ANN ARBOR—The University of Michigan’s transdisciplinary lecture series leading up to the “National Town Meeting for a Sustainable America” in Detroit in May will continue through February. The town meeting is co-sponsored by the President’s Council on Sustainable Development and the Global Environment and Technology Foundation.

Designed to raise awareness, boost literacy, examine values and inspire visions consistent with an American future that is environmentally sound, socially fair, and economically prosperous, the series is convened by U-M’s Erb Institute and Corporate Environmental Management Program in partnership with U-M’s Business School; School of Natural Resources and Environment; College of Literature, Science, and the Arts; College of Engineering; and U-M’s Office of the Vice President for Research.

All lectures will be held in Hale Auditorium at U-M’s Business School, located at the corner of Hill and Tappan streets:

Feb. 15, 4 p.m.: Stephen H. Schneider on “Sustainable Climate.” Schneider is a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and senior fellow at the Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. He is a MacArthur Fellow and founder and editor of “Climatic Change.” His has also authored “The Coevolution of Climate and Life”; “The Genesis Strategy: Climate and Global Survival”; and “Laboratory Earth: The Planetary Gamble We Can’t Afford to Lose.” He is a champion of “Holistic Earth System Science” fostering “a new way to understand the Earth and our roles as inhabitants.”

Feb. 22, 4 p.m.: Panel Discussion on “Sustainable Atmosphere.” The panel will examine the changing troposphere and stratosphere, the role of atmospheric transport, the changing biosphere and biosphere-atmosphere interactions. The panel will feature members of PROPHET, “Program for Research on Oxidants: Photochemistry, Emissions and Transport,” which is supported by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Panel members will include Mary Ann Carroll, professor of atmospheric, oceanic and space sciences, and of chemistry, at U-M; Jennie Moody, research associate professor in the Department of Environmental Studies at the University of Virginia; Paul Shepson, professor of chemistry and earth and atmospheric sciences at Purdue University; and Hal Westberg, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Washington State University.

Feb. 24, 5 p.m.: David Pimentel on “Sustainable Agriculture.” Pimentel is professor of ecology and agricultural science at Cornell University. His research spans the fields of basic population ecology, ecological and economic aspects of pest control, biological control, biotechnology, sustainable agriculture, land and water conservation, natural resource management, and environmental policy. He has published more than 490 scientific papers and 20 books including “Food and Natural Resources” (with Hall) and “World Soil Erosion and Conservation.” Pimentel has served on many national and government committees including the National Academy of Sciences and the President’s Science Advisory Council.

Stephen H. SchneiderPROPHETDavid Pimentel