Experts for COP21, the Paris climate conference

The following University of Victoria experts are available to media for comment on the latest updates out of Paris during the pivotal COP21 UN conference on climate change:

David Atkinson (Geography) is an expert in monitoring and predicting large-scale weather systems and the impact of extreme weather events, in particular in the Arctic, often caused by climate change. (Office: 250-721-7332 or by email at datkinso@uvic.ca)

Robert Gifford (Psychology/Environmental Studies) is an expert in the barriers to sustainable behaviour. He can discuss “the dragons of inaction”—the reasons why we don’t do more to prevent climate change. (Office: 250-721-7532 or by email at rgifford@uvic.ca)

Calvin Sandborn (Environmental Law Centre (ELC)/Faculty of Law) is one of BC’s most experienced environmental lawyers and lobbyists for environmental reform. Sandborn was instrumental in the ELC’s report on the former federal government’s “muzzling” of scientists, particularly in relation to climate change, which was followed by an investigation by Canada’s Information Commissioner. (Office: 250-472-5248 or by email at csandbor@uvic.ca)

Sybil Seitzinger (Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions, or PICS) is in Paris Dec. 3–8 for events at COP21, separate from the negotiations. She’s executive director of the UVic-led PICS and her visit to Paris will focus on three key areas: raising awareness of PICS’s solutions-oriented research and ongoing climate change mitigation and adaptation programs; learning about the latest innovations and partnerships that hold potential for informing and extending the PICS research agenda; and strengthening relationships with similar institutions and agencies within Canada and around the world. (Seitzinger can be reached in Paris via email at picsdir@uvic.ca or by contacting PICS senior communications officer Robyn Meyer at rmeyer@uvic.ca or on cell at 250-588-4053. Availability will depend on timing with COP21 commitments.)

Chris Tollefson (Hakai Chair in Environmental Law and Sustainability/Faculty of Law) is one of Canada’s leading environmental law scholars and the Environmental Law Centre’s founding executive director. He can speak to media about environmental governance, forestry and contaminated sites, as well as Aboriginal issues and access to justice for environmental groups. Tollefson will be attending the climate summit (from Dec. 5) and may also have some availability to media while in Paris. (By email at ctollef@uvic.ca or by contacting Faculty of Law communications officer Julie Sloan at jsloan@uvic.ca or at 250-721-8167.)

Francis Zwiers is director of the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium (PCIC) at UVic, which promotes collaborative research on climate change in the Pacific Northwest for education, policy-planning and decision-making. Zwiers is an internationally recognized expert on climate variability and change, and can speak on the science of regional and global climate change. He’s also an elected member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Bureau and served as a coordinating lead author of the IPCC’s fourth Assessment Report. (Zwiers can be reached after Dec. 2 at 250-721-6236 or fwzwiers@uvic.ca.)

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