ASIA OVER LUNCH LECTURE – Noon in 4130 Posvar. Please feel free to join us for this lecture – all are welcome to bring their lunch or a snack along if you wish and enjoy!

In light of the recent United Nations Climate Change Conference, the Boston Globe recently featured an op ed entitled “Climate Change and the Kiribati syndrome.” The article described Kiribati as an imperiled nation doomed for human uninhabitability by 2025 due to rising sea levels. “Kiribati’s entire population of 96,000 is at risk of displacement,” possibly making this nation’s citizens the first climate change refugees. The article went on to further explore the issue of environmental refugees, which currently have no defined status under international law. A 2011 visit from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made headlines as well, but more impressive than the international attention given to the nation are the amount of tangible activities I-Kiribati individuals have taken to address climate change issues themselves. Hidden from attention, in the back corners of New Zealand stores, money is being wired to family members in Kiribati seeking to migrate to other countries. At little known and underutilized community halls, diaspora groups gather to retain and promote their cultural practices. In glass houses and community colleges migrants are working and learning for the promise of a better future. In the spotlight, climate change issues are debated by many heads of state and the like. Offstage, in the shadows, these issues take root in concrete and purposeful action to maintain the spirit and livelihood of the new transnational I-Kiribati family.