"The Great Uprooting": A conversation about the climate crisis
“The Great Uprooting”: A conversation about the climate crisis
Updated: 10:50 PM EST Mar 2, 2025
LOYOLA UNIVERSITY’S HUMANITIES, HUMANITIES SYMPOSIUM HAS BROUGHT IN KEYNOTE SPEAKERS TO SHARE THEIR FINDINGS ON SOME OF THE WORLD’S MOST PRESSING ISSUES. AND THIS YEAR’S KEYNOTE SPEAKER IS AUTHOR AND WORLD RENOWNED SCHOLAR AMITAV GHOSH. AND HE IS JOINING US NOW LIVE. GOOD MORNING. THANKS FOR BEING HERE. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR HAVING ME. IT’S A GREAT PRIVILEGE. THANK YOU. WELL, IT IS AN HONOR TO HAVE YOU ON OUR AIR. AND PLEASE START BY JUST TELLING US ABOUT THE SYMPOSIUM. WHAT IS IT? WELL, THIS SYMPOSIUM HAS BEEN ON FOR. I THINK IT’S LIKE 40 YEARS OR SOMETHING MORE THAN THAT. AND THEY’VE HAD AN AMAZING ROSTER OF SPEAKERS, YOU KNOW, SEVERAL NOBEL PRIZE WINNERS LIKE CZESLAW MILOSZ, ELIE WIESEL, MANY OTHERS. SO, YOU KNOW, IT’S A IT’S AN INCREDIBLE HONOR TO BE ASKED TO SPEAK THERE, AND ESPECIALLY BECAUSE THIS PARTICULAR EDITION IS FOCUSED UPON, YOU KNOW, THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS AND BECAUSE LOYOLA UNIVERSITY IS A JESUIT UNIVERSITY, IT TAKES, YOU KNOW, IT’S IT TAKES ITS POSITION FROM POPE FRANCIS. THE TWO REALLY PIVOTAL TRACTS. ONE, LAUDATO SI, WHICH WAS ON CLIMATE CHANGE, AND THE OTHER ONE, CRY OF THE EARTH, CRY OF THE POOR, WHICH IS ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AROUND THE PLANET. THESE ARE ISSUES THAT I’VE BEEN VERY CONCERNED WITH, AND I REALLY THINK POPE FRANCIS IS ONE OF THE GREAT MINDS OF OUR TIME, ONE OF THE GREAT LEADERS OF OUR TIME. SO IT’S IT’S IN EVERY WAY A GREAT HONOR AND PRIVILEGE TO BE SPEAKING THERE. WELL, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT YOU WRITE ABOUT A LOT, OF COURSE, IS CLIMATE CHANGE AND MASS MIGRATION. AND THAT’S GOING TO BE THE FOCUS OF YOUR KEYNOTE ADDRESS. SO TELL ME HOW YOU THINK THAT THE TWO ARE RELATED. YOU KNOW, THERE’S A CLIMATE CHANGE AND AND MASS MIGRATION ARE RELATED IN MULTIPLE WAYS. SO FOR EXAMPLE, WITHIN THE UNITED STATES ITSELF, IT’S PROJECTED THAT BY 2050 YOU WILL HAVE 55 MILLION PEOPLE MOVING FROM WHERE THEY’RE CURRENTLY LIVING, BECAUSE SEA LEVEL RISE WILL MAKE THE COASTLINES, WHICH ARE THE MOST HEAVILY POPULATED PARTS OF THE UNITED STATES, THE COASTLINES WILL ESSENTIALLY THEY WON’T BECOME UNLIVABLE. BUT WHAT WILL HAPPEN IS THAT THERE IS GOING TO BE A MASS RETREAT, BECAUSE RIGHT NOW, PEOPLE LIVE RIGHT ON THE COAST, YOU KNOW, I MEAN, LIKE 100, 100FT FROM THE WATER AND SO ON, BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, THEY THEY LIKE BEING ON THE BEACH OR WHATEVER. BUT AS, AS THE SEA LEVEL RISE CONTINUES, PEOPLE WILL HAVE