New York Times blogger to speak about climate, optimism

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas Center for Sustainability, in partnership with The Commons, will host prize-winning environmental journalist Andrew Revkin for two public events on Thursday, Feb. 19, and Friday, Feb. 20.

Revkin’s Thursday evening lecture, titled “The New Communication Climate,” will investigate issues and opportunities associated with communicating about climate and other critical issues of our time through rapidly evolving modern media forms. The lecture will begin at 7 p.m., followed by a question-and-answer session.

On Friday, Revkin will challenge attendees with the assertion that there is positivity and opportunity to be found in this age of unprecedented and unpredictable change in his Idea Café appearance, “Why We Should Be Optimistic about the Anthropocene.” Audience participation in building conversation around the topic is welcome and encouraged in this interactive, interdisciplinary series. The event will begin at noon and includes lunch. RSVPs are requested to thecommons@ku.edu.

Both events at free and open to the public, and they will take place in The Commons at Spooner Hall.

Revkin writes the award-winning Dot Earth blog for The New York Times and is author of several books on climate change, including "Global Warming: Understanding the Forecast." He is the Senior Fellow for Environmental Understanding at Pace University’s Academy for Applied Environmental Studies, where he teaches courses on blogging, environmental-science communication and documentary video.

Revkin’s visit is sponsored by The Commons, the KU Center for Sustainability, the William Allen White School of Journalism, and the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.

For more information about Andrew Revkin’s visit, contact the KU Center for Sustainability at 785-864-5398 or sustainability@ku.edu.