Renowned scientists to discuss ‘the current mass extinction event’ at Catawba
Published 12:00 am Thursday, September 22, 2016
SALISBURY — Prize-winning American biologist Dr. Paul Ehrlich, best known for his warnings about the consequences of population growth and limited resources, will join Dr. Pete Myers, founder and CEO of Environmental Health Sciences, for a presentation on Oct. 20 at Catawba College.
The event is hosted by the Center for the Environment at Catawba.
Their presentation, “The Current Mass Extinction Event: Causes and Cures,” is scheduled for 7 p.m. in room 300 of the Center for the Environment building on the Catawba campus.
Ehrlich, Bing professor of population studies emeritus at Stanford University and president of Stanford’s Center for Conservation Biology, is renowned for his 1968 book, “The Population Bomb,” which asserted that the world’s human overpopulation would result in mass starvation. He has authored more than 1,000 publications including about 50 books.
Ehrlich, who holds a Ph.D. from the University of Kansas, now serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a recipient of the Crafoord Prize (a substitute for the Nobel Prize in fields of science where the latter is not given), the Blue Planet Prize and numerous other international awards.
Myers holds a doctorate from UC Berkeley. For a dozen years beginning in 1990, Myers served as director of the W. Alton Jones Foundation in Charlottesville, Va. He co-wrote “Our Stolen Future,” a book that explores the scientific basis of concern for how contamination threatens fetal development.
Myers is now actively involved in work to anticipate the interactions among biogeochemical forces set in motion by humans.
He serves as an adjunct professor of chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University. In 2016 he received a Laureate Award for Outstanding Public Service from the Endocrine Society and in November will be awarded a Champion of Science Award from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
The presentation is open to the public without charge, but registration is required. To register, visit CenterForTheEnvironment.org or call 704-637-4791.
