince William Sound Science Center and UA Presidential International Polar Year Fellow, University of Alaska, Fairbanks

How Climate Change in the Arctic Reinforces Globe Climate Change

• Dr. Lonnie Thompson, Professor, Department of Geological Sciences, Ohio State University
• Dr. Judith Curry, Chair, School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology
• Dr. Arni Snorrason, Head, Hydrological Service, National Energy Authority of Iceland

Costs of Climate Change to the United States

• Dr. Gary Yohe, Professor of Economics, Wesleyan University
• Tim Wagner, Director, Nebraska Department of Insurance and Chair, National Association of Insurance Commissioners' Risk Retention Working Group
• Chris Walker, Managing Director, Environmental/Greenhouse Gas Solutions, Swiss Re

Luncheon Keynote Speaker

• Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN), Chair, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations

This symposium was a follow-up to the very successful transatlantic symposium "Meeting the Climate Challenge in the Arctic Region" that the Royal Norwegian Embassy held in cooperation with EESI and Sen. McCain in June 2005.