“Mershon Monday: Who Owns Icebergs?,” hosted by Mershon Center for International Security Studies

Monday, February 13, 12noon-1:30pm, Derby Hall [Rm. 1039], 154 N. Oval Mall

The global water crisis is upon us. 1 in 3 people do not have access to safe drinking water and nearly 1 million people die each year as a result. Luckily, there is a solution where we least expect it. Thousands of icebergs — frozen mountains of freshwater — are calved each year and are sent into the oceans. Harvesting icebergs may be the key to saving the planet, but it is unclear who owns the resource. The answer is not just legal, but depends on our deeply held cultural, philosophical, and environmental beliefs.

Matthew H. Birkhold is an associate professor of German at The Ohio State University, where he also teaches in the Moritz College of Law. His first book, Characters before Copyright (Oxford, 2019) explores the ownership of fictional characters. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Atlantic, Foreign Affairs, and Indian Country Today.

RSVP for this event by using this link.

Hosted by Mershon Center for International Security Studies.