The Annual Philip C. F. Bankwitz Lecture for 2022
Wednesday October 19, 2022 @ 4:30pm McCook Auditorium
How the Atmosphere Lost Its Virtue
Hosted by the History Department
Deborah Coen
Yale University Professor of History and History of Science and Medicine
Over the past two decades, the concept of human “vulnerability” to climate change has become foundational to both scientific research and movements for climate justice. Yet metrics of climate vulnerability are failing to help those most threatened by climate change.
This presentation argues that a historical perspective is essential for aligning the measurement of climate vulnerability with the goals of climate justice. It focuses on one key turning point in the long history of attempts to measure human response to climate: namely, a subtle yet consequential shift circa 1780 of what it meant to be “sensible” to the atmosphere.
Please join us for this eye-opening and compelling lecture.
No reservations required
