Denniston visits with Congressional members on global warming

MOUNT VERNON – On Thursday, Sept. 10, Cornell College Geology Professor Rhawn Denniston participated in meetings with Iowa members of Congress in Washington, D.C., as part of delegations organized by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) to discuss the American Clean Energy and Security bill recently passed by the House of Representatives.

Denniston joined UCS lobbyists and science experts, religious leaders, and social activists to discuss the results of new computer models which suggest that the business-as-usual emissions of carbon dioxide will result in dire consequences for Iowa and the upper Midwest by the end of the century.

According to the report, which was funded and published by the UCS, by the year 2070, severe heat waves such as that experienced in 1995 will occur multiple times per decade in Iowa, and spring flooding will be more severe and more frequent.  However, the model also suggests that if significant steps are taken to reduce carbon dioxide outputs, Iowa may avoid much of this damage.

Denniston and the UCS delegation met with staffers from the offices of Congressmen (and Cornell professor emeritus) David Loebsack (D –Iowa 2nd District), Bruce Braley (D – Iowa 1st District), Leonard Boswell (D – Iowa 3rd District), Senator Grassley (R) and Senator Harkin (D).

The UCS is a highly respected independent scientific research and citizen action group dedicated toward developing solutions for environmental issues via government policy and corporate policy.  Denniston is chair of the Cornell College geology department and director of the environmental studies program.