Little Rock Forum Information:

Arkansas Baptist College
Buffaloes Gymnasium Wednesday
October 11, 2006
8:00 am — 1:30 pm
Speakers 
* Don Richardson, Director, Arkansas Climate Awareness Project 
* Dr. Fitz Hill, President, Arkansas Baptist College 
* Dr. Larry Coleman, Retired Professor, Department of Astronomy and Physics, University of Arkansas at Little Rock 
* Jim Dailey, Little Rock City Mayor 
* Gerald Talbert, Agriculture, Biomass and Climate Change Consultant 
* Larry Owens- a local farmer and retired Fish and Wildlife Officer 
* Pete Heard, Director, National Resources Conservation Service Wildlife Conservation Program 
* Dr. Haydar Al-Shukri, Director, Arkansas Earth Quake Center 
* Dr. Stephan Pollard, recent graduate, University of Arkansas' Environmental Dynamics Doctorate Program
Registration for the forum is $20. Space is limited and expected to fill up quickly so please email info@arclimate.org for a reservation. Lunch will be provided for all attendees. 

Contact Don Richardson, Director, ARCAP, 501-592-1391 April Ambrose, ARCAP Representative, 501-733-9996 Valecia Pumphrey, Director, Office of Institutional Advancement, Arkansas Baptist College, 501-244-4970 ext. 2226
 
 

AR Dem-Gaz Article about ARCAP Forum at AR Baptist College 
 
(This article originally ran on October 12, 2006. We felt it was worth reprinting here!)

Climate forums pique interest
Group tours state to explain the effects of global warming

BY KATHERINE MARKS ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Sharmin Whisonant never gave global warming much thought until “that movie” came out, and at a forum Wednesday she just had to ask whether it was a good analogy.
Larry Coleman, a retired physics professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, first assumed she was talking about An Inconvenient Truth, a documentary that hit theaters this summer and is basically a cinematic version of a global warming presentation Al Gore has been making since 1989.
But Whisonant was referring to a drama with Dennis Quaid — who played a hunky paleoclimatologist rushing to save his son — called The Day After Tomorrow, in which global warming spawns hurricanes, tornadoes and tidal waves, and also ushers in a new Ice Age. Its tagline: “This year, a sweater won’t do.”
“The science there was exaggerated,” Coleman said. “It’s a movie, not a documentary.”
The forum at Arkansas Baptist College in Little Rock was the 13th held around the state since July by the Arkansas Climate Awareness Project. The group was formed in January to educate the public about the effects of global warming.
Much of the discussion at the forums has been on the potential effect on Arkansas, such as the possibility of fewer ducks migrating this far south and the continuing influx of armadillos, once found in Texas and Louisiana but not in the Natural State.
Attendees like Whisonant have peppered presenters with questions on everything from presidential policies to the consequences of allowing the levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to continue to increase.
Don Richardson, director of the project, said the turnouts have grown since the program started. The last forum is today at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.
The speakers try to explain what can be a very technical subject — and in some arenas a controversial topic — using simple terms, Richardson said. The presentations are loaded with graphs, most with the arrows shooting up to represent rising emissions, energy use and temperatures.
The presenters at the forums have likened global warming to leaving the car windows up on a sunny day. Excess gases from coal-fired power plants and internal combustion engines collect in the atmosphere, where they trap and hold heat, they say. This, in turn, causes the planet’s temperature to rise. The rising temperatures result in melting glaciers, rising sea levels and more violent storms, the presenters say.
Richardson said the group is trying to provide good information and hopes that “good public policy” will result. But at this point, the group is not proposing or backing any legislation at the state level.
Gloria Wright, a student studying public policy administration, praised the forum. “You know the seasons are changing as a normal person,” the 57-yearold retired administrative clerk said. “You can see the winters coming later.”
She credited Al Gore for raising her awareness. She said she was glad to hear about his movie, because a book he wrote on the subject put her to sleep.
Whisonant, 41, said the Hollywood thriller may have piqued her interest, but she’s now interested in doing more research, which includes watching the Gore documentary.
She and a number of others in the audience said that policy change could be affected by grassroots efforts.
“The more the grassroots understands the situation, the better off we’ll be,” said Ivory Tillman, 73, of Jacksonville. He is retired and a volunteer with the state Democratic Party. He said he had some trouble picking up on all the details of the presentations, but said his hearing aid and the acoustics of the gymnasium, not the presenters, were to blame.
Presenter Stephan Pollard, a recent graduate of the University of Arkansas environmental doctorate program, said there are ways to reduce greenhouse emissions on an individual basis. His suggestions included buying more fuel-efficient vehicles, carpooling when possible, combining errands and installing compact fluorescent lighting and energy-efficient appliances.
(Picture at Right)
Picture by Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/BENJAMIN KRAIN
Larry Coleman (left), a retired physics professor, and Pete Heard, director of the National Agriculture and Wildlife Conservation Center in Madison, Miss., discuss global warming at an Arkansas Climate Awareness Project forum Wednesday in Little Rock.
Find out more about ARCAP at www.arclimate.org!