Humans have faced a series of national and global environmental challenges in the past half-century, including smog, ozone depletion, lead in gas and paint, pesticides and much more. This talk presents an analysis of how the engagement of citizens, a union of science, public policy, and technology succeeded in addressing a series of seemingly unmanageable environmental problems. Finally, Dr. Solomon will probe how understanding the past helps us to better understand that we can be optimistic about managing today’s pressing environmental problem — climate change. It’s solvable, too.

Susan Solomon is the Martin Professor of Environmental Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is well known for pioneering research on the Antarctic ozone hole, and on understanding of the long-term impacts of climate change. She received the 1999 US National Medal of Science (highest scientific award in the U.S.), the Grande Medaille of the French Academy of Sciences, and the Crafoord Prize of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the French Academy of Sciences, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and the Royal Society in the United Kingdom. Time magazine named Solomon as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2008. A glacier in the Antarctic has been named after her.