Author Mark Hertsgaard to Discuss Reversing Climate Change, Oct. 15
September 5, 2013
Contact: University Relations
Phone: 410.837.5739
Author Mark Hertsgaard will discuss how we can reverse climate change—the topic of his latest book, Hot—on Tuesday, Oct. 15 at the University of Baltimore. Hertsgaard, a journalist and advocate for environmental action, is especially concerned about climate change's effect on the two billion young people he calls "Generation Hot": the generation that will live most of their lives in an era of rapid, often unpredictable environmental extremes. Hertsgaard's talk is the inaugural event in the Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences' Distinguished Speaker Series. It will take place at 7 p.m. in the Town Hall in the UB Learning Commons, 1415 Maryland Ave. It is free and open to the public.
NOTE: Hartsgaard will appear on the Friday, Oct. 11 edition of WEAA's The Marc Steiner Show at 10 a.m. Learn more.
The best-selling journalist Barbara Ehrenreich has called Hertsgaard "one of America's finest reporters." His book, HOT: Living Through the Next 50 Years on Earth, offers deep, serious reporting on how people can cope with—and reverse—climate disruption. Reviews have been enthusiastic. The New York Times called HOT a "significant contribution" to the climate debate that "raises the emotional stakes while keeping a clear head…. [Hertsgaard] presents a strong case that there is still time to make an enormous difference."
Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, said, "Hertsgaard cuts through the denial and misinformation about climate change, offering a clear, tough-minded view of our predicament. More important, he shows that the worst harms of global warming are not inevitable and outlines the steps that can help to avert disaster."
"HOT ... will prompt readers to action. Starkly clear and of utmost importance," said Kirkus Reviews.
Based in San Francisco, Hertsgaard is a co-founder of Climate Parents, an organization that seeks to mobilize parents against climate change for the sake of their children. He is the author of five other books, including On Bended Knee: The Press and the Reagan Presidency and Earth Odyssey: Around the World In Search of Our Environmental Future. He is a Fellow of the New America Foundation and the environment correspondent for The Nation.
Copies of HOT will be available for purchase at the event, and Hertsgaard will sign books following his talk.
Learn more about Hertsgaard.
The University of Baltimore is a member of the University System of Maryland and comprises the College of Public Affairs, the Merrick School of Business, the UB School of Law and the Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences.
A Q&A with author Mark Hertsgaard:
You seem to be quite familiar with Baltimore and its environs. Do you have history here?
Hertsgaard: My Baltimore connections run deep and high. I grew up on a farm north of the city (about halfway between Towson and Bel Air), the son of Baltimore's leading TV newscaster of the 1960s and 1970s, Rolf Hertsgaard. I then went to Johns Hopkins University, where I earned a B.A. in International Studies and was among the founders of the City Paper. At Hopkins, I also landed the internship with the Institute for Policy Studies that soon led to my career as a journalist and author in Washington. Many years (and books) later, Hopkins invited me back to teach in the Writing Seminars program, which I did for two or three years before moving to California in the late 1990s. I've been through Baltimore, appearing on many local radio, TV and newspaper slots, numerous times on my various book tours. Which is always welcome, as my mother and two of my sisters still live in the area.
Many people here have commented that they've heard you on the radio.
I have done LOTS of radio in my career: I've been a regular commentator on the national public radio programs "Morning Edition," "Marketplace" and "Living on Earth." I've done feature reports for "Living on Earth" and the BBC/PRI program "The World," and have appeared on literally hundreds of local and national public radio broadcasts as an expert guest.
Obviously at UB you’ll be talking about climate change. Anything of particular note regarding the impact of a rapidly evolving climate on the environment of the mid-Atlantic?
I'm quite familiar with the issues surrounding climate change in Maryland, which has done more than many other states to address the problem—a good thing, too, as the state faces threats beyond the ordinary (thanks to role of the Chesapeake in the state's economy, etc.).