Climate Change, Security, and Democracy: A Conversation with Sherri Goodman

The Elizabeth H.L. Bonkowsky Memorial Lecture Series Presents:
Climate Change, Security, and Democracy: A Conversation with Sherri Goodman

Join the UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation’s Future of Democracy initiative and program on Climate Change and Security, together with the School of Global Policy and Strategy at UC San Diego, for a talk with Sherri Goodman, a globally recognized leader in environmental and climate security, on November 4, 2024 from 5:00 – 6:15 p.m. Goodman will discuss her new book, Threat Multiplier: Climate, Military Leadership, and the Fight for Global Security, a compelling exploration of the intersection between national security, climate change, and global stability. Drawing from her experience as the Pentagon’s first Chief Environmental Officer and as a leading expert in environmental security, Goodman will unpack how the U.S. military is confronting the biggest security risk in global history: climate change; and will explore what climate change might mean for the future of democracy.

A full video recording of the event is available below:

Speaker

Sherri Goodman, senior fellow at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program and Polar Institute, and secretary general of the International Military Council on Climate & Security, is credited with educating a generation of U.S. military and government officials about the nexus between climate change and national security, using her famous coinage, “threat multiplier,” to fundamentally reshape the national discourse on the topic. Sherri serves as vice chair of the Secretary of State’s International Security Advisory Board and on the EXIM Bank’s Council on Climate. A former first deputy undersecretary of defense (Environmental Security) and staff member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Goodman has founded, led, or advised nearly a dozen research organizations on environmental and energy matters, national security, and public policy.

Moderators

Richard Matthew, IGCC research director for climate change and international decurity and professor of urban planning and public policy, at UC Irvine

Emilie Hafner-Burton, IGCC research director for democracy studies and professor at the School of Global Policy and Strategy and the Department of Political Science at UC San Diego

About the Elizabeth H.L. Bonkowsky Memorial Lecture Series

This lecture series was established by the Bonkowsky family at the UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy in 2023 in honor of Dr. Elizabeth Leitch Bonkowsky. The series promotes public understanding and advocacy of democratic and human rights work across the globe. Dr. Bonkowsky was a diplomat whose numerous award-winning works while at the U.S. State Department were key for statehood and independence of democratic Kosovo. She also helped to increase democracy and human rights work in Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia and in former communist East Germany. Dr. Bonkowsky completed graduate work at Columbia, Harvard and Boston University and served as president of the UC San Diego Oceanids and as a leader in many church and civic activities. She was a history professor at the University of Massachusetts and earlier taught in New York City’s public schools.