Earth Day public lectures: Man's impact on nature
International policy shapers Steven Sanderson, Robert May at 黑料不打烊 on April 22 and 26
On Earth Day, Thursday, April 22, and on Monday, April 26, 黑料不打烊 University will contribute to public awareness by hosting speakers who have a lot to say about the complicated relationship between man and nature 鈥� and how and why we must improve it.
Steven Sanderson, president and CEO of the Wildlife Conservation Society, will be first up with a Beatty Memorial Lecture on April 22. The head of the world's largest international wildlife research and conservation NGO will talk bluntly.
"If you want to see wild nature," says Sanderson, "your options are declining."
The international community has dedicated the next decade to a series of ambitious social goals that include halving the number of people living in poverty. Part of the challenge, stresses Sanderson, will be to avoid the devastating environmental degradation that has characterized past development efforts.
Sanderson will address concerns about the future of wild nature, suggest contributions conservation can make to rural poverty alleviation, and raise difficult questions about the risk of impoverishing wild nature in the service of poverty alleviation.
On Monday, April 22, Lord Robert May, President of the UK Royal Society, will talk about biodiversity and the alarming rates of extinction among the plants and animals with which we share our planet.
In his lecture, Lord May, former Chief Scientific Adviser to the British Government, will outline approaches to estimating current extinction rates and the alarming increases in current rates compared with the historical fossil record. He will also look at the consequences of extinction and costs of effective action to counter extinction processes.
Steven Sanderson's Beatty Memorial Lecture, "Global Poverty Alleviation and the Impoverishment of Wild Nature," will take place on Thursday, April 22, at 6 pm in the Fieldhouse Auditorium, Leacock 132, 855 Sherbrooke St. W.
Lord Robert May's invited lecture, "The Future of Biodiversity in a Crowded World," will take place on Monday, April 26, at 3 pm in Leacock 26, 855 Sherbrooke St. W., and will be followed by an informal reception at 4 pm in the Redpath Museum, 859 Sherbrooke St. W.
Both lectures are open to the public and are free of charge.
For information and interviews with Sanderson: Jennifer Towell.
For information and interviews with Lord May: Sylvia Otvos.
