The Tishman Environment and Design Center presents an evening with Bill McKibben, a noted author and environmentalist who speaks to The New School community about the consequences of climate warming, both regional and global, and the need for immediate action to reduce the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
On October 24, 2009, McKibben's group 350.org, (the number refers to a widely-agreed-on safe,upper limit for CO2, in parts per million), will stage the International Day of Climate Action, a series of rallies and awareness-raising creative actions in virtually every country on earth. The aim is to assemble a "gigantic, global, visual petition" for change to be presented in Copenhagen this December, when the world's nations meet to agree on a new climate treaty.
To leave a comment or view related climate events, visit http://www.350newschool.wordpress.com
Bio
Bob Kerrey
Bob Kerrey is president of The New School in New York City.
For twelve years prior to becoming president of The New School, Bob Kerrey represented the State of Nebraska in the United States Senate. Before that, he served as Nebraska's governor for four years.
Bob Kerrey is the author of When I Was A Young Man: A Memoir, published by Harcourt Books (May 2002). He served as a member of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, currently leads a five year writing challenge sponsored by The National Commission on Writing in America's Schools and Colleges, and is co-chair with Newt Gingrich of The National Commission for Quality Long-Term Care.
Bill McKibben
Environmentalist Bill McKibben is a scholar in environmental studies at Middlebury College.
McKibben is an American environmentalist and writer who frequently writes about global warming, alternative energy, and the risks associated with human genetic engineering. Beginning in the summer of 2006, he led the organization of the largest demonstrations against global warming in American history. McKibben is active in the Methodist Church, and his writing sometimes has a spiritual bent.
He is the author of The End of Nature (1989), the first book for a general audience about global warming. Recent books include Enough (2004), which critiques human genetic engineering and other rapidly advancing technologies; Wandering Home (2005), which catalogs his foot-travels across the Vermont landscape; and Age of Missing Information (2006), in which he compares his experience watching 1700 hours of videotaped TV to that of contemplating nature in the Adirondacks.
Joel Towers
The New School has appointed Joel Towers as the Interim Dean of Parsons The New School for Design. Towers came to The New School in 2004 in a new role as director of Sustainable Design and Urban Ecology. In 2006, he became the inaugural director of the Tishman Environment and Design Center and Associate Provost for Environmental Studies. He helped to design the new university-wide Environmental Studies degrees that are now jointly offered by Parsons and Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts. This innovative undergraduate program goes beyond natural ecology and resource conservation, emphasizing urban ecosystems, sustainable design, and public policy.
Prior to joining The New School, Towers taught in Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, developing cross-disciplinary teaching and research focused on sustainability and urban ecology in relation to urban design and architecture. A practicing architect for the past two decades, Joel co-founded the firm Sislian, Rothstein and Towers (SR+T Architects) with Karla Rothstein. For several years the firm maintained offices in New York and Berlin. Today the work generated through SR+T continues in new collaborations that extend the realm of traditional practice into construction, materials development, real estate development, and sustainable design. Joel received his Masters in Architecture from Columbia University and his B.S. in Architecture from The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
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