DEVRA LEE DAVIS

Devra Davis is a visiting professor of Environmental Studies during Spring 2001. She is a leading epidemiologist and researcher on environmental health and chronic disease. The following is an excerpt from her Earth Day speech on the mall, April 21, 2000. "For generations, people believed that G-d alone determined weather and death. We now know that humans have finally left their mark on the globe-there are more tornadoes, more fierce hurricanes and faster, harder changes in weather-all of which are causing more expensive damage than ever before. The same activities that endanger human health also affect the fragile envelope that makes life on this planet possible. We understand that we only have one planet. There is no place else to go."

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DENNIS HUBBARD

Dennis Hubbard taught and did research at the West Indies Laboratory in the US Virgin Islands until 1990 when the lab was destroyed by Hurricane Hugo. His focus was on coastal processes and coral reef development over the past 10,000 years. After the lab closed, he spent 6 years as an environmental consultant in the Caribbean, where he gained valuable experience in using scientific principles to formulate and implement public policy in the face of political "realities". Over the past two and a half years, he has taught part or full time at the College and has remained active in research on coral reefs and coastal-zone management. He will discuss the data for and against anthropogenically induced global warming (against the backdrop of longer-term geologic processes) and end with an overview of recent changes in coral reefs and world-wide sea level (impacts on natural systems and human population).

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DICK MORGENSTERN

Richard (Dick) Morgenstern is a senior fellow in RFF's Quality of the Environment Division, a position he began in early 2000 after a distinguished academic record as an economist, as well as extensive experience in national and international policy. Morgenstern's research focuses on the economic analysis of environmental issues, and on the use of economic incentives to address global climate change. He has written widely on these issues in both academic and popular journals. He is a visiting professor of Economics at Oberlin for the 2000-01 academic year.

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DAVID ORR

David Orr is chair of the Environmental Studies program at Oberlin and education editor of the journal Conservation Biology. His books include Ecological Literacy; The Campus and Environmental Responsibility; and Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect. Edward O. Wilson has said of Earth in Mind: "As a rule economists understand economics, ecologists the environment, and educators teaching. David Orr is one of the rare authors who understands all three, and in these finely etched and admirable essays he delivers the revolutionary credo necessary, in my opinion, for the long-term survival of our species." David Orr's influential writings have made him a leader in the movement to expand environmental education and to bring a new sense of environmental responsibility to colleges and universities.

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JOHN PETERSEN

John Petersen is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies and Biology. He is a systems ecologist and has taught Systems Ecology, Environmental Systems Modeling and Environment and Society.

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BEN WISNER

Ben Wisner is an independant researcher in the Environmental Studies Program at Oberlin. He is vice-chair of the Earthquakes and Megacities Initiative, vice-chair of the International Geographical Union's Commission on Hazards and Risks, and a research coordinator for the United Nations University's project on urban disasters. He is author of "At Risk: Natural Hazards, People, Vulnerability, and Disasters" (London: Routledge, 1994) and numerous other books and scientific papers. He is an advisor to the emergency response program of the American Friends Service Committee.

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STEVE WOJTAL

Steve Wojtal is a professor of Geology at Oberlin. His areas of interest are structural geology and tectonics as well as the use of computers in geology. He is teaching a course titled "Glaciology, Ice Ages, and Climate Change" during the Spring of 2001. The subject matter of this course will make up his area of expertise for the symposium.

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