For its 2007 Natural History Lecture Series, the Last Chance Audubon Society is taking on a hot topic - global warming.

Lectures by natural resource professionals will explore the evidence for climate change, recent climate trends in Montana, potential impacts to the Montana environment and tips for conserving energy at home.

The series - called "Climate Change: What the Future May Hold for Montana's Plant and Animal Communities" - begins Tuesday with a lecture by Steven Running, University of Montana professor of ecology.

Running will talk about the evidence for climate change and climate models he has developed. The title of his talk will be "Climate Trends for Montana: Will we have more fire or ice?"

Running said the first half of his talk is similar to Al Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth," outlining the worldwide evidence for climate change.

The second half of the talk deals with climate trends seen around Montana.

Running said that in Montana, March has warmed up more than any other month: "Five to seven degrees over the last 50 years, which is huge," Running said.

That means that winter ends earlier and the growing season starts earlier.

Another effect has been a longer summer drought season, which leads to more wildfires and lower streamflows.

"These conditions are going to accelerate, because global CO2 emissions are going up," he said.

Running said an extrapolation of the trends seen over the last 50 years showed that by 2060 it won't snow in Missoula at all anymore.

The third part of Running's discussion focuses on steps need to be taken.

"The first thing we need to do - and it's highly unpopular - we really need to put a carbon tax that represents the impact carbon emissions have on the world," he said. "We need to have five-dollar-a-gallon gas. I'm probably going to be hung in Helena for saying that, but it's true."

Running also advocates a tax on coal- and gas-fired electricity plants. He compares the emissions from these plants to plants that once dumped chemicals into bodies of water before the government cracked down on it.

"We're using the atmosphere as a free garbage can right now," he said.

He said taking such steps would have the positive impact of serving as an added incentive for investment in alternative energy like wind and solar power.

Running chuckled when asked about people who say the costs of change are too high for the economy to absorb.

"I think those people just have not gotten their minds around how big of trouble we're in," he said. "When the alternative is just trash the only planet we have, think about what they're saying. I think people like that just have not thought strategically enough about the consequences.

"This is no mystery anymore."

Don Skaar, a pollution biologist for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, put together the series.

He said the topic of climate change is one he's always been interested in and concerned about, and he put together a panel to look at the issue from a natural history angle, rather than a political or economic standpoint.

Four of the six speakers are biologists, Skaar said, and he asked them to use their expertise to talk about possible impacts climate change would have on plant and animal species.

"I'm not even sure what their personal opinions are on this," he said. "I'm just interested in hearing what people have to say."

He said the talks are lined up to follow a progression, with the first program showing the evidence for climate change and the next four talks getting into some of the specifics related to the environment.

Other talks to be given in the series are:

March 13: Dan Casey, Northern Rockies BCR Coordinator with the American Bird Conservatory in Kalispell will talk about "Cactus Wrens in Montana: Climate Change, Bird Distribution and Conservation" as well as the report Birdwatchers Guide to Global Warming his organization has released.

March 20: Dave Stagliano, aquatic ecologist with the Montana Natural Heritage Program in Helena will give a presentation entitled "Warming the Waters: Potential Effects of Climate Change on Montana's Aquatic Species." Admission will be free to this talk.

March 27: Phil Farnes, retired Soil Conservation Service Civil Engineer in Bozeman will talk on Climate Change in Montana, and he will draw on his 36+ years experience investigating trends in snowpack, temperature and precipitation.

April 3: Jeff Copeland, wildlife biologist with the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station in Missoula, will present the talk "The Implications of Global Warming on a Snow Dependent Species: A Case for the Wolverine."

April 10: Steve Loken of Loken Builders in Missoula, will talk about Environmentally sound building design and construction and energy conservation. He will also have examples of some of the materials he advocates.

Lectures are at 7 p.m. at the Covenant United Methodist Church, 2330 Broadway.

Cost is $5 per lecture or $20 for the entire six-lecture series. Tickets may be purchased at the door.

Proceeds are dedicated to Montana important bird area surveys.