On Monday, February 12, the MacMillan Center Committee on Canadian Studies hosted the symposium Smoke from Canada: Climate Change, Forest Fires, and the Future. The symposium, orchestrated in conjunction with the Committee’s first publication of the Yale Journal of Canadian Studies, featured 3 panelists, a keynote speaker, and a final discussion and Q&A. The event was moderated by Brendan Shanahan, an Associate Research Scholar from the Committee on Canadian Studies and Lecturer in the Department of History at Yale.
First, Professor Jennifer Marlon, a Senior Research Scientist, Lecturer, and Director of Data Science at the Yale School of the Environment, discussed her research regarding perceptions of climate change in the United States and Canada, and how major events, such as the Canadian wildfires, impact these perceptions.
Next, Dr. Sebastián Block Munguía, a Research Affiliate at the Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy, provided an overview of Canada’s performance on the Environmental Performance Index. Specifically, he outlined the contribution of wildfires to Canada’s low score in the climate change category, and how Canada is lagging behind peers in this category.
Following Dr. Block was Professor Kai Chen, an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology (Environmental Health) and the Director of Research of Climate Change and Health at the Yale School of Public Health. Professor Chen presented specifically on the extreme wildfires in Canada in June 2023, and the health impacts of the consequent air pollution in New York City.
Finally, Professor Pierre Minn, Yale Class of 1999, an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology and the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine at the Université de Montréal, delivered the keynote address, “Blurry Horizons: Voluntary Childlessness and the Fate of Uncertainty in Québec.” In the address, Professor Minn discussed perceptions of climate change by young men in Québec, and shared his research regarding voluntarily childless men in the region.
Following the keynote, there was a brief Q&A featuring all of the panelists. The panel discussed specific questions regarding individual research projects, a potential ceiling for the percentage of Americans who believe in climate change, as well as more general questions regarding solutions to climate change in the specific context of Canadian wildfires. The panelists concluded the event with an optimistic tone– they all shared excitement for the future of climate change mitigation, education, and Canadian Studies.