Chapter Meeting: “Understanding the Climate Predicament: Data, Concepts, Economies, & Ecosystems” by Dr. Ron Masters

Human activity is now a significant driver of climate change, with incremental environmental degradation and sporadic weather catastrophes.  Concepts like carbon budget, net zero emissions, positive feedback, ocean acidification, afforestation, and carbon sequestration help us understand how much and how fast our world is changing, and what options we have for mitigation and adaptation. Greenhouse gas emissions are deeply embedded in our global economies—especially in developing nations—putting our prosperity and our desire for social justice in competition with future generations and with global ecosystems—tundra, oceans, forests, and prairies—on which all Earth’s life depends.

Ron Masters has a PhD in Physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.  Retired from decades of Exploration and Research with Shell and ARCO, he has worked in Houston, New Orleans, Rijswijk, London and Plano, and has traveled extensively in the Americas, Europe, and Asia.

He volunteered in various capacities for the Society of Exploration Geophysicists. He has also followed several academic consortia and co-organized industrial workshops on Carbon Capture and Sequestration.

He served on the Board of the Henry David Thoreau Unitarian Universalist Congregation, and his photographs have been selected for juried shows at Houston Center for Photography, The Arts Alliance Center at Clear Lake, and the Visual Arts Alliance of Houston. He and his beautiful, indefatigable wife Patty have two married sons and four active, beautiful, cheerful grandchildren.

NOTE: This will be a Zoom meeting, which is free and open to the public. Advance registration is required through this link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYtf-moqDIrE9NFXi6yp9nK0FqUIOYJyRRT
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.  Please join us for a great presentation!

The Texas Master Naturalist program is sponsored by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service.

[TMNCPC members in attendance should record their Advanced Training (AT) hours under “AT: Chapter Meeting-Coastal Prairie”, and the VSP hours for the business meeting under “Chapter Business: Chapter Meeting”.]