School of Mines hosts lecture on climate impacts

On Monday the School of Mines hosted a seminar about reducing the economic impact of climate extremes, or natural disasters.

The lecture featured guest speaker Dr. Cindy Bruyère from the Capacity Center for Climate and Weather Extremes.

She talked about how by studying climate extremes, we can bounce back more easily from natural disasters.

Dr. Cindy Bruyère says, "Instead of saying to somebody it is going to rain a lot, what we are trying to say to them is that we have a tool that they can use to see what the lifetime cost of both the building as well as potential damages to the building due to climate change and variability could be."

The tool Dr. Bruyère is referring to is called GRRIT, or Global Risk Resilience and Impacts Toolbox.

Researchers at some universities use GRRIT, but she also hopes government agencies utilize it as well to ultimately reduce future building costs and loss of life.