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Sage Climate Crisis Center and the Regional Office of Al Gore's Climate Project Present the Road to Copenhagen

September 16th, 2009

In the coming weeks, The Sage Colleges will host a series of lectures as part of the Road to Copenhagen, the UN climate summit which will be held in Denmark this December. Representatives from around the world will come together to work to devise an ambitious international agreement to tackle this global crisis.

In recognition of this event, The Sage Colleges' President Susan Scrimshaw, Professor Steven Leibo, U.S. Congressman Paul Tonko and Fabien Cousteau -- grandson of the famed ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau -- will address different issues affecting our world as part of The Sage Colleges' own "A Climate in Crisis Sage Presents: The Road to Copenhagen".

All events will be held at Bush Memorial on the Troy Campus at 7:30 p.m. on their respective dates.

Oct. 1:
The Climate Crisis: Updating an Inconvenient Truth with Professor Steven Leibo

Leibo is a Professor of International History and Politics and is involved in a number of environmentally focused organizations. He has been personally trained by former Vice President Al Gore on the Climate Project. The Climate Project emerged from Mr. Gore's movie, An Inconvenient Truth, and Climate Project volunteers are continually updating people on the science of climate change and alternative energies. The Sage Colleges is home to the Climate Crisis and Educational Awareness Center, which is the regional arm of Mr. Gore's project. Visit Professor Leibo's blog at http://sagethoughts.wordpress.com/ for more information.

Oct. 29:
An Insider's Look at our Planets Ocean with Fabien Cousteau

The grandson of famed oceanographic explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Fabien has been diving since he was four years old and was part of the crew of his Grandfather's storied ships, Calypso and the Alcyone. His fieldwork during expeditions to exotic places is complemented by a degree in environmental economics from Boston University. According to Cousteau, the future well-being of our planet rests in our convincing people that the environment is worth saving.

Nov. 10:
Public Health & the Climate Crisis with Sage President Susan C. Scrimshaw, Ph.D.

President Scrimshaw will explore public health and the climate crisis in her lecture, a timely topic, given the pending flu season. A graduate of Barnard College in New York City, Scrimshaw obtained her M.A. and Ph.D. in Anthropology from Columbia University, where she was a student of the famous cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead. Prior to her post at Sage she served 12 years as the dean of the School of Public Health and professor of community health sciences and anthropology at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Canceled - Dec. 1:
Prospects for Copenhagen: Building an International Climate Pact with U.S. Congressman Paul Tonko

Canceled: Due to a new voting schedule just issued for the House of Representatives, Congressman Paul Tonko will be unable to offer his scheduled December 1 talk for The Sage Colleges' "Road to Copenhagen" series. On behalf of The Sage Colleges and the Sage Climate Crisis Center we would like to thank everyone for making the three earlier presentations so successful.

To learn more about the Sage Climate Center or to schedule a climate crisis presentation for your organization, contact Steven A. Leibo Ph.D. at leibos@sage.edu

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The Road to Copenhagen series is funded in part by the Sherman David Spector Lecture Fund. Sherman David Spector (May 7, 1927 - March 16, 2008) was a professor of history at Russell Sage College from 1960-92 and served as the department chair from 1985 to 1991. He earned his Ph.D. in eastern European history in 1960 from Columbia University. In 1964 and 1970 he was Fulbright-Hays visiting professor at the University of Bucharest, Romania. He was the author of Romania at the Paris Peace Conference 1919-20 (1962), A History of the Balkan Peoples (1972), and Relapse into Bondage (1998).

While at The Sage Colleges, David Spector initiated the annual Upton Award given by the Helen M. Upton Center for Women's Studies to a woman of distinction. He created the Athenian Honor Society and the Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society.

In 1991, grateful alumnae and friends established an endowed professorship and endowed lectureship in his honor. The Sherman David Spector Lecture Fund provides for a renowned scholar to speak on campus each year. Over the years those guests have included Susan Armitage, a scholar of the American womens history; Clifford Earl Trafzer, renowned scholar of Native American history; Terry Primo, an expert in women and aging in 18th-century America; SUNY-Albany presidential scholar Bruce Miroff; and the current Sherman David Spector Lecturer in the Humanities, Steven A. Leibo.

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