WMU News

Expert on global climate change to give two area lectures

March 3, 1998

KALAMAZOO -- An expert on international law and the environment will visit Western Michigan University and the Kalamazoo community Tuesday, March 10, to speak on the political prospects for limiting the causes of global warming.

Dr. Marvin Soroos, head of the Department of Political Science at North Carolina State University, will describe "The Kyoto Conference and the Prospects for Limiting Climate Change" during a free public address on the campus at 7 p.m. in Room 3508 of Knauss Hall. Earlier that day, he will deliver a talk on "Global Justice and the Environmental Imperative" at a noon brown bag luncheon at the World Tree Peace Center, 246 N. Kalamazoo Mall.

Soroos will focus on the December 1997 summit in Kyoto, Japan, and the climate change agreement that grew out of that 10-day international meeting, which was convened to address ways to cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

Soroos specializes in global problems and policy studies, with an emphasis on environmental problems. His most recent book, "The Endangered Atmosphere: Preserving a Global Commons," was published in 1997 and examines the evolution of international law pertaining to the atmosphere. In that work, he addressed the problems of atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons, acid rain, depletion of the ozone layer and global climate change.

He also is author of a 1986 book, "Beyond Sovereignty: The Challenge of Global Policy," and has published articles in a number of international journals.

Soroos' visit to Kalamazoo is sponsored by WMU's Institute of Government and Politics and the Environmental Studies Program. For more information, persons should contact Dr. James M. Butterfield, associate professor of political science and director of the Institute of Government and Politics, at (616) 387-5696.

Media contact: Cheryl Roland; cheryl.roland@wmich.edu


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