"What an impact! Verifiable scientific information--not political lies! Excellent! A must see and hear program for ALL! Really relevant! Outstanding! Data rich and easily understood!" These are comments written on evaluation forms at the end of Dr. Paul Mayewski's Climate Stewards evening lecture in Mather Auditorium last week. Mayewski, the Director and Distinguished Professor of the Climate Change Institute at the University of Maine, took us on a "journey into climate," sharing results from research he and others have conducted over the past forty years in Antarctica and the Arctic. Did you miss the lecture? Don't fret! Kate filmed it and you can watch it in its entirety here.

Short on time? Below is a sampling of the many nuggets of information Mayewski shared:

• 2011 was the most expensive natural catastrophe year ever
• We are entering the "Age of Climate Decision"--there are opportunities if we take the time to understand what could happen in the future
• Antarctica has 6,000 feet of ice
• Greenland has the thickest ice in the Northern Hemisphere with 110,000 years of records revealed with deep ice cores
• Ice cores are "buried time machines"
• The recent rise in carbon dioxide is 100 times faster than any other time in the past 800,000 years
• As population increases, so do levels of carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), radioactivity, acid rain, copper, lead, and mercury
• As population increases, pressures mount on water, food, and energy supplies worldwide
• Large ice sheets are changing very fast--"the sleeping giant is awakening"
• The Arctic has heated more than any other region in the world (eight degrees over the last five years with up to twice as many melting days), resulting in changing atmospheric patterns
• As permafrost melts, methane is released
• Sea level rise could reach 13 feet in the next 100 years
• Climate change is a security issue that pervades everything we do

Dr. Mayewski left us with a final thought: "The age of climate decision is here and our actions will define the course of civilization and the health of our planet. We must continue to find ways to mitigate future change while facing the reality that we have no choice other than adaptation, ideally with a goal of sustainability."

Ann Dugovic and Joan & Peter Griswold (below, with Dr. Paul Mayewski) were lucky winners of Journey into Climate, one of Mayewski's over 350 publications to date.

Funding for the Climate Stewards Evening Lecture Series is generously provided through the NOAA Climate Stewards Education Project.