It may be too late to prevent climate change, according to participants in a conference on the issue held last month on the Hammond campus.

“We are past the tipping point; global warming cannot be reversed,” said Katheryn Rowberg, professor of Environmental Sciences at PNW.

Nonetheless, she and other speakers encouraged action to minimize the impact of climate change.

“It’s too late to reverse global warming, but action now could minimize the damage,” said Rowberg. “We tend to be complacent here in northwest Indiana, but global warming is a worldwide issue that we all need to be searching for solutions.”

Rowberg’s call for action echoed the demands of tens of thousands of people calling for action on climate change in worldwide protests last month. 

The protestors’ complaints, tied to the UN Climate Summit, were directed at world leaders’ ineffective, slow action on climate change and their refusal to pivot away from fossil fuels.

“This is the biggest threat to humanity, we have to address this threat now so that our children won’t have to later,” said Jason Steffel, a biology major and president of PNW’s Environmental Club.

Rey Barreto, a chemistry professor, and environmental engineer explained the need for urgency.

“There are 410 parts per million of carbon in today’s earth’s atmosphere, more than doubling more than what was present 50 years ago,” he said. “Even if the world was to completely sever away from fossil fuel today, the earth would not sustain a positive effect for at least 15 years or more.”

The problem is that greenhouse gases produced by fossil fuels trap heat in the atmosphere, raising the atmospheric temperature.

Freshman English major Brandon Johnston is optimistic that a solution can be found.

“I don’t agree with the premise that [our] reliance on fossil fuel is unsolvable,” he said. “However, there are things we can do to accelerate the recovery of the earth.”

He said the government must encourage people to get more involved in change and suggested investment in wildlife conservation and more aggressive recycling programs – even building vessels like freighters and submersibles to clean the oceans.

“We are in existential crisis,” said Margaret Powers, a speaker at the conference. “Many people have built an ideological armor, rejecting climate change as a result of global warming.”