
Director of the
Harvard University
Center for the
Environment
Clark University will present a lecture by Harvard geologist and leading environmental science expert Daniel Schrag, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 4, in Tilton Hall, Higgins University Center, 950 Main St. It will be followed by a public conversation with members of the Council on the Uncertain Human Future (see below).
In his lecture titled, “The Anthropocene and Its Discontents: Climate Change and the Future of the Earth System,” Professor Schrag will discuss the challenges that climate change presents to scientific researchers, humankind, and the Earth.
Schrag is a professor of geology and environmental science and engineering at Harvard, where he directs the Harvard University Center for the Environment. He serves on President Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
Schrag’s research focuses on how information on climate change from the geologic past can lead to better understanding of anthropogenic climate change in the future. He also studies energy technology and policy, including carbon capture and storage and low-carbon synthetic fuels. Among various honors, he received the James B. Macelwane Medal from the American Geophysical Union and a MacArthur Fellowship.
This lecture also will launch the Council on the Uncertain Human Future, a year-long conversation among thirteen distinguished women on the implications of climate change. A dialogue between Schrag and members of the Council will follow the talk, including nature writer Gretel Ehrlich, philosopher Kathleen Dean Moore, and biologist Beth Sawin; climate scientist Susanne Moser will facilitate.
“We are grateful to Dan Schrag for helping us launch our conversation on the climate challenge from a strong baseline in the science and the long view of a geological perspective”, said Sarah Buie, senior associate and past director of the Higgins School of Humanities at Clark. She directs the Council project in collaboration with Diana Chapman Walsh (former president, Wellesley College) and Susanne Moser.
The Council is a project of the Northeast Cluster of the Humanities for the Environment (HfE) initiative of the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI). It is based at the Higgins School of Humanities and is sponsored by grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Kaiser Family Foundation.
This free, public event is co-sponsored with Clark University’s Office of the President as part of the President’s Lecture Series, and the Higgins School of Humanities. It is the first talk in the spring 2014 Higgins School dialogue symposium on Embracing Failure. For more information, contact the Higgins School of Humanities at 508.793.7479 or email HigginsSchool@clarku.edu.
Founded in 1887 in Worcester, Massachusetts, Clark University is a liberal arts-based research university addressing social and human imperatives on a global scale. Nationally renowned as a college that changes lives, Clark is emerging as a transformative force in higher education today. LEEP (Liberal Education and Effective Practice) is Clark’s pioneering model of education that combines a robust liberal arts curriculum with life-changing world and workplace experiences. Clark’s faculty and students work across boundaries to develop solutions to complex challenges in the natural sciences, psychology, geography, management, urban education, Holocaust and genocide studies, environmental studies, and international development and social change. The Clark educational experience embodies the University’s motto: Challenge convention. Change our world.
Related Links:
https://scholar.harvard.edu/dschrag
https://www2.clarku.edu/offices/president/presidents-lecture-series.cfm
http://www2.clarku.edu/higgins-school-of-humanities/
https://www.clarku.edu/higgins-school-of-humanities/news/index.cfm
https://chcinetwork.org/
https://mellon.org/
https://www.kff.org/