Dr. Greg Eaton, director of the Claytor Nature Study Center, will speak on Energy Independence on Thursday, February 6 at the Lynchburg Public Library community room as part of the annual Great Decisions lectures sponsored by the Lynchburg Branch of the AAUW, the League of Women Voters of Lynchburg, the YWCA, and the Lynchburg Public Library.
Dr. Eaton will discuss whether the US should encourage more traditional fossil fuel and nuclear production to achieve energy independence or invest in the younger technology of renewable resources.
Each of the weekly talks will begin with light refreshments at 2:30 p.m. followed by the lecture from 3 to 4 p.m. The remainder of the schedule is as follow.
February 13: Food and Climate
Karin Warren, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, Randolph College
Even as a sixth of the world’s population suffers from chronic hunger, a changing climate threatens to wreak havoc on already insecure and vulnerable populations. As food and water become scarce and once fertile land becomes barren, the US finds itself faced with new challenges in securing the globe. The US is getting ready, but can it lead the way to climate reform?
February 20: Turkey’s Challenges
Amy Lillis, Foreign Service Officer, United States Department of State (her most recent post was Turkey)
Turkey is neither East nor West, but a bridge between the two. Turkey’s first leader, Kemal Ataturk, envisioned a modern, democratic state with strong ties with Europe, while also relying on the Islamic identity of the former Ottoman Empire to build the nascent nation. The economic reforms over the last 20 years birthed a rising middle class, bringing with it a different worldview and new competition for political and economic access. As the recent protests in Taksim Square show, the question of national identity is now front and center in a more ideologically diverse and cosmopolitan Turkey.
February 27: Defense Technology
John Marselus, Professor, Liberty University School of Aeronautics, Leader of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (drones) program
From robotic planes to cyberweapons to 3D printing and human enhancement, new “game-changing” technologies are moving from science fiction to battlefield reality – all during an age of fiscal austerity. But in wrestling with the new, we can actually learn a great deal from the past. Our forebears went through similar challenges with such once fanciful but now normal concepts as airplanes, submarines, and tanks. What are the “killer applications” of the 21st century battlefield, and in turn, what are the issues that the US must navigate in adapting to them?
If Lynchburg Public Schools are closed due to inclement weather, the Great Decisions lecture for that day will be canceled and rescheduled for the first Thursday in March if possible.