TO RETREAT. AND WE SEE THIS HAPPENING ALREADY. SIMILARLY, PEOPLE ARE GOING TO HAVE TO RETREAT FROM MANY WATER STRESSED AREAS, MANY AREAS WHERE THERE ARE INCREDIBLY POWERFUL HEAT WAVES, AS FOR EXAMPLE, IN ARIZONA, NEW MEXICO. SO WE ARE GOING TO SEE A MASSIVE DISPLACEMENT WITHIN THE UNITED STATES. AND THEN THERE’S THERE’S THE OTHER QUESTION OF PEOPLE WHO WILL BE TRYING TO MIGRATE INTO THE UNITED STATES. AND THAT, AS WE CAN SEE, IS ANOTHER VERY MAJOR ISSUE. CLIMATE CHANGE CERTAINLY PLAYS A PART IN THAT, BECAUSE MANY OF THE PEOPLE WHO ARE TURNING UP ON THE BORDERS OF THE UNITED STATES COME FROM PARTS OF SOUTH AND CENTRAL AMERICA, WHERE THE CHANGING ENVIRONMENT HAS MADE AGRICULTURE VERY DIFFICULT. WELL, WHAT DO YOU THINK THE BIGGEST MISUNDERSTANDING IS THAT PEOPLE HAVE ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE? BECAUSE IT CAN BE A VERY DIVISIVE ISSUE. YOU EITHER BELIEVE IN IT OR YOU DON’T. YES. THAT IS ABSOLUTELY THAT IS ABSOLUTELY THE CASE. MANY PEOPLE STILL FEEL THAT, YOU KNOW, CLIMATE CHANGE IS THAT THE CLIMATE HAS ALWAYS CHANGED AND THEREFORE THIS IS ANOTHER THIS IS ANOTHER ONE OF THOSE CYCLES. BUT I THINK, YOU KNOW, THE SCIENTIFIC CONSENSUS IS OVER 95% THAT THE CURRENT CYCLE OF CLIMATE CHANGE IS QUITE. DIFFERENT FROM THOSE IN THE PAST, AND THAT THIS IS ACTUALLY POWERED BY ANTHROPOGENIC GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS. AND, YOU KNOW, THE CASE FOR THIS IS VERY, VERY CLEARLY, VERY CREDIBLY SET OUT IN POPE FRANCIS TRACK. LAUDATO SI. I MEAN, YOU KNOW, HE WROTE THAT IN COLLABORATION WITH A WHOLE TEAM OF SCIENTISTS AND, YOU KNOW, ALL THE ALL THE CONCLUSIONS ARE RIGHT THERE. WELL, IF SOMEONE IS INTERESTED IN COMING TO LISTEN TO YOU SPEAK, WHERE WHERE WILL THEY FIND YOU AT THIS SYMPOSIUM? WELL, IT’S GOING TO BE AT LOYOLA MARYLAND UNIVERSITY ON MARCH 13TH AT 6:30 P.M. AT MCGUIRE HALL. SO ALL THEY HAVE TO DO IS SIGN UP. THERE’S A THERE’S A WEBSITE OR SOMETHING, AND I’LL BE THERE. ALL RIGHT. WELL, WE’LL PUT A LINK TO THAT WEBSITE ON OUR WEBSITE TV.COM. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR JOINING US THIS MORNING, MR. GHOSH. REALLY APPRECIATE IT. THANK YOU JEN
“The Great Uprooting”: A conversation about the climate crisis
Updated: 10:50 PM EST Mar 2, 2025
Author Amitav Ghosh is this year’s keynote speaker at the Loyola University of Maryland Humanities Symposium, and he joins Jennifer Franciotti for a conversation about his research and writing about the climate crisis.
Author Amitav Ghosh is this year’s keynote speaker at the Loyola University of Maryland Humanities Symposium, and he joins Jennifer Franciotti for a conversation about his research and writing about the climate crisis.