Sanibel lecture inspired by legends in environmental movement
The Center for Environmental and Sustainability Education announces that the 2015 Rachel Carson Distinguished Lecture will be held in Sanibel on Jan. 30.
This year’s lecture, entitled “Environmental Education in Turbulent Times: Perspectives from Rachel Carson’s Hawk Mountain and Wangari Maathai’s Karura Forest,” will take place at 7 p.m. Jan. 30 at Saint Michael & All Angels Church, 2304 Periwinkle Way.
The lecture will feature distinguished environmental educators and authors David W. Orr and Peter Blaze Corcoran. The pair will explore the need for education that addresses the most pressing issues humanity faces, namely education that prepares students to address the preeminent issue of our time, climate change, and the meta-narrative of our time, sustainability.
Corcoran said, “We will draw on the inspiration of Rachel Carson and Wangari Maathai as we re-imagine environmental education in a world of climate change.”
Both Rachel Carson and Wangari Maathai have given a wealth of inspiration to draw from. Maathai was a visionary leader in environmental protection and education. She was a brave pioneer for environmental sustainability, the rights of women and girls and democracy in Africa. She was the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate, the first woman to serve as a professor in Kenya, and was the first African woman awarded a Nobel Peace Prize.
Her Green Belt Movement, which started in 1977, is responsible for planting over 47 million trees in her native Kenya and across the world.
The methods of Maathai and her Green Belt Movement encourage young people to become agents of positive change in the world.
Rachel Carson’s work is the inspiration for the Center for Environmental and Sustainability Education. The Rachel Carson Distinguished Lecture is named in her honor and to keep her legacy alive among rising generations. Carson’s contribution to human understanding of our environment is unparalleled. Her groundbreaking book “Silent Spring” has been called the most important book of the 20th century, helping to launch the environmental movement. Carson’s appreciation of the natural world through the literary arts and environmental education, along with her advocacy for public policy- based on sound science and ethics, and her vision for the active participation of an ecologically literate citizenry, continues to inspire the Center for Environmental and Sustainability Education’s work.
The 2015 Rachel Carson distinguished lecture is free and open to the public. To request an invitation or for more information please visit www.fgcu.edu/cese/ or contact the Center at thecenter@fgcu.edu, or call (239) 590-7025.