Climate Expert Richard Alley to Speak at Wilson Nov. 10

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  |  Oct. 28, 2015

Chambersburg, Pa. — Wilson College will host climate expert Richard B. Alley on Tuesday, Nov. 10, when Alley will present two lectures as part of the National Academy of Sciences Day Prize Lecture Series. The 2014 recipient of the Arthur L. Day Prize and Lectureship, Alley is a leading voice on climate change, energy and the environment.

Alley will speak twice at Wilson on Nov. 10 – both lectures are free and open to the public and both will be held in the Brooks Science Center auditorium. At noon, Alley will discuss “Abrupt Climate Change and Sea-level Rise: How What We Don’t Know Might Hurt Us.” At 7 p.m., he will present “Good News in the Greenhouse? The Big Picture on Energy, the Environment and our Future,” with a reception to follow.

“We get great good from our use of energy, but our history shows that we have burned through one source after another more rapidly than nature produced more, and then faced grave difficulties while looking for alternatives,” said Alley, Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences at Penn State University and associate of Penn State’s Earth and Environmental Systems Institute. “We are burning fossil fuels roughly a million times faster than nature saved them for us, so a change is required. Fortunately, we now know how to build a sustainable energy system in an economically, as well as environmentally, sound manner.”

Alley, who hosted the critically acclaimed PBS television miniseries on climate change and sustainable energy solutions called Earth: The Operators’ Manual (and author of the book of the same name), studies the great ice sheets to aid in prediction of future changes in climate and sea level. Alley chaired the National Research Council’s Panel on Abrupt Climate Change and participated in the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which was co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. He has served in an advisory capacity to high-level officials in the United States government, including those in presidential administrations and Congress.

Alley, who has a doctorate in geology from the University of Wisconsin, has authored or coauthored more than 250 refereed scientific papers and his popular account of climate change and ice cores, The Two-Mile Time Machine, was Phi Beta Kappa’s science book of the year in 2001.

“Wilson College is honored to have someone of Richard Alley’s stature as a guest speaker,” said Ed Wells, professor and director of Wilson’s environmental studies program. “He is passionate and enthusiastic about climate change, and takes complex ideas and makes them accessible. Our students and residents of the community have an amazing opportunity to hear him speak about one of the most important topics of our time.”

Alley has received numerous awards and honors, including his selection by the National Academy of Sciences for the 2015 Arthur L. Day Prize and Lectureship. The Day prize is awarded to a “scientist making lasting contributions to the study of the physics of the earth and whose lectures will provide solid, timely and useful additions to the knowledge and literature in the field.”

In addition to being part of the Day Prize Lecture Series, Alley’s appearance at Wilson is part of the College’s 2015-16 Common Hour lecture series examining two related topics: “Confronting Climate Change” and “The Return of the Apocalyptic.” The series is sponsored by the Orr Forum and Global Citizens Initiative and directed Wilson Department of Philosophy and Religion Chair David True

MEDIA CONTACT:           
Cathy Mentzer, Manager of Media Relations
Phone: 717-262-2604
Email: cathy.mentzer@wilson.edu

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Founded in 1869, Wilson College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college offering bachelor’s degrees in 29 majors and master’s degrees in education, the humanities, accountancy, nursing, fine arts and healthcare management for sustainability. Wilson is committed to providing an affordable education that offers value to its students beyond graduation.

Located in Chambersburg, Pa., the college has a fall 2015 enrollment of 923, which includes students from 22 states and 16 countries. Visit www.wilson.edu for more information.