Here is the Press Release.

Let Elizabeth Kolbert know what is coming down around here - if she is well informed on local concerns, this should be a fascinating and valuable talk in this venue.

                                         Journalist Elizabeth Kolbert to discuss social
                                         responsibility and climate change
                                         In celebration of Earth Day, Elizabeth Kolbert, author of
                                         the highly acclaimed Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man,
                                         Nature, and Climate Change, will give a talk on how
                                         environmental changes can be brought into the
                                         consciousness of the American people and how we can
                                         all contribute to living more sustainably on our planet.
                                         Sponsored by the Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities
                                         and the Rose Wohlgemuth Weisman Women's Voices
                                         Lecture Fund, this free, public talk begins at 6:00 p.m.,
                                         April 22, in the Museum of Natural History (please note
                                         venue change). Registration for the event is
                                         recommended.
Field Notes (Bloomsbury USA 2006), an eye-opening analysis of climate change, “lets facts
rather than polemics tell the story,” according to a review by Publisher’s Weekly. Based on her
“field work” in various locations, including Alaska, Iceland, Greenland, and the Netherlands
and extensive research on the subject, Kolbert aims to get to the heart of the science and
politics of global warming.
This immensely popular and influential book is an expanded version of a three-part series,
entitled “The Climate of Man,” that Kolbert originally wrote for The New Yorker. “The Climate
of Man” won the 2006 National Magazine Award for Public Interest, the 2005 American
Association for the Advancement of Science Journalism Award, and the 2006 National
Academies Communication Award.
Often compared to Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (Houghton Mifflin 1962), a book that raised
awareness of the extensive use of pesticides and chemicals in food production half a century
ago, Field Notes has been praised for its scientific credibility and persuasive, fact-based
reporting. In addition to the accounts of her field studies and interviews with researchers and
environmentalists, Kolbert weaves into her analysis the historical accounts of lost ancient
civilizations and the personal stories of those most affected: people living close to the poles
watching their worlds slowly disappear.
Elizabeth Kolbert began her career as a reporter at The New York Times and has been a staff
writer at The New Yorker since 1999 where she has contributed with articles on climate change
and influential politicians as well as New York personalities, including Hillary Clinton, Michael
Bloomberg, Rudolph Giuliani, and Regis Philbin. These profiles appeared in The Prophet of
Love: And Other Tales of Power and Deceit (Bloomsbury USA) in 2004.
“The Climate of Man,” the work that led to Field Notes, was a result of a year-long assignment
in Greenland where Kolbert studied “ice-coring,” a process that allows a chronological tracking
of weather changes.
The melting of the Greenland ice sheet is reported to eventually raise sea levels by 20 feet, but
even Kolbert acknowledges that for anyone who has never seen an ice sheet it would seem
perplexing to believe that it could raise sea levels that much.
In an interview to environment 360, she notes, “When you actually stand on top of almost 11,000
feet of ice, it becomes more comprehensible.” “It’s such an amazing place,” she adds, “and you
realize how startling the world is and how very contingent and fragile the conditions that we
live under are.”
To a question whether there is an ethical dimension to the issue of climate change, Kolbert,
who now lives in Massachusetts, answered, “if there’s not a moral dimension to potentially
leaving a totally impoverished planet to future generations, all future generations, I don’t know
what would be.”
In her lecture at Case Western Reserve University, Kolbert will discuss her field trips and
research, and will explore ways in which we can all take a small but significant role in “handing
off a planet that’s habitable” to future generations.
For information, visit http://case.edu/humanities or call 216-368-8961.
 

Disrupt IT

See above--Hear award-winning environmental author Elizabeth Kolbert

In Celebration of Earth Day

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By refusing to deal honorably with others, you dishonor yourself.

 Bill, Norm et al.--I hope that someone in REALNEO's membership may be able to attend tonight and provide coverage. 

I really respect how Elizabeth Kolbert has provided exposure to the difficult realities we must face together.  She needs to shine her spotlight on NEO.  

I am unfortunately contending with issues closer to home and must attend a local meeting.