Internationally recognized ecologist and author Sandra Steingraber will present Carleton College’s weekly convocation address on Friday, May 16 from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in the Skinner Memorial Chapel. Entitled “The Whole Fracking Enchilada: Toward Meaningful Toxic Chemical Reform and a Rational Energy Policy,” Steingraber’s presentation explores the links between human rights and the environment. This event is free and open to the public. Convocations are also streamed live and can be viewed online at go.carleton.edu/convo/.
In advance of her presentation, Steingraber’s film “Living Downstream” will be shown at 7:30 p.m. in Olin 149 on Thursday May 15. She will be on hand to answer questions following the screening.
Steingraber has devoted her life’s work to understanding the ways in which chemical contaminants in air, water and food endanger public health. As a cancer survivor with a doctorate in biology, Steingraber offers both a personal and scientific look at what she regards as a human rights issue, and offers insights into how we can protect our environment and ourselves.
Winner of the Annual Heinz Award, Steingraber is the author of the powerful Raising Elijah: Protecting children in an Age of Environmental Crisis, and Living Downstream: An Ecologist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment, which prompted critically-acclaimed documentary of the same name. Called “a poet with a knife” by Sojourner magazine, Steingraber has received many honors for her work as a science writer. She is the recipient of the Jenifer Altman Foundation’s first annual Altman Award for “the inspiring and poetic use of science to elucidate the causes of cancer.” In 2006, Steingraber received a Hero Award from the Breast Cancer Fund and, in 2009, the Environmental Health Champion Award from Physicians for Social Responsibility, Los Angeles.
Learn more about Sandra Steingraber at www.steingraber.org.
This event is sponsored by the Carleton College Office of College Relations. For more information, including disability accommodations, please call (507) 222-4308. The Skinner Memorial Chapel is located on First Street, between College and Winona Streets, in Northfield
