Global Climate Change

press release: The Fitchburg Resource Conservation Commission will host a free and open to the public panel discussion on the subject matter of global climate change.  This event will highlight the new information and policies that the Dane County Council on Climate Change will be implementing in our county.  Speakers at this event will not only discuss the various ways our planet is being affected by climate change, but also the potential human health effects of climate change.

Speaker Bios:

Colleen Moran, MPH MS, the Climate and Health Program Manager at the Wisconsin Department of Health Service, received her dual masters in Public Health and Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In her current role as Climate and Health Program Manager, charged with planning and implementing the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Building Resilience Against Climate Effects (BRACE) grant, Colleen is helping Wisconsin plan for, prepare for, and respond to extreme weather events and the health impacts of climate change. Colleen’s work focuses on priority populations in Wisconsin (those most vulnerable to climate impacts) and working at the local level to implement adaptation and intervention strategies with a goal of creating resiliency. Prior to her current role, Colleen worked on creating active community environments and promoting the use of alternative transportation.

Keith Reopelle, Director: Keith is the Director of Dane County’s Office of Energy and Climate Change.  Prior to coming to Dane County, Keith was the Senior Policy Director at Clean Wisconsin where he worked for 32 years leading clean energy campaigns at the state and regional levels.  He has served on numerous energy and climate -related task forces and advisory committees.  He was a member of Governor Doyle’s Task Force on Global Warming where he served on the full Task Force and co-chaired the cap and trade working group.  Keith also was a member of the Midwestern Governor’s Association Greenhouse Gas Accord advisory committee and served on the group’s modeling working group for two years where he helped advise on IPM and macro-economic modeling.    Keith has a Bachelor of Science degree in wildlife ecology and a Masters of Science degree in environmental communications from the University of Wisconsin -Madison.

Steve Vavrus, Senior Scientist: Steve is a Senior Scientist in the Nelson Institute Center for Climatic Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  He uses computer climate models and observational data to understand how climate is changing across the Earth, including the Arctic and more locally in Wisconsin.  Extreme weather events are an important theme of his research, particularly how they might be affected by climate change.  Steve is co-director of the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts (WICCI) and has been a long-time member of its Climate Working Group.  He is also Coordinator of the Yahara Watershed Academy, an educational and leadership training program that promotes actionable sustainability in the Madison area.