Monday April 10 at 5:30pm in Sullivan 201

Reception to Follow

        Primatologist and Distinguished Service Professor of Anthropology at Stony Brook University, Patricia Wright is the founder of Centre ValBio research station at Ranomafana National Park, where work is done to protect Madagascar’s unique and biologically diverse ecosystems.  She has made major contributions in the biology, ecology, conservation and behavior of living primates, especially the Malagasy lemurs.  In 2014 she was awarded the Indianapolis Prize, the world’s leading award for animal conservation.

        A member of the American Philosophical Society, she has received a MacArthur fellowship, the Hauptman-Woodward Pioneers of Science Award, and the Distinguished Primatologist Award of the American Society of Primatologists.  Her books include Madagascar:  Forests of Our Ancestors; High Moon over the Amazon:  My Quest to Understand the Monkeys of the Night; and For the Love of Lemurs:  My Life in the Wilds of Madagascar.  The 3D IMAX film, Island of Lemurs: Madagascar, features her work.

Sponsored by: Phi Beta Kappa, UNCG’s College of Arts and Sciences, UNCG's Departments of Anthropology, of Geography, and of Biology, and UNCG's Environmental and Sustainability Studies Program.

For questions and disability accommodations: robert.anemone@uncg.edu

Dr. Thomas E. Lovejoy "A Wild Solution for Climate Change"- Wednesday, March 29, 2017, 4-5 pm

Seminar in the UNCG Biology Department     

Sullivan Science Building Room 101
Wednesday, March 29, 2017, 4-5 pm

“A Wild Solution for Climate Change” will present an analysis of climate change through the lens of biology: Human release of CO2, ancient and modern photosynthetic products, impacts on biodiversity at different levels of scale, and how biology might assist in tackling this environmental juggernaut.

Dr. Thomas E. Lovejoy, "the Godfather of Biodiversity," is a Senior Fellow at the United Nations Foundation and University Professor in the Environmental Science and Policy Department at George Mason University. As a tropical biologist and conservation biologist, he has worked in the Amazon of Brazil since 1965. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in

biology from Yale University. Among his many accomplishments, Dr.Lovejoy is the recipient of the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement (2001), the Frontiers of Knowledge Award (2008) from the BBVA (Banco de Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria) Foundation, and the Blue Planet Prize (2012).

Dr. Lovejoy was the World Bank’s Chief Biodiversity Advisor and the Lead Specialist for Environment for Latin America and the Caribbean as well as Senior Advisor to the President of the United Nations Foundation. From 2008 to 2013, he served as the first Biodiversity Chair of the H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment. Previously he served as President of the Heinz Center. He currently is Chair of the Scientific Technical Advisory Panel (STAP) for the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the multibillion-dollar funding mechanism for developing countries in support of their obligations under international environmental conventions.

Dr. Lovejoy introduced the term biological diversity to the scientific community in 1980. One of his notable accomplishments is development of the debt-for-nature swaps, in which environmental groups purchase shaky foreign debt on the secondary market and then convert this debt at its face value into the local currency to purchase biologically sensitive tracts of land in the debtor nation for purposes of environmental protection and conservation.

“Hundreds of thousands of species will perish, and this reduction of 10 to 20 percent of the earth's biota will occur in about half a human life span.... This reduction of the biological diversity of the planet is the most basic issue of our time.”

— Dr. Lovejoy's Foreword in Conservation Biology by Michael Soulé and Bruce Wilcox (1980).

2013 Tax Refunds Deadline 4/18/2017

For whatever reason, some people just do not file their tax returns and are missing out on a refund that could be due them. Many people who do not have a filing requirements (low income, etc.) should file because they are still entitled to a federal & state tax refunds of their withholding. The IRS gives you 4 yrs from a filing tax year to file a return for refund. After April 15th of the 4th year it is forfeited.

Outstanding 2013 returns must be filed by April 18, 2017 to get their refunds.

IRS Has Refunds Totaling $1 Billion for People Who Have Not Filed a 2013 Federal Income Tax Return

https://www.irs.gov/uac/newsroom/irs-has-refunds-totaling-1-billion-for-people-who-have-not-filed-a-2013-federal-income-tax-return

Lecture: "World on Edge: War and Peace in Uncertain Times" March 23rd, 7:30pm, Virginia Dare Room

Sustainability Film Series Screening 'This Changes Everything' on Thursday, March 9, 6:30pm Weatherspoon Art Museum

The next Sustainability Film screening: This Changes Everything

What: Film: This Changes Everything

When: Thursday, March 9, 6:30 PM

Where: Weatherspoon Art Museum

Filmed over 211 shoot days in nine countries and five continents over four years, This Changes Everything is an epic attempt to re-imagine the vast challenge of climate change.

Directed by Avi Lewis, and inspired by Naomi Klein’s international non-fiction bestseller This Changes Everything, the film presents seven powerful portraits of communities on the front lines, from Montana’s Powder River Basin to the Alberta Tar Sands, from the coast of South India to Beijing and beyond.

Interwoven with these stories of struggle is Klein’s narration, connecting the carbon in the air with the economic system that put it there. Throughout the film, Klein builds to her most controversial and exciting idea: that we can seize the existential crisis of climate change to transform our failed economic system into something radically better.

Discussion leader: Ed Whitfield from one of our sponsors, Fund for Democratic Communities. Ed Whitfield is a social critic, writer, musician and community activist who has lived in Greensboro since 1970. He is co-Managing Director of the Fund for Democratic Communities.

If you have any questions, contact Sarah Dorsey at sbdorsey@uncg.edu

Watch the trailer.

Good Sources for Free Credit Reports

In an age of growing identity theft, it is always wise to review our consumer credit reports to make sure no one has accessed our records, opened accounts in our names, etc. 

Everyone by law is entitled to a free copy (once per year) of their credit reports. Below is a link to the official site where someone can request a "free" copy of their Consumer Credit Report from all 3 of the major credit bureaus.

Trans Union
Experian
Equifax.

To Request Your Free Consumer Credit Report:

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action

A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act:

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/pdf-0096-fair-credit-reporting-act.pdf

Green Drinks Greensboro - Next Meeting - Monday, February 13th 5-7pm at Scuppernong Books

Green Drinks Greensboro is inspired to action by recent events to expand our social and environmental networking to include more dialogue and speakers about the many interrelated issues that demand our attention.

Our next Green Drinks will feature Etsuko Kinefuchi, Ph.D., professor of Communication Studies at UNCG, who will talk briefly about the topic of Eco-Feminism, which examines the connections between women and nature. It brings together concerns about the impact of human activities on our natural world and a view of humanity as gendered.

Join us on Monday, February 13th from 5-7:00 for a discussion about Eco-Feminism at Scuppernong Books in Greensboro.

We will also include report-back discussion of the Women's March on Washington, upcoming plans for the April 29th People's Climate March and other local opportunities for action. Hope to see you!

For more info. contact: Kathe Latham (kblatham@aol.com) or Sarah Dorsey (sbdorsey@uncg.edu)