The Global Studies and Geography Department Celebrates Geography Awareness Week 2017

As part of Hofstra’s Geography Awareness week this year, the Cultural Center and the Department of Global Studies and Geography hosted a lecture given by Rutgers’ Dr. Robin Leichenko about her research on climate change. Titled “Climate Change and Globalization in Coastal Regions: Opportunities and Challenges for Building Resilience”, her lecture highlighted the fact that humans are causing a large portion of climate change through the release of fossil fuels, and that this is causing not only high temperatures, but also rising sea levels and stronger storms. Dr. Leichenko focused specifically on the example of Hurricane Sandy, and its effects on the particularly vulnerable coastline of New Jersey, where both the ocean and nearby rivers caused major flooding several miles inland. She expressed the importance of changing present policies in order to promote greater sustainability and to provide the coast with greater resilience in the event of future storms. Many of the students who attended asked meaningful questions ranging from who would benefit from a carbon tax to strategies of convincing current administrations about the global importance of combatting climate change. Thank you to everyone who was able to attend the lecture, and special thanks to Dr. Leichenko for coming to speak to us! 

Visit our Flickr page for additional photos from the event.