SCHRADER CENTER HOSTS ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION BOOK CLUB

WHEELING, W.Va. (January 30, 2009)- -Did your New Year’s Resolution include expanding your horizons? Then don’t miss the first session of the newly formed Schrader Environmental Education Book Club. The event takes place at 7 p.m. Thursday, February 19 at the Schrader Environmental Education Center in Oglebay.

The first selection is “Hot, Flat, and Crowded” by Tom Friedman, a three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist and author. Friedman describes in simple and everyday terms what happens when climate change meets a globalized economy with a growing population and what we can do to meet this challenge.

Friedman’s book will be sure to inspire rich discussion. It addresses the looming effects of climate change, rapid population growth, and globalization — but also offers an optimistic view of how “geo-greenism” offers solutions to the energy crisis and can help reduce poverty.

Free and open to the public, the event includes coffee, snacks and invigorating discussions led by environmental educator Mary Ellen Cassidy. Guests can meet new people and share ideas for books to be included in the series, which continues on the third Thursday of each month at the Schrader Center.

“Part of our mission at the Schrader Center is to provide venues for people to learn about a variety of environmental issues,” Schrader Center director Eriks Janelsins said. “As green topics continue to become mainstream, we want to increase opportunities for area residents to learn about and discuss these issues with others who share their interests.”

Janelsins said the book club was formed to build on the success of their other lecture programs, including the Living Green Lecture Series, which kicks off its third year later this month with
“Beyond Green- The Perspective of a Member of the Raven Rocks Community,” presented by Rich Sidwell of the Olney Friends School. That program takes place Sunday, February 22 at 2 p.m.

For questions or additional information about the book club or the Living Green Lecture Series, contact the Schrader Center at 304.242.6855.

This program is made possible through the generous support of the members of the Institute as well as with financial assistance from the West Virginia Division of Culture and History and the National Endowment for the Arts, with approval from the WV Commission on the Arts.