The Winthrop Rockefeller Institute, the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, and the Central Arkansas Library System will host a series of virtual dialogues in November on the effects of climate change on the water in Arkansas. These dialogues will be hosted as part of the Kettering Foundation’s Partnership for Democratic Practices in Arkansas.
• Dialogue 1: Tuesday, November 9: 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. (English) | RSVP
• Dialogue 2: Monday, November 15: 6-8 p.m. (English) | RSVP
• Dialogue 3: Tuesday, November 16: 6:30-8:30 p.m. (Spanish) | RSVP
• Dialogue 4: Tuesday, November 30: 11:30 a.m.-1:30 pm (English) | RSVP
Many Arkansans are experiencing the impacts of climate change, especially on water resources in their communities. Weather cycles have brought extreme heat waves during longer summers, as well as warmer winters punctuated by periods of unprecedentedly freezing temperatures. Water resources also face extreme conditions: aquifers are drying up yet the state is also experiencing more unusually intense storms with severe and destructive flooding.
In a state significantly reliant on agriculture, Arkansas residents in both rural and urban areas are keenly aware of these climatic changes and their often negative effects, especially on water, which tend to affect residents of marginalized communities more severely than more affluent residents.
“Arkansas is more dependent on a healthy water system than most of the states around us,” said Payton Christenberry, Senior Program Officer for the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute. “Our groundwater usage is second highest in the nation, supporting agriculture and our population, and our aquifers are reaching critically low levels as a result. Add on the effects of climate change on our weather patterns and predictable water cycles and Arkansas will be one of the first states to see the worst effects.”
This dialogue series will ask the question: How can ordinary citizens constructively address climate change and its impact on water resources in their communities?
Join your fellow Arkansans for this important discussion on Zoom. Please select one date to attend as each dialogue session will follow the same framework and offer similar experiences.
Please note that the dialogue on Tuesday, November 16 will be facilitated only in Spanish.
Responses