The 2014-2015 Edwin Way Teale Lecture Series begins this Thursday, September 25th with a lecture by Dr. Steward T.A. Pickett. Dr. Pickett is the Distinguished Senior Scientist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. His talk is titled “The Global Urban Crisis and an Ecological Way Forward” and will be at 4 pm at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, Konover Auditorium, at UConn. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Urban areas today are expanding at an unprecedented rate across the globe. There are more and more new cities by the year, and the largest of existing cities are growing still larger. On the one hand, cities can be the epitome of sustainability, reaping the benefits of proximity, efficiency, and innovation. On the other hand, they can be graveyards of dreams and sources of contamination. As cities grow, change, and become ever more connected to global networks, societies are presented with choices. Cities are in crisis: do they move toward sustainability, or do they slip backwards into unsanitary and vulnerable states?

The Edwin Way Teale Lecture Series brings leading scholars and scientists to the University of Connecticut to present public lectures on nature and the environment. The lectures are open to the public and do not require registration. For additional information please call 860.486.4460 or visit http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/events/teale/teale.htm.

For more information, contact: Natural History Museum at 860.486.4460 or visit http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/events/teale/teale.htm