Worldwatch Institute President to Speak on Breaking America's Oil Addiction

Energy expert Christopher Flavin will speak about Breaking America's Oil Addiction at Westminster College Thursday, April 19, at 9:30 a.m. in the Witherspoon Room of the McKelvey Campus Center.

This presentation is part of Westminster's Distinguished Speaker Series, Perspectives on the Environment. The lecture series, funded by a grant from the Lewis Foundation, explores the economic, social, religious, political and security aspects of environmental issues. All lectures are free and open to the public.

"To acquire knowledge of, and to demonstrate moral and ethical commitments to, the natural world is an integral part of a liberal arts education at Westminster," said Dr. Shahroukh Mistry, Westminster assistant professor of biology and coordinator of this series. "This speaker series is an important step toward developing an interdisciplinary and cooperative approach to engaging students in becoming knowledgeable and responsible stewards of the natural world and their communities."

Flavin is president of the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington-based international research organization focused on energy, resource and environmental issues. Worldwatch is recognized around the world for its path-breaking work on the global connections between economic, social, and environmental trends.

Flavin is a leading voice on the potential for new energy technologies and strategies to replace fossil fuels-increasing energy security and avoiding dangerous climate change. He is co-author of three books on energy, including Power Surge: Guide to the Coming Energy Revolution, which anticipated many of the changes now underway in world energy markets. Flavin's two decades of energy research and writing encompasses solar energy, wind power, bio energy, geothermal power, energy efficiency, and hydrogen.

He is a regular co-author of the Institute's annual State of the World report, which has been published in 36 languages. Together with colleagues, he advised the Chinese government on their landmark renewable energy legislation, which went into effect in February 2005. He is active in international policy circles, and has participated in several historic international conferences, including the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and the Climate Change Conference in Kyoto, Japan in 1997. Flavin is a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy and serves as a board member of the American Council on Renewable Energy, the Climate Institute, the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, and the Environmental and Energy Study Institute.

Westminster College's Drinko Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning is hosting the lecture. The Drinko Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning was developed to advance world-class teaching at Westminster and enrich K-12 education through outreach programs for area educators.

Contact Dr. Virginia Tomlinson, director of the Drinko Center, at (724) 946-6097 or e-mail tomlinvm@westminster.edu or visit www.westminster.edu/drinko for more information.

Christopher Flavin