Free Maui lectures to discuss climate
A free series of six talks on climate change and its effects on Hawaii begins Wednesday with speaker Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
"Focus Green: Conversations on Climate Change" will be held on periodic Wednesday evenings at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center through April 4.
The series' goal is "to raise awareness on global warming and discuss positive steps to protect the planet," according to an announcement from Dowling Co., a developer that is sponsoring the series.
Kennedy, senior attorney for the National Resources Defense Council, was named one of Time magazine's "Heroes for the Planet" for his work in environmental restoration.
Other speakers in the series will be:
» March 14: David Suzuki, noted scientist and chairman of the David Suzuki Foundation. He hosts the science television show "The Nature of Things" and has received a UNESCO prize for science and a United Nations environmental medal for his work.
» March 21: James Howard Kunstler, author of "The Long Emergency," a book that examines a future without abundant oil reserves. He writes on environmental issues in the Atlantic Monthly, Slate.Com and the New York Times Sunday Magazine.
» March 28: Terry Tamminen, environmental strategist, chief policy adviser to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and author of the book "Lives Per Gallon: The True Cost of Our Oil Addiction."
» April 4: Christine Ervin, former assistant secretary of energy in the Clinton administration and first president of the U.S. Green Building Council, which administers the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program, a rating system for building efficiency.
All events begin at 6 p.m. and are free. Donations will be requested for the Maui Coastal Land Trust, which preserves coastal lands on Maui.
Kennedy will speak at the center's Castle Theater. Other speakers will appear at the McCoy Theater. For more information, contact Diane Lee at 244-5263 or Jennifer Stites at 270-0516.