225BatonRouge.com

Baton Rouge Geologist Donald Nemeth recently served on a distinguished panel of speakers at a United Nations conference on climate change in New York City, where he addressed an international audience. Here he tells 225 what it was like.

225: Is the U.N. a different gig from any other speaking engagement?

One difference is that the audience is diverse, and therefore it required a more elementary exhortation. But I hate to say that because these were all accomplished individuals from different disciplines, but that’s the point, really.

Do you get any SWAG or a nice hotel room?

Not in this case. The event was sponsored by NGOs, and these non-government organizations are privately funded. Most panelists appear at their own expense.

That doesn’t seem fair.

I did meet a Japanese rock star, though. He took part in a trauma workshop.

How accurate are all these sea level projections that get published?

I don’t think anyone actually knows, but any rise in sea level in this area [South Louisiana] is going to be detrimental. At the U.N. I spoke about deltas, and there are high concentrations of people living near deltas across the world. This is going to have a severe effect if the present trend continues, which it appears it will.

Did you field any questions that surprised you?

I was surprised by the number of questions. There were many behavioral scientists there concerned about the effect of climate change on humanity.

Did you and your wife do anything fun in the city?

We saw a play, The Diligent Chaperone. And we went to the River Café. It’s a seafood restaurant right at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge in Brooklyn on a barge in the East River. We were lucky enough to sit by the window and as we ate, the lights in Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty, the lights on the bridge all lit up. It was quite something.