If you’re in Erie, PA tonight, be sure to drop by and ask Don Brown about Peter Gleick.
Below is the media release for the event.
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The Moral Dimension of Climate Change and What to do About It
Dr. Donald Brown, Associate Professor of Environmental Ethics, Science, and Law at Penn State University will present a lecture, “Turning Up the Volume on the Ethical Dimensions of Climate Change,” at the Erie Art Museum, Thursday, February 23, at 7 p.m. An audience Q&A will follow. Brown’s talk is in conjunction with DoubleExposure & the Politics of Snow, an exhibit on view through March 4, 2012 in the Museum’s Bacon Gallery. Visitors are encouraged to come early to view the exhibit.
Global warming is affecting our planet in countless ways, not in some remote future, but today. DoubleExposure & the Politics of Snow documents this critical issue through photography and oil paintings, providing viewers a glimpse into the world of climate change through three different artists’ images of glaciers. The works on display—a combination of black and white paired photographs of glaciers taken fifty years or more apart and dramatic, large scale oil paintings of glaciers by Diane Burko— provide powerful visual evidence of how our planet is changing. The images, while alarming, encourage visitors to consider the long-term effects of global warming on life and the earth by allowing them to see these changes over the last century.
Dr. Brown will explore the practical importance of turning up the volume on the ethical and moral dimensions of global warming and the climate changes resulting from it. The domestic debate about climate change policy has, for the most part, focused on short-term economic gains and the science of climate change, ignoring the phenomenon’s ethical dimensions. Brown’s talk will frame how climate change policy can and should be viewed through the lens of responding to the duties and obligations that we have, particularly to those who are most vulnerable to climate change impacts.
The lecture will be held in the Museum’s Multipurpose Room and is free and open to the public.
About the Erie Art Museum
The Erie Art Museum anchors downtown Erie’s cultural and economic revitalization, occupying a group of restored mid-19th century commercial buildings and a modern, “Green,” 10,500 square foot expansion. The newly expanded Museum marks the first LEED-certified building in the region, soon to be complete with a planted rooftop.
The Museum maintains an ambitious program of changing exhibitions annually, and holds a collection of over 6,000 objects, which includes significant works in American ceramics, Tibetan painting, Indian bronzes, contemporary baskets, and a variety of other categories.
The Museum offers a wide range of education programs and artists’ services including interdisciplinary and interactive school tours and a wide variety of classes for the community. Performing arts are showcased in the 25-year-old Contemporary Music Series, which represents national and international performers of serious music with an emphasis on composer/performers, and a popular annual two-day Blues & Jazz Festival.
The Erie Art Museum, café, and gift shop is open Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Friday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m.-5 p.m., and Sunday, 1-5 p.m. For additional visitor information, visit online at erieartmuseum.org
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