The first annual Sustainability Summit will take place Wednesday and Thursday as a part of the University’s 10th Environmental Horizons Conference to discuss the themes of energy, climate and sustainability.

The two-day conference will bring scholars from across campus to begin the dialogue about climate change and use the resources that are available on campus, said Bill Sullivan, director of the University Environmental Council.

“We are the preeminent public university in Illinois,” Sullivan said. “We have the brightest students around and we are training them to be leaders of the future.

As both a research and a teaching institution, the University has the opportunity to contribute in many ways to finding solutions to today’s problems, he added.

Sullivan said many of the topics addressed at the summit will concern predictions about future climate change and how the growing world population will deal with those issues.

The medium predictions are that the population will hit 9.2 billion people by 2050, an increase from about 6.5 billion today, Sullivan said.

Dealing with the increasing population and world temperature are big issues that the next generation will encounter, officials said.

Don Wuebbles, atmospheric sciences professor at the University, will be leading and participating in special talks and panels as a part of the summit.

“We can’t afford to wait any longer,” Wuebbles said. “(Students) are going to have to live through all of the problems we are talking about now.”

Although there may have been doubt expressed among the public about the realities of climate change in the past, Wuebbles said there is no mistaking that global warming is happening and is going to have an effect on the world.

“The science is clear,” Wuebbles said. “Every major science organization in the world has put out a strong statement on climate change.”

All activities taking place during the summit will happen at the Illini Union and a full agenda can be found on the Environmental Council’s Web site. The event will be sponsored by the Environmental Council, Facilities and Services, Office of the Provost and Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research.

Also to be addressed at the Sustainability Summit will be what people can do about climate change and how to make a difference. Students have been leading the way in many parts of the environmental revolution, Sullivan said.

“I’m so impressed with the activism and passion of the students,” Sullivan said. “We so appreciate their energy and vision in this project.”