Peter A. Shulman, Ph.D. – Associate Professor of History at Case Western Reserve University

Dear Colleagues:

This December, climate negotiators from around the world will meet in Paris to hammer out a legally binding agreement to address global warming. Drawing on decades of research by climate scientists, these negotiators will look for ways both industrialized nations like the United States and developing nations like China and India can agree to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and thus limit the warming likely to occur over the next century and beyond.

Our debate about global warming is about the future of the planet. But it is also about its past. How we know what we know about climate change comes from studying the earth’s history, and the origins of climate study itself were in seeking to understand how and why the earth went through cycles of ice ages and warmings.

When it comes to climate, what does studying history tell us about predicting the future? How are our climate debates also arguments about how we use the past to make sense of what is likely to come? What does the history of energy tell us about the future of energy? Join us as Professor Shulman puts our climate and energy debates into historical perspective.

All best regards,
Joe White
Luxenberg Family Professor of Public Policy and Director, Center for Policy Studies

About Our Guest

Dr. Peter Shulman studies technology, science, and American politics in the 19th and 20th centuries, with special interests in the history of energy, environmental history, communication and transportation, the history of intelligence, and the history of American foreign relations. He teaches courses in the history of technology, energy and the environment, historical methods, and contemporary history.

Where We Meet

The Friday Public Affairs Lunch convenes each Friday when classes are in session, from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Our programs are open to all and no registration is required. We usually meet in the Dampeer Room of Kelvin Smith Library. The Dampeer Room is on the second floor of the library. If you get off the elevators, turn right, pass the first bank of tables, and turn right again. Occasionally we need to use a different room; that will always be announced in the weekly e-mails.

Parking Possibilities

The most convenient parking is the lot underneath Severance Hall. We regret that it is not free. From that lot there is an elevator up to street level (labeled as for the Thwing Center); it is less than 50 yards from that exit to the library entrance. You can get from the Severance garage to the library without going outside. Near the entry gates – just to the right if you were driving out – there is a door into a corridor. Walk down the corridor and there will be another door. Beyond that door you’ll find the entrance to an elevator which goes up to an entrance right inside the doors to Kelvin Smith Library.

Friday Lunch Upcoming Topics and Speakers:

October 30: From “9 to 5” to What? New Work Patterns and Their Implications. With Jenny Rae Hawkins, Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics.

November 6: A Year Away from the 2016 Election…. With Paul Herrnson, Professor of Political Science, University of Connecticut.

November 13: Why Virtual Schools are Growing So Fast, and What it Might Mean for the Future of Public Education. With Peter Robertson, Senior Vice President of School Operations, Connections Education.

November 20: Integrating the Inner City Through Mixed-Income Development. With Mark Joseph, Associate Professor at MSASS and Director, National Initiative on Mixed-Income Communities; Taryn Gross, Program Manager for the Initiative, and Emily Miller, Project Coordinator for the Initiative. Co-sponsored with the Schubert Center for Child Studies. ***Alternate Location: Mandel Community Studies Center Room 115, 11402 Bellflower Road***

November 27: Thanksgiving Break

December 4: Making Clean Energy Work. With Walter Money, Whole House Energy Solutions.