The Global Affairs Center at Shoreline Community College, directed by Edmonds resident Larry Fuell, will present two events next week as part of the college’s celebration of Earth Week, which will be free to the public.

The first is on Tuesday, April 19, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., a discussion on Ocean Acidification, featuring a panel with Meg Chadsey, Ocean Acidification specialist, and Paul Williams, a shellfish management policy advisor with Suquamish Tribe. Shoreline CC biology faculty member Dina Kovarik, who chairs the college’s Biotechnology Lab Specialist Program, will  moderate the discussion.

Ocean acidification decrease of the pH in the ocean is caused by increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere which dissolves into oceans, rivers and lakes. Some of this carbon dioxide reacts with the water to form carbonic acid, thereby increasing ocean acidity. Increasing acidity is thought to have a range of possibly harmful consequences, such as depressing metabolic rates and immune responses in some organisms, and causing coral bleaching, and contributing to global warming.

There is a small fee for parking on campus during the day.

The second program, Biofuel and Climate Change, is Thursday, April 21, from 7-8:30 pm.

Panelists include Evan Henrich, bioinformatics intern with Matrix Genetics and Brian Young with Office of Economic Development and Competitiveness. Chip Dodd, Shoreline CC Geography and International Studies, will moderate the discussion.

Join panelists for a discussion of the science and economics of biofuels and what it might mean for addressing the challenge of climate change.

Parking is free during the evening.

For more Earth Week events, click here.