WORLD-WIDE ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS TOPIC OF 2ND GLOBAL INTEGRATION LECTURE

PITTSBURGH, Oct. 14 -- Two of the world's foremost scientists engaged in environmental policy and development will discuss what Europe and America can do to better manage resources and control further degradation at the second annual Global Integration Lecture at the University of Pittsburgh.

Sponsored by Pitt's University Center for International Studies (UCIS) and the World Federalist Association of Pittsburgh (WFAP), the lecture will be held Monday, Nov. 2, beginning at 3:00 p.m., in the Assembly Room of the William Pitt Union. A reception immediately follows.

This year's lecture focuses on global environmental change and ideas for innovative responses. Featured speakers are professors John Holdren and Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker. Holdren will outline the state of scientific knowledge on global physical change attributable to human activity and the scope of the challenges presented by it. Weizsäcker will present a specific framework for a policy response to this global challenge with a focus on technology, resource productivity and increases in wealth.

Holdren is the Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy and director of the program on science, technology and public policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, and professor of environmental science and public policy in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University. He chairs the committee on international security and arms control of the National Academy of Sciences, is director of the MacArthur Foundation, and serves as an advisor to President Clinton on science and technology.

On June 18, 1997, Holdren joined with other prominent scientists to release the Scientists' Statement on Global Climatic Disruptions. He strongly warns of the threat of climate change and advocates a strong and swift policy response.

Weizsäcker is president of the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy in the North Rhine/Wesphalian Science Center in Germany. A biologist by discipline, he is the former president of Kassel University, as well as former director of the United Nations Center for Science and Technology for Development in New York and director of the Institute for European Environmental Politics in Bonn. In 1996, he became the first recipient of the Duke of Edinboro Gold Medal of WWF International.

Weizsäcker also is a member-elect of the German Parliament. He has co-authored a book, Factor Four -- Doubling Wealth, Halving Resource Use, on how to quadruple resource productivity using existing technological knowledge.

Inaugurated in 1997 by Nobel Peace Laureate Oscar Arias, former president of Costa Rica, the Global Integration Lecture series is presented in light of the growing importance of global concerns. It annually highlights innovative approaches from different world regions that address issues of global significance and enhance integration, cooperation and the rule of law.

The Global Integration Lecture is free and open to the public, but tickets must be reserved. Requests will be granted on a first come, first served basis. Anyone interested in attending the lecture can call UCIS at 412-648-7374 or the WFAP at 412-471-4852.

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