Hoffberger Center's Annual Ethics Week, March 5-10: 'Eco-Ethics, Sustainability and the Environment'
February 21, 2012
Contact: University Relations
Phone: 410.837.5739
The University of Baltimore's Hoffberger Center for Professional Ethics will host its annual Ethics Week, March 5-10, at various locations on the UB campus. This year's theme, "Eco-Ethics, Sustainability and the Environment," will explore the ethical underpinnings of the movement toward a greener, more equitable future—in the ways we build things, take care of our natural resources, and, ultimately, in how we take care of each other. All events are free and open to the public, but reservations are requested for all attendees (see details below).
The week's schedule is as follows:
Monday, March 5, 12:30-1:50 p.m.: "LEED—Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design," to be held in the Bogomolny Room in UB Student Center, 21 W. Mt. Royal Ave., with UB President Robert L. Bogomolny. The question "What does LEED stand for?" is commonly asked by first-time home builders, designers, and developers. LEED is an acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, and signifies the level of sustainable elements of a given structure. The president will speak on the benefits of building UB’s new Angelos Law Center according to the LEED Platinum model.
Tuesday, March 6, 12:30-1:50 p.m.: "The Ecological Future of the Chesapeake Bay," a panel discussion to be held in Room 003 the William H. Thumel Sr. Business Center (home of the Merrick School of Business), 11 W. Mt. Royal Ave. The discussion will include Stanley Kemp, assistant professor in the University of Baltimore's Division of Science, Information Arts and Technologies; Candus Thomson, former outdoors reporter for the Baltimore Sun; and Steve Vilnit, program director of Commercial Fisheries Outreach and Marketing for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
Tuesday, March 6, 2-3:20 p.m.: "Silent Spring," a panel discussion to be held in the M. Scot Kaufman Auditorium in the William H. Thumel Sr. Business Center, 11 W. Mt. Royal Ave. The discussion will feature Christopher Justice, lecturer in the School of Communications Design; Stanley Kemp, assistant professor in the Division of Science, Information Arts and Technologies; Rita Turner, a faculty member specializing in environmental education and ecoliteracy at UMBC; and Noah Cincinnati, a historian whose expertise is in environmental history. 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of Rachel Carson's landmark book, Silent Spring. The panel will consider the book as a policy narrative and how it sparked the environmental movement and led to the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970.
Tuesday, March 6, 5:30-7 p.m.: "Eco-Modernism, LEED and a Green Aesthetic," a discussion to be held in the M. Scot Kaufman Auditorium in the William H. Thumel Sr. Business Center, 11 W. Mt. Royal Ave. Peter Danko, an artist, industrial designer, and inventor, has made it his personal challenge to create beautiful objects with materials that Obviously Manifest Green (OMG). Eco-modernism—Danko's term for a guiding aesthetic sensibility that features sustainability and ethical building practices—is a reminder that building materials and technologies exist that are far more sustainable than what we accept as green design today.
Wednesday, March 7, 2-3:20 p.m.: "In Defense of Religious Moderation," a discussion to be held in the Bogomolny Room in UB Student Center, 21 W. Mt. Royal Ave., with William Egginton, the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities and chair of the Department of German and Romance Languages and Literatures at The Johns Hopkins University. Atheists and religious fanatics are equally wrong about God, argues Egginton. To do right by humankind, he says, religious moderation is necessary in order to promote peace, justice, freedom and tolerance.
Thursday, March 8, 12:30-1:50 p.m., "Ethics in Dramatic Presentations: The Exonerated," to be held in the Lucy and Vernon Wright Theater in the Student Center, 21 W. Mt. Royal Ave. The Exonerated was written by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen after they attended a conference about the death penalty. They listened to stories about wrongful convictions and confessions gained via torture, threats and deception, and spent the summer of 2000 interviewing exonerated inmates throughout the United States. Six of those stories were adapted into a script. Jensen and Blank received the Champion of Justice Award from the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and their play has been performed at the United Nations and in Washington D.C. UB's staging of the play is directed by Rain Pryor, actor, comedian and monologist.
Saturday, March 10, 11:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m.: "Health Care and the Environment," a discussion taking place in Room 003 of the William H. Thumel Sr. Business Center, 11 W. Mt. Royal Ave. Details to be announced shortly.
An R.S.V.P. is requested for all events. To do so, call the Hoffberger Center at 410.837.5379 or send an e-mail to hoffberger@ubalt.edu.
The University of Baltimore is a member of the University System of Maryland and comprises the School of Law, the Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Public Affairs and the Merrick School of Business.