PULLMAN, Wash. — James Gustave Speth, dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, will deliver Washington State University’s annual Lane Lecture in Environmental Science. His presentation, “Running Out of Time? The Cascading of Environmental Consequences,” is slated for 7:30 p.m. Oct. 12 in the Todd Hall Auditorium on the Pullman campus.
“Environmental challenges are growing daily more serious and increasingly linked to subjects we once thought remote from our field,” said Speth. “Environmental leaders must be prepared to understand the international context in which many issues arise and to integrate environmental economic and developmental concerns.”
Speth, who joined the Yale faculty in 1999, served seven years as administrator of the United Nations Development Program, which coordinates U.N. technical assistance and development. Prior to his U.N. service, he founded the World Resources Institute and served as its president. The WRI provides research and technical assistance on environment and development issues.
Speth served on President-elect Clinton’s transition team, heading the group on natural resources, energy and the environment. He also chaired President Carter’s Council on Environmental Quality. In the 1970s, he was senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, an organization he co-founded.
A Yale College graduate, Speth attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, earning a Master of Letters degree in economics. He holds a J.D. from Yale Law School, and as professor at Georgetown University, he taught environmental and constitutional law.
The Lane Family Lectureship in Environmental Science at WSU is endowed by a gift from former publisher of Sunset Magazine, books and films, L.W. “Bill” Lane, Jr. and his wife, Jean. According to the Lanes, the lectureship is an expression of their commitment to helping society “recognize and solve problems related to the environment.” The Robert and Wendi Lane Fellowships and Scholarships, which will be announced for the 2000-2001 academic year prior to the lecture, were created in 1992 through a gift from Robert and Wendi Lane, Bill and Jean Lane’s son and daughter-in-law.
Previous Lane lectures have been delivered by lecture founder Bill Lane, ethnobotanist and tropical rainforest conservationist Mark Plotkin, zero population growth advocate Paul Ehrlich, environmental lawyer Ann Strong, Earth Day founder Denis Hayes and former Environmental Protection Agency administrator William K. Reilly.
