Fort Lewis College will welcome renowned environmentalist and author Terry Tempest Williams later this month.
Williams will speak during the Inaugural Four Corners Climate Summit on April 27 at the Fort Lewis College Ballroom.
The event will include presentations by the authors of the Fifth National Climate Assessment, which documents the vulnerabilities, impacts and risks associated with climate change in the American Southwest.
Williams has penned books such as “Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place” and “When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice.”
The assessment is the U.S. Government’s preeminent report on climate change impacts, risks and responses.
Regional experts, conservationists and artists will be at the event, which will be open the public. Space is limited, according to a news release from the college.
“Climate change is of interest across our entire campus and region,” said FLC Provost Mario Martinez in the release. “As the leading education institution in our region, Fort Lewis College can convene experts and draw on faculty expertise to provide guidance and support to prepare our region for continued climate change and ongoing work on action and solutions.”
The event was developed when Martinez and research hydrologist Emile Elias discussed sharing research with the community and to pair information from the fifth assessment with FLC's newest art exhibit on climate change in Colorado.
“We are deeply grateful to the scientists who agreed to serve as authors and will join us in Durango to share findings and answer questions. Leading scientists will talk about wildfire, water scarcity, extreme heat, human health, and agriculture,” Elias said in a news release.
Elias will serve among the panelists for the assessment presentation. He will be joined by Jennifer Vanos, associate professor in the school of sustainability at Arizona State University, and Steven M. Ostoja, director of the USDA California Climate Hub, among others.
For more information, visit fortlewis.edu/climate-summit/.
