The Mershon Center for International Security Studies and the Byrd Polar Research Center have joined forces on a multiyear initiative bringing together faculty and graduate students to study the impact of climate on human health, international security, and resilience of societies.

The Climate, Security, Health and Resilience (CSHR) initiative will include a series of guest speakers, workshops, and conferences focused on integrating what is known about a range of major topics regarding climate and society.

The project will bring together an interdisciplinary world-class cohort of Ohio State experts—including climatologists, geographers, sociologists, political scientists, legal experts, medical scientists, and historians—who both study the climate itself and assess its impacts on society.

Unique to the CSHR initiative is its two complementary approaches to past and future. On the one hand, project leaders seek to “rewind” the tape of history to study similar climate-induced catastrophes in the past; on the other, they hope to “fast forward” the tape to attempt predictions of what might happen in the future based on our best understanding and climate models.

A major feature of CSHR is a series of workshops to take place in coming years on climate and health, climate and food security, climate and water security, climate and population dynamics, and climate and human conflict. These events will be designed to answer questions such as:

• How does climate and associated climate change affect disease and human health?
• How does climate affect international security, including the spawning of instability and violence and new areas of international engagement?
• How does climate affect the resilience of societies and their ability to adapt and adjust to climate challenges?

CSHR also will encourage faculty proposals for outside funding to private, federal, and international agencies, such as the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Gates Foundation, and Mellon Foundation. Students may be involved through the creation of climate-centered study abroad programs, and links will be formed with agencies doing similar research both domestically and abroad.

Upcoming Events

Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Norman MacLeod, dean of post-graduate education and training at the Natural History Museum, University of London, will speak at 12:30 pm on “The Causes of Extinction: Setting the Modern Biodiversity Crisis in Context,” Mershon Center for International Security Studies, 1501 Neil Ave.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Eric Klinenberg, professor of sociology; public policy; and media, culture, and communications at New York University, will speak at 4:30 pm on, "Adaptation: Climate Change and the Future of Cities," 165 Thompson Library, 1858 Neil Ave Mall.

Tuesday-Thursday, December 3-5:
Winterscape: A Look at Changing Ice and Changing Ways of Life: Three Events

• December 3, 7 pm: Wexner Center for the Arts presents the documentary,Glacial Balance, by Ethan Steinman, a journey along the spine of the Andes.
• December 4, noon: A brown bag lunch at the Byrd Polar Research Center with a discussion of the impact of climate change on water availability in one Ecuadorian community.
• December 5: COSI Columbus: Lonnie Thompson, Distinguished University Professor, earth sciences, will discuss how science allows us to understand Earth’s past climate and how the choices we make today will impact our future.

CSHR Organizing Committee

J. Craig Jenkins, director of the Mershon Center and professor of sociology; political science; and environmental science

Ellen Mosley-Thompson, Distinguished University Professor, geography; director, Byrd Polar Research Center

Geoffrey Parker, Distinguished University Professor, history; Andreas Dorpalen Professor of European History; affiliate, Mershon Center for International Security Studies

Daniel Sui, professor and chair, geography

Lonnie Thompson, Distinguished University Professor, earth sciences