SANTA BARBARA, CA—The Harvard Club of Santa Barbara, in conjunction with the Community Environmental Council (CEC) and the Wilderness Youth Project (WYP), present Exploring Climate Change & Culture Shift, an evening with UCSB Professor Ken Hiltner. 

When: Thursday, September 12 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Where: Alhecama Theater, 215A E. Canon Perdido Street, Santa Barbara
Schedule: The lecture will begin at 5:30, followed by a reception with hearty vegetarian appetizers and non-alcoholic beverages. Please bring your reusable bottle. 
Tickets: Entry is $10. Seating is limited and tickets are available here: https://www.cecsb.org/event/exploring-climate-change-culture-shift/
 
Ken Hiltner teaches a popular class at UCSB that explores the range of human activities and cultural norms exacerbating climate change. He says, “Climate change is caused by a range of troubling human activities that require the release of greenhouse gases, such as our obsessions with endless consumer goods, cars, certain foods, and lifestyle choices. The natural sciences may be able to tell us how these activities are changing our climate, but not why we are engaging in them. That’s a job for the humanities and social sciences.” Dr. Hiltner believes that anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change is a human problem brought about by human actions. He also believes that humans can be the solution.
 
The Harvard Club of Santa Barbara sponsors a variety of annual activities, among them talks by current Harvard faculty and local Harvard alums, informal lunches and discussions at local clubs and restaurants, social events, outings, tours, and community service events. Dan Fishbein, a club member who helped organize the September 12 event says, “Professor Hiltner has a unique ability to explain what must change if we as a society are going to address climate change. His talk will cover what we as individuals can do, and how he helped put practices into place at UCSB that put it on track to meet the University of California’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2025.”

Kathi King, Director of Outreach and Education at the CEC, stated, “We are excited to partner with Harvard Club of Santa Barbara on this important event. We all need to participate in actions that help our climate and Dr. Hiltner’s approach is accessible, engaging and empowering.”

“Supporting discussions like these helps make our work possible,” says Anthony Hickling, Assistant Director of Development at the Wilderness Youth Project. “Connecting with and understanding nature is a vital childhood experience that we work to promote and preserve for future generations.”

Space at the event is limited to 140 seats. Attendees are encouraged to reserve tickets early to ensure a spot by going to https://www.cecsb.org/event/exploring-climate-change-culture-shift/. Questions can be directed to CEC’s Kathi King at [email protected].

About Professor Ken Hiltner

Ken Hiltner received his Ph.D. from Harvard University, where he garnered a number of distinctions as a researcher and Teaching Fellow, including the Bowdoin Prize. He has written a number of books and articles, mostly on Renaissance literature, ecocriticism, and the intersection of the two. He has served as Director of the Literature and the Environment Center, Director of the Early Modern Center, and Chair of the Graduate Program. Prior to becoming an English professor, he made his living as a furniture-maker. As a second-generation woodworker, he received commissions from five continents and had collections featured in major metropolitan galleries.

About Community Environmental Council

Since 1970, CEC has incubated and innovated real life solutions that directly impact climate change. Our programs lead to clean vehicles, solar energy, resilient food systems and reduction of single-use plastic. We educate and activate the community by producing events like the annual Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival. Find CEC on the web at www.CECSB.org and on Facebook.com/CECSB, Instagram.com/CEC_SB, and Twitter.com/CECSB.

About Wilderness Youth Project

The mission of Wilderness Youth Project (WYP) is to foster confidence, health, and a life-long love of learning for young people and families through active outdoor experiences and mentoring. WYP envisions teaching the next generation to be peaceful, respectful, and confident stewards of our world. Growing evidence shows that time in nature makes kids smarter, healthier, happier and more likely to be stewards of the environment. WYP connects children from a spectrum of ages, abilities and socioeconomic backgrounds to the essential benefits of nature. This is a vital childhood experience that we promote and preserve for future generations of children and adults alike.