Source: Lisa Steffens, 785-539-8763, lms624@k-state.edu

Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009

CLIMATE AND ENERGY TO BE TOPIC OF NOV. 3 LOU DOUGLAS LECTURE AT K-STATE

MANHATTAN -- Nancy Jackson, executive director of The Land Institute's Climate and Energy Project, will present "Great Plains Rising: Fuel for the 21st Century" as part of Kansas State University's Lou Douglas Lecture Series on Public Issues.

The lecture will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 3, in Forum Hall at the K-State Student Union. It is free and open to the public.

The Climate and Energy Project is a program of The Land Institute, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization founded more than 30 years ago in Salina. Its scientists have been working to develop perennial versions of the world's major grain crops. The Climate and Energy Project's goal is to help halt the Midwest’s contributions to global warming and climate change. It supports the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by increasing energy efficiency and developing renewable energies in a sustainable manner.

Jackson is a member of the Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Accord Advisory Group, the Kansas Energy and Environmental Policy Advisory Group and the Kansas Wind Working Group. She has a master's in environmental history from the University of Kansas, has edited scholarly books on American culture and the development of Western resources for the University Press of Kansas, and has a background in corporate finance, equities research and development.

Lou Douglas was a distinguished professor of political science at K-State from 1949 until 1977 and was widely known for his power to inspire students, faculty and citizens to instigate change. He was a founder of the UFM Community Learning Center; after his death in 1979 the organization inaugurated a lecture series in his honor.

More information is available at http://www.tryufm.org