Global warming was, however, the topic that brought almost 275 members of the University community to hear a lecture by Nobel Prize recipient Russell Schnell.

“The atmosphere composition is changing dramatically,” said Schnell, deputy director of the Earth Systems Research Laboratory, Global Monitoring Division, at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). “The amount of CO2 that is in the atmosphere now compared to the 1830s is 37 percent more.”

Schnell, who was a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for his work with NOAA, spoke in his lecture about the evidence that NOAA has collected for global climate change.

“Each little molecule of CO2 acts like a feather in a featherbed,” Schnell said. “The bed is heated from you, just like the atmosphere is heated from the Earth,” Schnell said. “If you double the feathers in your bed, you’re going to double your heat retention.”

Schnell’s lecture, entitled “Global Climate Change: Resistance or Adaptation?” was sponsored by the University’s International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES), as part of the program’s Distinguished Speakers Series.

Himadri Pakrasi, director of I-CARES, said that Schnell was selected to speak for a number of reasons, foremost of which was his broad-based appeal.

“We are trying to bring in speakers [who] talk about broad issues that really appeal to the University community as well as others in St. Louis,” Pakrasi said.

Pakrasi emphasized the importance of Schnell’s direct presentation of scientific data, which Pakrasi feels is important for University community members to understand during an age in which varying interpretations of climate change abound in the media.

“We are at an academic institution,” Pakrasi said. “We are interested in educating students and in doing research work. By definition, then, we need to work on the basis of real data.”

“We all have to be careful [about] accepting anyone’s interpretation of the data,” Pakrasi said. “We need to know how the data are generated.”

After the speech, Schnell likewise highlighted the directness of his approach to climate change data.

“What I do is show the science,” Schnell told Student Life. “I don’t have good answers [to how to prevent global warming], but the science is unassailable.”

Sophomore Christian Frommelt, an anthropology major who attended Schnell’s lecture, said he felt Schnell offered substantial data.

“I thought it was packed with information,” Frommelt said. “It was a good incentive to try to learn more. I didn’t realize how quickly people are able to change the environment.”

Speaking to this rapidity in climate change, Schnell outlined two possible scenarios in which the Earth’s climate could change suddenly.

“There are a couple of points in climate where we can shift gears,” Schnell said. “We’re in first gear now.”

Schnell says that if permafrost melting in the northern hemisphere leads to a sudden release of methane gas, or if the Atlantic Conveyor Belt that warms Europe is shut off as a result of arctic ice melting, climate change could increase swiftly and dramatically.

“We’ll switch to higher gear,” Schnell said. “Climate change could be catastrophic.”

Schnell’s lecture on Tuesday was followed by a conference Wednesday afternoon between Schnell and various student leaders of campus environmental organizations.